Has Stephen Schwartz Spoken Justly About 'Wahhabism'?

"...They hate the spiritual side of Islam, or Sufism, as much as Protestants grimaced at the worship of saints and miracles in the Roman church."

- Stephen Schwartz, Terror and Islam

Exactly eleven days after the attacks of September 11, a UK based journal called The Spectator carried a cover story by Stephen Schwartz, a self appointed anti-"Wahhabi" expert, called "Ground Zero and the Saudi Connection." In it, Schwartz states the following about "Wahhabism": "Above all, they hate ostentatious spirituality, much as Protestants detest the veneration of miracles and saints in the Roman Church."

In another article entitled "Terror and Islam," Schwartz, a sufi convert to the Naqshbandi cult, is quoted as saying: "Above all, they hate the spiritual side of Islam, or Sufism, as much as Protestants grimaced at the worship of saints and miracles in the Roman church."

It is indeed true that Salafis do not respect "ostentatious spirituality" with the meaning of pretentiousness and flamboyance. Since Schwartz has taken it upon himself to speak so much about "Wahhabism", it is a shame he did not read some of the works written by Salafi scholars. Had he done so, he would have come across the many volumes of books they have written regarding the subject of tazkiatun-nafs (purification of the soul).

Upon reflection of these statements, one wonders if Schwartz has actually ever picked up the Quran, as the whole Quran, from its beginning to its end, contains different kinds of exhortations to understand and implement tawhid (true monotheism), and the strongest admonitions to shun polytheism. Saint worship, including calling upon dead people, as practiced by a great number of Sufi groups, is from the most obvious contradictions to a person's belief in Islam.

Furthermore, in an article published by The National Review called "Liberation, Not Containment: How to win the war on Wahhabism," Stephen Schwartz compared "Wahhabism" to Nazism. In the same article, he also manages to compare it to "Italian fascism." Not to be outdone by his own self, he proceeds to compare it to "Soviet Communism" because "it recruits cadres worldwide." Lest he be accused of minimizing the perceived condition of the "Wahhabis", he then compares it to "Japanese militarism" because "it is utterly ruthless"!!

It seems that Schwartz' severe hatred for "Wahhabism" has lead him away from objective journalism and into a childish frenzy of baseless insults.

Exposing his lack of understanding, Schwartz refers to "Wahhabized fringe groups like the Taliban and Hezbollah," even though the straying Hezbollah are Iranian backed Shiites and the Taliban are Deobandi Sufis. In speaking about an "anti-Wahhabi war," he says, "Only in a world where Wahhabism has been crushed can we hope for the survival of world peace, and of a legitimate, peaceful Islam."

Feigning to care about the fate of Islam and the Muslims, Schwartz confirms his journalistic ineptitude and lack of integrity by firstly muddling up the creed of the contemporary Qutbist ideology of Osama Bin Laden with that of the orthodox Salafi creed, and thereafter, concluding that the "anti-Wahhabi war" should be fought in Saudi Arabia, "where the enemy is": "The war against terrorism, too, must be fought where the enemy is, and that means the Islamic countries. Wahhabism has declared a war to the death against us, as the Nazis and Communists did. And we must fight Wahhabism to the death, to secure not only our survival but that of Islam itself as a great religion and civilization. Bin Laden and his Saudi backers threaten to bring the world of Islam crashing down in flames as Hitler did Berlin. But just as we liberated the Germans from Hitler and the Japanese from Tojo, we can liberate the world's Muslims from Bin Laden and his Saudi accomplices."

Due to these unbalanced statements, Schwartz can not be considered an objective critic of "Wahhabism" by any means, nor should he be reffered to as an authority on Islam in general.

- abridged from the book: The 'Wahhabi' Myth

Stephen Schwartz, Terror and Islam, CJEE (Chrétiens et Juifs Pour un Enseignement de l'Estime), September 25, 2001. (www.chretiens-et-juifs.org/JIHAD/Terror_and_Islam.htm).

Stephen Schwartz, Liberation, Not Containment: How to win the war on Wahhabism. The National Review, November 30, 2001.

It should be kept in mind that the publication which Schwartz has written for is the same National Review which called for examining the possibility of destroying Islam's holiest city, Mecca, as a deterrent. After one of its readers suggested the nuking of Makkah, or at least Baghdad, Tehran, Gaza City, Ramallah, Damascus, Cairo, Algiers, Tripoli, and Riyadh, editor and television talking head Rich Lowry affirmed the following: "Mecca seems extreme, of course, but then again few people would die and it would send a signal. Religions have suffered such catastrophic setbacks before." Continuing, he said, "And as a general matter, the time for seriousness - including figuring out what we would do in retaliation, so maybe it can have some slight deterrent effect - is now rather than after thousands and thousands more American casualties." (The National Review, Rich Lowry, The Corner, 03/03/2002.)

This is also the same publication that carried an article by the same notorious Ann Coulter who said regarding the Muslims, that America had been "invaded by a fanatical murderous cult" and should therefore "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to Christianity." (This is War: We should invade their countries, Ann Coulter (The National Review, September 13, 2001.)