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Seeking to Spark Sectarian War, ISIS Bombs Saudi Arabia


By Ryan Mauro, Mon, May 25, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.clarionproject.org/analysis/seeking-spark-sectarian-war-isis-bombs-saudi-Arabia

A family member of a slain victim mourns after arriving at the shiite Imam Ali mosque, the site of a suicide bomb attack, in the village of al-Qadeeh in the eastern province of Gatif, Saudi Arabia where an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself during Friday prayers. Twenty people were killed and more than 50 were wounded.
A family member of a slain victim mourns after arriving at the shiite Imam Ali mosque, the site of a suicide bomb attack, in the village of al-Qadeeh in the eastern province of Gatif, Saudi Arabia where an ISIS suicide bomber blew himself during Friday prayers. Twenty people were killed and more than 50 were wounded.
isis_flagThe Islamic State (ISIS) suicide bombing in Saudi Arabia on May 23 is significant in that it’s the group’s first claimed suicide bombing in the country, but it’s also a strategic move to spark sectarian upheaval in the Shiite-majority province that holds 90% of royal family’s oil reserves.

The Islamic State is trying to spark a cycle of sectarian violence that will destabilize Saudi Arabia and heighten the Royal Family’s tension with Iran. The terror group thrives in environments where Shiites(*) feel they need Iranian protection and where Sunnis(*) feel threatened by real or imagined Iranian influence. The Saudi Eastern Province has the added benefit of endangering the Royal Family’s most critical resource.

The bombing’s objective is to spur Islamic State supporters in Saudi Arabia into action against the Shiites and the royal family. An October 2014 poll found that 5% of the Saudi population of 29 million has a positive opinion of the Islamic State (2% very positive and 3% somewhat positive).

The Saudi population includes about 8.5 million foreign residents, and it is unclear if they are included in the poll. This means that the Islamic State has a pool of somewhere between 1 million and 1.45 million supporters in Saudi Arabia that could be inspired to act. The prospects for the Islamic State are much brighter if an atmosphere of sectarian warfare is instigated; a scenario that can be easily envisioned.

The sensitivity of the Saudi royal family to the bombing’s impact on sectarianism was evident in the immediate booking of the grand mufti on state television to condemn the attack on “sons of the homeland.” The language was deliberately chosen to assure the Shiite minority that the Saudi government cares about their well-being and to distance itself from any Salafists(*) who may cheer the bombing.

The New York Timesreported on how Saudis were declining to donate blood in the wake of the Islamic State bombing, deriding them as infidels and one saying that a Shiite “does not deserve even my spit.” Although there are Saudi Sunnis who stand up for Shiites — like one prominent human rights activist who is a leader in the Shammar tribe — their rarity is apparent in the very fact that their activism makes news headlines.

The Saudi government may deploy Salafist-dominated security forces to the Eastern Province to prevent attacks and to stop the Shiites from holding large demonstrations of grief that could easily turn political and demand better treatment.

The Eastern Province is known for its protests against the Saudi government and subsequent arrests of activists and clerics demanding an end to discrimination and democratic reform. The leader of the Municipal Council in Qatif, where the bombing took place, has already blamed the Saudi government for promoting anti-Shiite sentiment.

Through the bombing, the Islamic State has created a catch-22: Any move by the Saudi government to enhance security in the province risks inflaming the passions of the Shiites, resulting in clashes and oppression that further the cycle.

The popularity of Sunni terrorist groups known for oppressing Shiites is a strong indication of how quickly sectarian fervor could sweep across Saudi Arabia, particularly if there are mass Shiite protests and Iran rallies to their side.

The aforementioned poll found that 52% of Saudis support Hamas and 33% support the Muslim Brotherhood(*). A November 2014 poll by Zogby showed that Saudi Arabia is the only Middle Eastern besides Turkey where a majority (53%) feel that the Muslim Brotherhood played a positive role in Egypt and Tunisia.

A frightening 15% of Saudis most favor Al-Qaeda’s branch in Syria, Jabhat al-Nusra, among all the forces fighting the Syrian regime. About 9% support the Islamic Front, a Saudi-backed Salafist group and 3% preferred the Islamic State.

The Iranian regime and its radical Shiite proxies like Hezbollah and the Houthis are looking for an opportunity to strike back at the Saudis for their military intervention in Yemen and ongoing support for Syrian rebels. There is no better opportunity than upheaval in the Eastern Province, especially at this time when Iran’s economy is suffering from low oil prices.

The objective of the bombing in Qatif is to make Saudi Arabia an extension of the Shiite-Sunni battlefield seen in Iraq, Syria and Yemen. And the Islamic State isn’t crazy for thinking it could happen. Picture8

(*)GLOSSERY OF TERMS:

Sunnis;

Branch of Islam that represents 85-90% of Muslims. Sunnis believe that Abu Bakr, the father of Muhammad’s wife Aisha, was Muhammad’s rightful successor and that the method of choosing leaders is the consensus of the Muslim community.

Salafist;

Islamic movement formed in the early 20th century that holds that Muslims must reject much of modernity and replicate the lifestyle of Mohammed and early Islamic authorities; often used synonymously with Wahhabism.

Muslim Brotherhood;

A worldwide Islamist organization founded in Egypt in 1928 by Hassan al-Banna that seeks to implement Sharia-based governance globally.

Ryan Mauro is ClarionProject.org’s national security analyst, a fellow with Clarion Project and an adjunct professor of homeland security. Mauro is frequently interviewed on top-tier television and radio. Read more, contact or arrange a speaking engagement.

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Egyptian Government Closes 27,000 MOSQUES in Move to Fight Terrorism


Posted by Jim Hoft on Tuesday, March 3, 2015

URL of the Original Posting Site: http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2015/03/egyptian-el-sisi-government-closes-27000-mosques-in-move-to-fight-terrorism/

sisi davos

Egyptian President Abdel-Fatteh El-Sisi told attendees at Davos that Islam was in need of a “religious revolution.”

The Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowment shuttered 27,000 local mosques under the pretext of fighting terrorism.
Al-Monitor reported:

The Egyptian Ministry of Religious Endowment has shuttered 27,000 local places of worship under the pretext of fighting terrorism, while awarding 400 preaching permits to Salafists**.

An Egyptian administrative court on Feb. 18 upheld the Ministry of Religious Endowments’ decision issued in September 2013 to close down neighborhood places of worship of less than 80 square meters (861 square feet), a move intended to protect young people from the militancy and extremism that can prevail in such places, which lack the legal standing to hold Friday prayers.

This move sets a precedent that raises many questions about the fate of mosques in many Egyptian villages, the grounds of which are usually less than 80 square meters. In reply, opponents of the decision such as the Salafist Nour Party claimed that closing down places of worship without providing a larger alternative serves to further bolster extremist ideology, considering that the larger existing mosques cannot accommodate Friday worshippers who line surrounding streets to pray. On the opposite end of the spectrum, supporters of the decision such as intellectuals and scholars say that those mosques are time bombs that threaten national security, as they fall outside the purview of the Ministry of Religious Endowments and are used to spread subversive ideologies.

Meanwhile, Barack Obama will not even utter the words “Islamic terrorism.”

**Salafists:

Salafi movement

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not to be confused with Salaf.

The Salafist movement, also known as the Salafi movement, is a movement within Islam that references the Salafist doctrine known as Salafism. Many Muslims in Qatar, UAE and Saudi Arabia identify as Salafists:[1] 46.87% in Qatar,[1] 44.8% in UAE,[1] 5.7% in Bahrain and 2.17% in Kuwait.[1]

Salafis are the “dominant minority” in Saudi Arabia.[2] There are 4 million Saudi Salafis, with that country’s population being described as 22.9% Salafis while most of the rest are Wahhabi.[1][3] The Salafi movement is often described as synonymous with Wahhabism, but Salafists consider the term “Wahhabi” derogatory.[4] Observers differ over whether Salafi are the same as Wahhabis or not. At other times, Salafism has been described as a hybrid of Wahhabism and other post-1960s movements.[5] Salafism has become associated with literalist, strict and puritanical approaches to Islam – and, particularly in the West, with the Salafi Jihadis who espouse offensive jihad against those they deem to be enemies of Islam as a legitimate expression of Islam.[6]

Academics and historians have used the term “Salafism” to denote “a school of thought which surfaced in the second half of the 19th century as a reaction to the spread of European ideas” and “sought to expose the roots of modernity within Muslim civilization.”[7][8] However contemporary Salafis follow “literal, traditional … injunctions of the sacred texts”, looking to Ibn Taymiyyah rather than the “somewhat freewheeling interpretation” of 19th century figures Muhammad Abduh, Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, and Rashid Rida.[9][10] The Muslim Brotherhood is often differentiated from Salafi, although the group did include the term in the “About Us” section of its website.[11]

It is often reported from various sources, including the German domestic intelligence service, that Salafism is the fastest-growing Islamic movement in the world.[12][13][14][15]

In legal matters, Salafis are divided between those who, in the name of independent legal judgement (ijtihad), reject strict adherence (taqlid) to the four schools of law (madhahib) and others who remain faithful to these.

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