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Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: michael97123 who wrote (144530)	8/31/2004 2:23:42 PM
From: one_less	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 281500

Wahabism is complex but one of its foundations is salafi tradition. Salafis consider there primary path to be constantly seeking knowledge via Islam and Allah's creation. Unfortunately in the real world the vast majority of followers of a militant Wahabi are illiterate. They devote their lives to following a scholar of Islam because they can never come to the level of knowledge that he has. The irony is that knowledge is not corrolated to character. So, the scholar of religion is just as likely to be a saint as he is to be corrupt. (example in the west = preditory priests). In this case a corrupt scholar can capture their hearts by interpreting the doctrine of Islam in a corrupt way while denying the obvious impacts it is having on creation. Creation is a wonderful filtering and feedback mechanism that helps us realize the truth of scriptural doctrine. Without it we would all be extremists with no practical ability to live as a civilized group. Add to this delemma that the followers, at least in the beginning, are often funded to participate (as in Osamma's case). Most of us have found our selves struggling from time to time, trying to understand why our good intentions are turning out so bad. No less are some of the followers of Wahabism when they check signals with thier hearts and find terrorism to be a conflict. However, they are immersed, and surrounded by support and encouragement for the path they are on and they are offered no practical alternative. Education fills a huge void when people are struggling to live in a righteous way, and dealing with this kind of conflict... Iraq represents a golden opportunity to choose an alternative that was never before available to some people. In this case knowledge of the compatability between Islam and democracy could be the icing on the cake that many Muslims have been praying for. Bottom line... yes, wahabis could easily be assimilated. I know some salafi and I don't feel a need to kill them. The Wahabi need to redefine themselves in the world and that is not impossible to do. They have become power and control focused instead of knowledge focused. For their scholarship they should be revered but the common man must take ownership over his own heart and soul. If the wahabis cannot be turned around then it is usually just the leaders who pose the threat. Just like here in the US when Tim McVey showed us what the Freedom Camp groups were really up to everyone ditched the movements, and went back to their day jobs...course it was easy because the system and democratic institutions was in place. Average joe (or mo) will ditch the Wahabis when there is an alternative.