Wahhab-Saud
I have often wondered whether the world would not be a much better place today if Mr al-Wahhab (1703-1792) had accidentally been killed during one of the periodic Ottoman incursions from the civilised Hedjaz into the primitive Nejd. Sand, it appears, has a tendency to sharpen religious feelings. Mr al Wahhab was no exception. A good preacher (and a reasonably sound theologian, let us give him his due) he preached an austere form of Islam, free of innovation.
I have nothing against austere religious practices. But one man's innovation is another man's sensible life. What may appear practicable in the middle of the desert may not be so in more inhabited areas. And if all innovation in religion is wrong, then why on earth did God give us brains? I flatly refuse to believe that God created man so that, come some time later, the modus vivendum of the Arab tribes in Mecca and Medina of the 7th century AD would become the accepted norm for humanity. Nope, sorry. Never mind that Mr al Wahhab's followers believe that anyone who doesn't follow their teachings is not a Muslim. That to conceive of oneself as possessing the sole truth is a grand exercise in not only egotism but is heretical doesn't seem to cross their minds.
Anyway, Mr al Wahhab joined forces with a certain Mr bin Saud. Fast forward to 1932, and the decendants of both helped create the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And thus Wahhabism moved from being a fringe group to the ruling religious ideology of a country. And today, the King of Saudi Arabia visits Turkey. Frankly, I'd prefer my foreign investment to be less tainted with a religious ideology that is so perverse.
I have nothing against austere religious practices. But one man's innovation is another man's sensible life. What may appear practicable in the middle of the desert may not be so in more inhabited areas. And if all innovation in religion is wrong, then why on earth did God give us brains? I flatly refuse to believe that God created man so that, come some time later, the modus vivendum of the Arab tribes in Mecca and Medina of the 7th century AD would become the accepted norm for humanity. Nope, sorry. Never mind that Mr al Wahhab's followers believe that anyone who doesn't follow their teachings is not a Muslim. That to conceive of oneself as possessing the sole truth is a grand exercise in not only egotism but is heretical doesn't seem to cross their minds.
Anyway, Mr al Wahhab joined forces with a certain Mr bin Saud. Fast forward to 1932, and the decendants of both helped create the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. And thus Wahhabism moved from being a fringe group to the ruling religious ideology of a country. And today, the King of Saudi Arabia visits Turkey. Frankly, I'd prefer my foreign investment to be less tainted with a religious ideology that is so perverse.
posted by MadBadTurk at 8:00 AM
2 Comments:
Most of Ataturks soldiers in Gallipolli were religous arabs, they rescued your ass from british occupation
FYI, the british created the kingdom of saud after beating the Ottoman Turks.
Arabs had also been traitors to Ottomans during the WWI. British and French spies provocated the Arabs against the Ottomans, and the soldiers fighting against Ottomans in the south fronts were surely not British. Ottomans had already lost the Arabian provinces while the Turks were fighting in Gallipoli. Sure there were Arabs among them, Ottoman Arabs.
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