Alhassanain(p) Network for Heritage and Islamic Thought

‘Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab and Sufism:

A study into the reasons behind and a remedy for increased violent radicalisation among British Muslims’

by

Mr. Anis Ghani Kotia

A dissertation submitted to Islamic College for Advanced Studies in collaboration with Middlesex University in accordance with the requirements of the degree of MA in Islamic Studies in the Faculty of School of Arts

Supervisor:

Dr. R. Masterton

Submission Date:

August 2010

Term, Year:

Summer Term, 2009 / 2010

Table of Contents

Abstract 3

1 Introduction 4

2. Literature Review 6

2.1 Introduction 6

2.2 Wahhabism 7

2.3 The ‘Wahhabi / Salafi critique’8

2.4 Summary 10

3 Wahhabism in a British context 12

3.1 Biographical analysis of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab 12

3.2 Islamist groups of Britain 14

3.2.1 The Salafiyyah 14

3.2.2 Barelvis, Deobandis and Ahl-i-hadith 16

3.2.3 Al-Muhajiroun and Hizb ut-Tahrir 17

3.3 Summary 18

4 Sufism: an alternative perspective for British Muslims 19

4.1 The Wahhabi–Sufi rivalry 19

4.2 Sufism: conclusion 20

5. Field Research 23

5.1 Introduction 23

5.2 Cognitive openings and the process of change 23

5.2.1 Racial and religious discrimination 23

5.2.2 Alienation and segregation 24

5.2.3 Identity crisis 24

5.2.4 International conflict involving Muslims 25

5.2.5 Other factors 25

5.3 Case Studies: bombers in the making 28

5.3.1 Mohammad Sidique Khan (d. 7th July 2005) 28

5.3.2 Omar Sharif (d. 2003) 29

5.3.3 Asim Mohammad Hanif (d. 2003) 29

5.4 Emerging Trends and Observations 30

6. Conclusions and closing remarks 33

Bibliography: 37

Works by Ibn Abd al-Wahhab:37

Other souces:37

Websites 39

Glossary of Terms 41

Abstract

In the British media there is much coverage given to radical and violent acts carried out by British Muslims in the name of Islam such as recent suicide bombings. Though there is an abundance of literature available on the subjects of extremism, fundamentalism, Islamism and Wahhabism it does not adequately address the underlying issues. Whilst prominent Sufi Muslim groups promote their approach as the alternative way and a cure, this would appear to be an oversimplification of the situation. Muslim modernist reformers suggest that Government action is urgently needed to remove the extreme ideologies that are preached within mosques and other institutions and pressure is being brought to bear on the British Muslim community. The question remains as to what the remedy is for the situation.

This dissertation studies the Wahhabi approach to assess its success or failings as an ‘extremist’ Islamic perspective within Britain and analyses Sufism as its potential remedy. The study uses literature along with first and second hand empirical data to research the underlying issues that British Muslims face.

The research leads to the conclusion that the resolution is not formulated by simply backing one or another strand of Islam, be it traditional, extreme or reformist, but by also addressing national and international socio-economic issues that affect the Muslim community in Britain. There are salient points made regarding current efforts of think tanks that appear to overemphasise theological reform. This approach is almost as detrimental to the situation as an over-promotion of any particular Islamic approach; the result could be schism and friction within the Muslim community and further isolation of the community.

The dissertation also recommends engaging with the British youth on a long-term basis and this needs to be from within the community. The Muslim values which enlightened and contributed to the world today need to be recognised and built upon. The inference from this dissertation is that work in this field needs to continue in order to produce positive results which will be mutually beneficial for both the Muslim community as well as the wider British public.

1 Introduction

Terrorism in the UK had previously been associated with the IRA in Northern Ireland. Today, Britain is facing a unique crisis in the form of an increase in terrorist activities perpetrated by people from within the Muslim community. As seen in recent press reports, many are from Westernised families and not, as the media may have portrayed the terrorists of 9/11, imported from Arab countries.

Muslim groups are beginning to deny any part of Muslims in terrorist attacks, however, there are other religious groups appearing in the UK media who are calling for an Islamic government saying that peace in the world will only be achieved through this. The violence has begun to occur only thirty to forty years after the first wave of immigrants from the West Indies and the Indian sub-continent.

The blame is often laid at the door of Wahhabism which is widely known to have been founded by Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1791) and provided the religious zeal to join hands with Muhammad ibn Saud (d.1765) a tribal leader who desired to unite the Arab people of Najd, Saudi Arabia under one banner. Wahhabism is known to preach a puritanical form of Islam in which its opponents are often branded as heretics. Its central raison d’être was to purify the Muslim world of heretic innovations allegedly begun by Sufism. The activities of the Wahhabis of the Najd region included the destruction of tombs of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad which they believed were being used by Sufis for acts of excessive veneration. It allegedly led to the suppression of the populace of Najd (Sunnis and Shiites alike) including the people of Makka and Madina (Kanaan: 2004). Wahhabism is described as ‘extremist, radical, puritanical, contemptuous of modernity, misogynist, and militant….Islamo-fascism…’ (Delong-bas, 2004:3).

In spite of its literalist, inflexible nature, modern day Wahhabism appears to have stood the test of time. This is allegedly due to political backing from the Saudi government funded by petrodollars. In recent times, governments, political analysts and the media have identified it as ‘the major “Islamic threat” facing Western civilisation and the inspiration for Osama bin Laden and his al Qaida network…’ (Ibid.).

Wahhabism is deemed to have links with the Deobandi school of the Indian sub-continent and to have begun to infiltrate western nations, including Britain. The purist Islamic perspective is seen to have influenced a large number of mosques within the UK in which hate speeches are allegedly delivered in which curses are sought on the ‘enemies of Islam’ including Christians and Jews.

Contrary to Wahhabism’s harsh image, Sufism is seen as the antithesis to Wahhabism and other purist ideologies. Sufis claim that not only is Sufism the oldest religious ideology in the history of man, but it is central to Islam. In the words of Sufi Abid Hussain (Geaves, 2000), it always existed; it just didn’t have a name. Sufism is generally known as one of the more accommodating forms of Islam; Sufi masters have been known to study scriptures from other religions and even look for parallels in order to find common ground. The Sufi way of spirituality and love as espoused by Rumi[1] , Hafiz[2] and Saady[3] gives the impression that the way of the Sufi is the closest to that of the Prophet Muhammad and true Islam. As recently as March 2010 the President of Pakistan, Asif Ali Zardari, promoted Sufism as an ideology that could counter ‘extremism’.[4] This has already been attempted in Algeria in its struggles against anti-government violence.[5] Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri a well known scholar of Islam with links to Sufism, issued a decree in 2009 denouncing all forms of terrorism.

This dissertation has two objectives which are to assess Wahhabism’s success or failure in Britain and assess how Sufism as an alternative paradigm addresses the issues of Britain’s youth.

During the course of the dissertation a number of challenges were faced:

Difficulty in finding relevant literature

Given the sensitive nature of this topic, there was a general issue in finding people who were willing to be interviewed. This was despite offering to travel to meet interviewees at their convenience

Where people had agreed to give their views, they often did not deliver

The above challenge was perplexing because it was assumed that the community felt a need to reform in the post 9/11 and 7/7 attacks. The enthusiasm from the community was not forthcoming.

The transliterations of a number of Arabic and Urdu words into English often appear within literature without diacritics although the Arabic and Urdu pronunciations warrant them. An example is the wordjihād often written simply asjihad ; the word Quran is usually found without its two diacritics of ‘ and ā; similarly, the word ḥadīth is often written as hadith. Because of this common inconsistency in the use of diacritics, a decision was made to use diacritic-free English transliterations throughout this dissertation.

2. Literature Review

2.1 Introduction

The Literature Review highlights and analyses extant literature relating to the objectives highlighted in the Introduction. These were to assess Wahhabism’s success or failure in Britain and assess how Sufism as an alternative paradigm addresses the issues of Britain’s youth.

The first objective is addressed in Section 2.2 of the Literature Review and the second objective is addressed in Section 2.3; there is a Summary of literature findings in Section 2.4.

The approach towards analysing Wahhabism was to obtain literature that discussed its political, theological and social perspectives. In order to analyse whether or not Sufism is the alternative paradigm, literature was researched to find the specific failings of Wahhabism that Sufism was addressing.

It has become increasingly obvious that there is a gap in extant literature in addressing the two research objectives above because literature often appears to be superficial, repetitive and one-sided.

2.2 Wahhabism

The term ‘Wahhabism’ bears connotations of an extreme or fundamentalist, pan-Islamic political agenda. It is commonly used by writers on political Islamic movements as well as in the media around the world. Where a definition for Wahhabism can be found, it is usually a repetition of the same themes: ‘Saudi Arabia’, ‘Bin Laden’, ‘Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’ and ‘purist Muslims’.

Some definitions are given below:

‘A conservative and intolerant form of Islam that is practiced in Saudi Arabia:"Osama bin Laden and his followers practice Wahhabism" ‘ [6] ; ‘Conservative Sunni Islamic sect based on the teachings of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, an 18th century scholar from what is today known as Saudi Arabia, who advocated to purge Islam of what he considered innovations in Islam’[7] ; Tariq Ali (2001) describes how Wahhabism poses an international threat and it has formed an international net in which ‘Bin Laden and his gang are just the tentacles ; the head lies safely in Saudi Arabia, protected by US forces’[8] ;Delong-Bas (2004:91) describes Wahhabism as a ‘negative, exclusionary approach in which violence and military action…[play]…a more prominent role.’

The theology of Wahhabism is to be found in the biography of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab (d. 1792). There is an abundance of writing on this topic; however, it is often contradictory and superficial.

Allen’sGod’s Terrorists [9] gives a blistering and useful account of the biographical context and history of Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. It contains a critical commentary on the various escapades of both him and his followers stretching from the eighteenth century to the post-World War II era. Allen (2007:48) also discusses how Ibn Abd al-Wahhab had a Sufi teacher named Muhammad Hayat who originated from India and that Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s purist teachings were by-and-large due to the influence of his other teacher Abd Allah ibn Ibrahim ibn Sayf (d. unknown) who had been an admirer of Shaykh ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328). This gives the reader a mixed message as to what exactly is Wahhabism’s theology and where it positions itself in regard to Sufism. Furthermore, the impression that the reader gets is that Wahhabism and the literalist perspective of Islam are possibly older and more integral to Islam than is commonly believed, but Allen omits any discussion or elaboration on these two notions.

Interestingly, Allen draws from the work of Natana Delong-Bas, a writer who does not portray Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as espousing an intolerant theology as other writers would. Allen (2007:320) appears to be greatly influenced by the bias within the sources he drew from which were largely anti-Wahhabi and pro-British writings of government officials in India’. Furthermore, he confesses that his deficiencies in Arabic, Persian and Urdu mean that a number of important original sources remain unexamined.

Pro-Ibn Abd al-Wahhab writers like Delong-Bas (2004:17) inject discussions on Ibn Abd al-Wahhab with some complexity. She denies his description as a warmonger and active supporter and promoter of violence. She goes on to say that Ibn Abd al-Wahhab believed that women had rights in balance with the rights of men in both public and private life. A further point to note is how Delong-Bas has not greatly used the accounts of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s opponents (2004:16) saying ‘polemical works have largely been discarded in the reconstruction of the biography of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and the early teachings of the Wahhabi movement.’ Delong-Bas (2004:16) claims to have not used the accounts of travellers: none of them were contemporary and where they were, they had not met with Ibn Abd al-Wahhab or any Wahhabis.

The majority of writers usually share the same sentiments as Allen in laying the blame for an extremist form of Islam at the door of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab; however the contradictory views on Ibn Abd al-Wahhab seem to display more than simple differences of opinion on a controversial figure within history; they often show a lack of in-depth analysis and use of convenient sources and historic bias which further discounts the accounts of the man and make any formulation of a Wahhabi theology difficult. The suggestion of bias is substantiated somewhat by Commins (2006:3) ‘[historians need to] choose sides in the argument between Wahhabis and their foes’.

Commins does not appear to add anything to the discussion on Wahhabism or ‘extremist’ Muslims. His book entitledThe Wahhabi Mission and Saudi Arabia is another example of repetitive discussion between the Wahhabi link to the Saudi administration, Egypt’s Brotherhood and Deobandis of the Indian sub-continent. Discussion is therefore on the political and pan-Islamic aspects with little discussion on Sufism as an alternative paradigm and no discussion on issues that relate to Britain. Interesting to note is that Commins (2006:xi) includes Delong-Bas as one of the people who read and commented on portions of his book. The suggestion is that her associates do not echo Delong-Bas’ views of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab as a non-violent man.

Regarding Wahhabism’s social aspects, Commins (2006:126) suggests a natural clash between Wahhabism and secular education, describing a rivalry between the establishment of the first Saudi Arabian university in Riyadh in 1957, subsequently renamed in 1982 as King Saud University, and pressure brought to bear by the Wahhabi establishment for a religious university to balance the Riyadh University’s anticipated secular character. The result was the Islamic University founded at Madina in 1961. Higher education within the Kingdom is often non-existent and this is mentioned by writers (citation needed). However, the discussion by Commins, as with other writers on the subject of Wahhabism, does not address any social projects or initiatives or involvement by so-called Wahhabis in Britain.

Some writers such as Quintan Wiktorowicz (2005) have attempted to tackle the notion ofjihadi or terrorist ideologies in Britain by analysing certain Islamist groups. However, this analysis is irrelevant qua analysis of Wahhabism because its aim is to understand the rise in British Islamist groups that promotejihadi rhetoric and not to discuss the Wahhabi ideology. The work nevertheless is fresh, contemporary and reliable being based on hundreds of interviews with leaders of the Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) and al-Muhajiroun members. Wiktorowicz does not address the objectives of this dissertation because of the absence of any in-depth discussion or comparison between the paradigms of Wahhabism and Sufism.

The lack of unbiased material is coupled with a focus on the political aspects of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab and little analysis on Wahhabism’s theology, or the merits of religious revival which has been a common activity of Islamists throughout the centuries. The writings on Ibn Abd al-Wahhab therefore give a biographical account of the man and his ideologies but despite conflicting evidence regarding him this contradiction is not addressed by any of the writers. The subject appears to have been left inconclusive with further analysis required.

2.3 The ‘Wahhabi / Salafi critique ’

The second objective of this dissertation was to find literature on Sufism being a potentially alternative approach to Wahhabism.

Sufi literature is abundant in public as well as in university libraries. The rivalry of both approaches is often mentioned in what appears to be passing comments within literary works or journalistic articles, but searches on the internet often return little on this topic.

Ron Geaves (2006:147) mentions the ‘Wahhabi/Salafi critique’ which refers to the tendency of ‘anti-Sufi’ movements within Britain to criticise Sufitariqa s. The term alludes to a long line of anti-Sufi activities which has endured through the centuries and manifested in more recent times in the movement of Ibn Abd al-Wahhab. Other than Geaves, few if any other writers use the term Wahhabi/Salafi critique; Geaves himself often does not use it; he writes about the contribution that Sufitariqa s have made to British society such as the welfare activities by the likes of the Ghamkol Naqshbandis of Birmingham, however, he does not elaborate on the possibility of Sufism as an alternative to Wahhabism. Geaves (2000:53) devotes a chapter inThe Sufis of Britain to the ‘Wahhabi critique’. His appraisal, though, does not amount to a detailed discussion. He regards the term Wahhabism as a misnomer (2000:53) because it is often applied to Islamist groups who, although having certain elements in common, do not have any contact with each other.

The polarisation of much of Muslim Britain into either the Wahhabi or the Sufi camps and the potential rivalry between the two positions is not addressed within Sufi literature in any detail. Carl Ernst almost appears to refute such a Wahhabi–Sufi rivalry although his analysis falls short of anything substantial. He (1997:79) suggests that there is not such a clear rivalry between the two when he says that a nineteenth century reformist Sufi thinker named Ahmad ibn Idris of Fez agreed with the ‘Wahhabis in condemning saintly intercession and pilgrimage to their tombs.’ He also describes the inception of the twentieth-century fundamentalist movements by the likes of Hasan al-Banna (d. 1949) in Egypt and Abul Ala Mawdudi (d. 1979) in Pakistan as being raised in social circles where saint-veneration and Sufi orders were the norm giving the impression that the two paradigms can potentially co-exist within a pluralistic society; he even suggests an influence of one group on another by saying that the Wahhabis appropriated the hierarchical social organisation of Sufism. Ernst does not elaborate on this point in any detail though.

Ernst (1997:79) uses the term ‘fundamentalist critique’ to describe fundamentalist rhetoric which ‘claims to rely on the literal word of God instead of human reasoning…’ This would appear the closest that he comes to appraising the potential rivalry of these two paradigms and the closest that any writer researched during this dissertation has come to describing the modern conflict between Wahhabis and Sufis. Ernst mentions the word Wahhabi in his book one more time but does not tackle the issue head on.

Some journalistic articles and interviews with politicians such as the Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari[10] which mention that that Sufism has a role to play in mankind’s struggle for a peaceful world. Again the mention is brief and not explored in depth.

Commins (2006) likewise fails to provide any more in-depth analysis than Geaves or Ernst; he also does not appear to use any term which describes a Wahhabi-Sufi ‘rivalry’ or ‘critique’. Commins (2006:11) however does mention the aversion that Wahhabism had towards Sufism by describing Ibn Abd al-Wahhab’s endeavours as displaying a desire to bring the practices of Sufi orders into conformity with rules of Islamic law. He (2006:20) further supports this by claiming that Ibn Abd al-Wahhab had declared prominent and venerated Sufi masters such as Ibn al-Farid (d. 1235) and Ibn Arabi (d. 1240) to be non-Muslims but that level of analysis is only predictable given that such notions have already been discussed by a number of other writers.

With regard to discussing whether or not Sufism can be regarded as the potential saviour of the British Muslim community, Commins (2006:78) alludes to Sufism being compatible with a pluralistic environment, when he mentions how Sufi orders occupied an important niche in the pluralistic Ottoman religious culture. This is mainly because the Ottomans promoted one type of Sufism within the Muslim empire that supported their rule. But Commins does not follow up this notion and this is indicative of the lack of literature and analysis in this area.

Interesting literature is available from other initiatives such as Dr. Tahir ul-Qadri’s fatwa issued in February 2010 denouncing all forms of terrorism. Qadri does not pit both approaches against each other though. The rivalry can be inferred from the fact that the world was apparently awaiting his fatwa; seeing the media coverage that Qadri received on the internet and radio, there does not appear to have been such a well publicised denunciation of ‘extremism’ from any part of the Muslim world in recent times. Qadri is known as being a prominent Sufi personality heading up a number of welfare projects around the world. This sends a strong message to the world that Sufism has both the potential to contribute to society and bring peace to the more violent strands of the Muslim world.

When writers have painstakingly conducted research and case studies on Islamist groups within Britain they do not appear to have used the term Wahhabism. This obscures the path of Wahhabism from Saudi Arabia to Britain. One such example is that of Wiktorowicz (2005) and his book entitledRadical Islam Rising; Muslim Extremism in the West in which an activist movement called al-Muhajiroun is discussed at some length. He (2005:2) calls Sufism the ‘antithesis’ of fundamentalism. However, throughout the whole book, Sufism is only mentioned in the context of it being rejected by fundamentalists as it apparently violatedtawhid al-ilah (unity of God): Sufis were charged with heresy for saint worship and blindly following their Sufi masters in a way similar to Jews and Christians venerating their saints, rabbis and priests (Wiktorowicz, 2005:171).

Hussain, A’s article entitledCombatting Terrorism with Fethullah Gullen available on Gullen’s website sounds promising but on reading it one can see another example where a struggle between Sufism and Wahhabism and Salafism is mentioned but again the topic is not sufficiently analysed to provide an answer to the question at hand. Neither does it discuss the issues of Britain nor does it critically analyse the two paradigms in enough detail to form a balanced opinion. The writer appears to have already made up their mind about the issue and the statement would appear to have more of an impact left at a sufficiently high level of analysis.

2.4 Summary

The suggestion that Sufism is the antithesis of and a cure for Wahhabism is usually found briefly in some literary works and press articles and is often discussed within Sufitariqa s.[11] The available literature, however, clearly shows that there is a lack of in-depth analysis in this area and the literature does not address the objectives of this dissertation adequately. The situation within the British Muslim community warrants attention and guidance from scholars on the subject of jihad and political activism and scholars appear to have failed to address the issue leaving a gap for writing on this subject.

Literature appears also to ignore the fact that Muslims are the product of socio-political situations and this has been the situation for Islam since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. This is seen in the early theological debates of the Mutazilite, Qadarite and Jabbarite era.

The conclusion is that there is a need for scholarly work which portrays a balanced view on the topic.