The official Saudi responsibility in September 11,

The Religious Historical Roots of September 11,

Introduction

Here, when you say:” it’s history”, you probably mean it’s dead, out of date, no longer belongs to our time. But in the Middle East when we talk about history it may mean it’s very much alive than usual. Middle East is the Historic core of the world, where you could not understand the current life without its historic roots.

September11th, is the clash point between the two civilizations, the Western and the Historical one. It was analyzed according to the western culture; let’s try the other historical analytic way to complete the picture.

The criminals of September 11 belong to the Saudi State and/or its Wahabi faith, presenting themselves as the real Muslims against the [Infidel West]. Those criminals are just the bitter fruits of 258 years old Saudi Wahabi tree. We taste the bitter fruit, but we need to understand its roots to eliminate them, otherwise the alive historic roots will continue to produce more painful poisonous fruits.

The Saudi State was established three times and was destroyed twice.

The current Saudi kingdom is the third Saudi State after destroying the previous two Saudi States.

The first Saudi State and its Wahaby faith [1745- 1818]

The first Saudi state was established by the agreement in 1745 between Ibn Abdel Wahab, the zealot Sunni scholar who revolted against the Sufi and Shiite Muslims in the 18^th century, and Ibn Saud, the prince of Al Dare’iah in Najd, north of the Arabian Peninsula. Under this accord, the Saudi Prince received from Ibn Abdel Wahab the religious justification to conquer his neighbors and occupy their lands under the banner of Jihad. Creating Wahaby dogma from the most extreme of Sunni tradition, the first Saudi State used the name of Islam and Jihad to occupy most of the Arabian Peninsula and to invade and massacre Shiites and Sufi Muslims in Iraq and Syria. In response, the helpless Ottoman Empire asked the Egyptian strongman Mohammed Ali to defeat the Saudi menace. After seven years of a fierce battle, Mohammed Ali destroyed the first Saudi State and its capital in 1818.

The second Saudi State

The defeat of 1818 destroyed the first Saudi State, but also strengthened the zeal of the Wahabists.  In the Arab world, military action against an ideology only adds to public support.  The Wahabists set about helping the house of Saud to establish a second state in Najd for a short time in the last decades of the 19^th century.  Even though the second Saudi state collapsed quickly under internal conflicts, Wahabism grew.  Wahaby scholars insulted other Muslim Sects, accusing them of being idolaters; the other sects were unprepared to defend themselves rhetorically from the Wahabists.  Seeing that the others lacked a strong counter-argument, hundreds of thousands of Muslims switched their support to Wahabism.

The regional and international situations helped in creating the third Saudi State. The European super powers were busy in their own problems and conflicts, while the Ottoman Empire in its last days was unable to fight the coming Saudi State. The Arab Muslim countries were under the Europeans colonists and the Arab Muslims masses were ready to help any coming Muslim movements as long it would not fight them.

Al Ikhwan built the third Saudi State for Abdel Aziz, then revolted against him

Abdel Aziz, son of Abdel Rahman [Ibn Saud], founded the third Saudi State – which exists to this day -- with the help of fanatic guerrilla soldiers known as Al Ikhwan, or “The Brothers”.  For more than 10 years the Ikhwan fought for Abdel Aziz to reestablishing the Saudi State, [1913 – 1925]. It was ultimately named the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1932. 

The Ikhwan, who were lawless, tough Bedouins, were steeped in Wahaby dogma, believing it to be the real forgotten Islam, to be enforced with swords and Jihad.

After adding the Hejaz and the Muslim Sacred Mosques to their conquered territory, the Ikhwan wanted to continue their jihad by invading Iraq and Syria where they had committed many massacres.

 This was a threat to the mighty British Empire and its allies. Abdel Aziz saw this and made a strategic decision to distance himself from the Ikhwan, thereby keeping his kingdom secure by avoiding conflict with the British.

This was the first time the Saudi political authority and its religious authority were at odds. Al Ikhwan, who believed in a continuous Jihad, condemned Abdel Az6iz.  They accused him of being an accomplice of idolaters [the Egyptians] and the infidels [the British].

Abdel Aziz tried to eliminate this dissension but the Ikhwan used their Wahaby teachings to bolster their condemnation of Abdel Aziz, calling on statements made by Wahabism’s founder and the oldest imams, Ibn Taymeya and Ibn Hanbal.

Abdel Aziz did not reform the Wahaby dogma to up-to-date his modern time

 Abdel Aziz’s policy was to protect the state rather than reform Wahaby faith.

It was clear even in the early 1900s that Wahaby doctrine needed reforming, but the helpless Saudi scholars were incompetent at doing so. There was a peaceful attempt to reunite Abdel Aziz and his Ikhwan in Riyadh conferences in 1927 and 1928; but it failed to head off a brewing conflict.

Abdel Aziz had to fight his own brothers [Ikhwan], and defeated them in 1929. But he could not defeat their dogma, nor could he reform it. So the problem was left unsolved for decades, until the present day.  This is how it has become a danger to the Saudi State, the Muslim World and the Western World as well before and after September 11, 2001.

Abdel Aziz abandoned reformation and chose instead to protect his new state from its internal and external enemies.  Shiite Muslims stood at the borders in Iran, Iraq, and Syria and in Yemen; they also were inside the Kingdom, in the Eastern region and in Al Hejaz.

The results of his policy

The King’s plan was to focus on non-Shiites:  He wanted to persuade all Sufis to convert to Wahabism, especially in Egypt and India, home to the biggest oppressed Sunni and Sufi populations.  He would then use Wahaby doctrine as a religious motive to revolt against their Christian oppressor, the British Empire.

Once Abdel Aziz took control of Al Hejaz and the Sacred Mosques 1925, he had the perfect opportunity to recruit his converts and spread the Wahaby faith in Egypt and India, in particular.

By 1928 the Muslim Brotherhood [Al Ikhwan Al Muslemeen] organization was created in Egypt by Hassan El Banna and his spiritual master Rasheed Reda, who was Abdel Aziz’s agent in Egypt. From 1928 to1948, Hassan El Banna established fifty thousand branches of the Muslim Brotherhood throughout Egypt, while creating an international organization and a secret military organization. The Muslim Brotherhood partnered in fomenting the Egyptian Revolution, which changed the history of Middle East.  After the Revolution they came into conflict with Nasser, the leader of the Revolution.  Most escaped to Saudi Arabia, and waited till Sadat was in power to return to Egypt.  Sadat gave them the authority to control Egypt’s education and culture, which they used to create public and secret organizations.   Their plan was to take over Egypt, which involved a member of one of their secret organizations assassinating Sadat.  The Muslim Brotherhood produced two infamous leaders, Sheikh Omer Abdel Rahman, the blind cleric currently in a U.S. prison, and Ayman Al Zawahiri, the right hand man of Usama Bin Laden.  Another Brother was Mohammed Atta, ringleader of the September 11 attacks.

Returning to the early 20^th century, Abdel Aziz found it easy to recruit Indian Muslims to his plan.  They hated the British and the majority of their fellow Indians; and they found in the Wahabism the justification to revolt and divide India into two countries.  Thus Pakistan was created as one of the greatest mistakes of the 20^th century.  Pakistan, with the help of the Saudi State and its [Madaris] or Islamic schools created the Taliban, which later took over Afghanistan.

 Instead of modernizing Wahabism after his clash with his Saudi [Ikhwan], Abdel Aziz preferred to export Wahaby teachings in their original medieval form to the rest of the Muslim world; this created bloody religious turmoil from Algeria to Indonesia and from Sudan to Russia, and finally to the West and the U.S. before and after September 11.

The sons of Abdel Aziz keep the way of not reforming the Wahaby dogma

Following Abdel Aziz, his sons, King Saud, Faisal, Khaled and Fahd have maintained Wahabism in their kingdom; spurred by new oil wealth, they aspired to make their owned family-state the leader of the entire Muslim World. 

Because of political and economic interests, the West -- especially the U.S. – accommodated this Saudi policy. Moreover, facilities were given to the Saudis to create Islamic Centers in the West to spread Wahaby dogma as the real religion of Islam.  This gave Wahaby the opportunity to influence and brainwash Muslim communities in the West.

Many new Islamic schools and centers were opened with Saudi money and were controlled by Wahabists.  They controlled ancient Muslim centers, schools and mosques with Saudi funding; they introduced Wahaby books and cultural resources as the “pure” Islamic teachings, publishing them in both Arabic and English.

This campaign began as early as 1970. After ten years I became an active reformist inside Sunni groups in Egypt; I was persuaded by the Saudi propaganda that America would completely convert to Islam by the 21^st century.  One might argue that, upon failing to reach this grandiose goal, their response was September 11.

Oil wealth gave the Saudis the ability to modernize the material life of their people while their religious, social and cultural life remained controlled by backward Wahaby dogma. This created a huge contradiction, exacerbated by a strategic decision by the house of Saudi to ally itself with the so- called: “infidel” Western countries instead of waging Holy War on them.

This situation has established two different kinds of Sunni Wahaby oppositions; the traditional simple Wahaby opposition of Johayman which repeated the opposition of Al Ikhwan in the time of Abdel Aziz, and the current opposition which produced Usama Ben Laden.

The movement of Johayman

State could respond was by banning and confiscating Johayman’s books and messages.

The current opposition which produced Ossama Ibn Laden?

This opposition was a part of the Saudi regime and the product of its policy in education inside the kingdom and in establishing the Wahaby movement inside and outside the Saudi State. They have made it and are punishing by it. It is easy to remember that Ossama Ibn Laden fought the Soviet Union and the communists in Afghanistan as a response to the Saudi policy and its Wahaby doctrine of Jihad. The only difference here is the Saudi State wants to limit this Jihad according to its political situation and its needs for the American and Western protection, while Ossama and his people are willing to continue in battling all the infidels as it is written in their scriptures. They have access to battle the West but Johayman had not.

The only difference between Johayman and the current Wahaby opposition

Johayman and his group were simple regular Wahaby people. They read the books of Ibn Abdel Wahab and Ibn Taymeya and believed in them. They were obsessed by the contradiction between these teachings and the Saudi policy in dealing peacefully with the West and the non- Wahaby Muslims. Johayman was not convinced by the justification of Abdel Aziz Ibn Baz; the official Wahaby religious leader of the Saudi State. On the contrary, he believed the same belief of Al Ikhwan when they revolted against Abdel Aziz, accusing him to be anti Islam for the same reason. Johayman and Al Ikhwan used the same teachings of Ibn Abdel Wahab and Ibn Taymeya against the House of the Saudi and their state. They even use these accusations in its traditional way and terminology, as they live in the same time.

It was not the same situation of the current opposition which has a high educated people; most of them were educated in the modern Western universities by the help and the support of the Saudi State, using this modern education in supporting their Wahaby faith, even against the West and the U.S it.

Many of them were graduated from the Western Universities but are against the West

The fanatics who comprise the current Wahaby cult did not become extremists because of their Western educations.  Rather, most of them belong to ancient tribes shamefully defeated by Abdel Aziz.  While studying in the West, they came to realize the extent to which the Saudi royal family suppresses their human, social and political rights. Upon returning to their homeland, they were reminded of their humiliating lower status. The Saudi family usually gives the high ranks in its administrations for its followers from certain tribes and clans, ignoring the other tribes, even if these tribes have the most qualified high professionals. Those depressed qualified intellectuals and scholars wanted to oppose the regime, but could not do so with help from the West.  So their only hope was the Wahaby faith, which offered them the platform for challenge:  That is, to destroy the Saudi state by declaring it to have no religious legitimacy.

Abdel Aziz had used the Wahaby faith only in establishing the third Saudi State. He made it as the first step, leaving the other steps for the coming generations. The current Wahaby opposition is the generation of this mission. They were taught in the West, and some of them are living in the West, but they are battling the West in different ways, including the support of Ibn Laden by money and men.

It means Abdel Aziz, the founder of the current Saudi State was unable to fulfill all the demands of the Wahaby teachings, and the current oppositions, led by Ossama Ibn Laden are completing what Abdel Aziz and his sons could not do.

King Faisal, after adding Egypt to the Wahabi faith, prepared the Saudi Kingdom to assume its new leadership in Muslim World to serve the Wahaby faith

Khaled Al Islambolly, Abdel Salam Farag, Ayman Al Zawahery, Omar Abdel Rahman, Abou Hafs, Mohammed Atta and other terrorist leaders, are samples of that Egyptian generation which have been indoctrinated the Wahabi faith between 1970’s- 1990’s, according to the new development made by the King Faisal.

Ossama bin Laden has been taught the same faith inside the new Saudi schools and universities, built by the King Faisal.

By the Egyptian blood in the War of October 1973, the oil price has become very high giving the Saudi family billions and billions while the Egyptians have gone through time of economical crises and suffering.

As the Egyptians usually say in their traditional sayings: “they bought me and paid the price from my own money”, the Saudis utilized the Egyptian blood and sacrifice in the war of October 1973 to rise the oil prices and to use the new billions in enslaving the starving intellectual and workmen Egyptians - using them for minimum wages and in hard work and humiliating terms - in educating and developing the Saudi State. Slavery has been legal in the Saudi kingdom, until it was officially abolished in November, 6, 1962. However, it is still in another different way named: “Al Kafeel”, means the Saudi citizen can bring the foreign workers and be their sponsor, and accordingly the Saudi law gives him the total authority to use them as he likes. The Egyptians and other “foreign” Muslims are the victims of this Saudi new slavery.

The Saudi fund inside Egypt has been used in deepening the Saudi influence inside the Egyptian administrations and officials, and to recruit the desperate young men to serve the Saudi Wahaby public organizations as an access to be used inside the secret terrorist organization.

This Saudi fund and the intellectual Egyptians build the new powerful Saudi stage between 1970’s and 1990’s, and this is the background of the terrorist attack of september11, 2001.

This policy made by King Faisal is still working until now, especially in the field of education in spite of the current call for reforming the Saudi education. Thousands of schools and many new universities were built by Faisal, and thousand of the Saudi students were sent to the West universities to get higher educations. But all of this progress was and still in the service of the Wahaby faith as the students were – and still - indoctrinated it as the only real Islam, even they are Shiites or Sufis.

The kingdom used to have some different ideologies and movements; communists, leftists, and Arab Nationalists and Nasserists, but King Faisal used severe persecution and the new stage of oil wealth to destroy all of these movements and ideologies, leaving the Wahaby culture control the people inside the kingdom.

Beside education, Faisal established many official agencies to disseminate the wahaby faith in Muslim World and inside the Muslim communities in the West. Among of them are the “administration of religious researches, verdicts, advocating and guidance”, the “league of Islamic World” and “the International Society for the Islamic youth.” It is clear that Faisal wanted also to replace the wahaby ideology instead of the Arab Nationalism and its leaders in Iraq and Syria.

Many Saudis graduated from the Western universities having the very modern sophisticated science along with their Wahaby culture, using their new modern technology and science in service of the Wahaby faith. In the same time there are hundreds  thousands of the religious scholars and teachers work inside the official agencies of the state, and others are volunteers, serving the cause as their own Jihad to advocate the Wahaby faith in the seasons of Al Hajj [pilgrimage], or out side the kingdom. Others give fund to speed the Jihad and activate it.

All of them were united under one cause; to face the atheist Soviet Union and its communist ideology, and to advocate Islam in the West and the U.S to convert them to Islam, using the western freedom of speech and belief and their alliance with the U.S, against the Soviet Union.

The cold war in that time was their wonderful chance to establish – gradually and slowly - the final aim; the one Wahaby state.  That is why they forgot the very necessary duty; reforming the Wahaby faith from inside Islam to up-to-date the current world culture of human right, democracy and tolerance.

This is what Egyptians are supposed to do if they have a democratic independent regime.

However, the Saudi State, its official Wahaby agencies and its volunteers along with Muslim Brothers were united under on goal; establishing the one Islamic State peacefully, gradually and slowly by the help of the Millions of Muslim Americans and other millions in the West who will convert to Islam in its Wahaby version.

The war of Afghanistan gave some of them the necessary military training, but the dramatic collapse of the late Soviet Union has left only one cunning enemy; the West and the U.S. who have not converted to Islam in its Wahaby version. The first Gulf war has divided them into two sects; the official scholars of the Saudi regime who have to justify the Saudi policy, and the Wahabi volunteers who fought the enemies in Afghanistan for the Wahabi cause and were eager combat the U.S and the entire infidels. It is very easy to activate the same Wahabi teachings of Jihad, not only against the Saudi Kingdom, but also against the U.S.

This is the birth of September 11 after time of pregnancy lasted from 1745 until 2001.