Ideological war with Islamic radicalism in the Caucasus

Yesterday Dmitri Medvedev met with Islamic clerics and regional leaders in his summer residence in Sochi to discuss ways of combating the hit and run (or blow yourself up) violence that is occurring across North Caucasus. He proposed setting up a Muslim television, control access to Islamic education abroad and setting up educational programmes for the young. All with the intention to win over hearts and minds of young Muslims who are vulnerable to radical imports from the Middle East. Present at the meeting, Ingush president Yunus-Bek Yevkurov said that military pressure should be the last resort.

Read the Reuters report here

First thing we should know is that unlike in the Reuters report this is no insurgency, this is pure terrorism done by despicable Salafi characters from the Emirate. The insurgency was defeated when the father of the current Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov, Akhmad a former Mufti of Chechnya abandoned jihad against the Russians and joined their side in fight against internationalist Salafism (Wahhabism is one of its branches). I remember seeing late Akhamad on Russian tv few years ago where he explained that Chechens are Sufis traditionally and that Wahhabism is a foreign import. Chechnya became his fiefdom in return for security guarantees to the Russian state. Security means no rebellion, terrorism is a security concern that needs to be addressed but it is nothing serious that deserves headlines like 'Caucasus slipping from Moscow's hands'. After all the Americans applied a similar strategy with the Sunni Awakening in al-Anbar province of Iraq and it has been hailed as a success by all Western media, nevertheless some pretty bloody terrorist attacks still occur in Iraq. 

We must understand that the North Caucasian Muslims are the original inhabitants there and it is them who suffer the most from this mindless violence. It is their fight, all Russia can do is deploy its resources to help them do the job well. Medvedev said that students returning from their Islamic studies abroad must be watched in case they might be inculcated with 'unorthodox' ideas. Its a bit of a misunderstanding of Islam on his part, Islam does not have an orthodoxy. 'Orthodoxy' is defined by groups, i.e. sects, nations, societies. The conflict here is with Wahhabism, forged in the eighteenth century by Muhammad Abd-al-Wahhab as an ideology for the House of Saud in their fight against the Ottoman Turks, who were perceived as heretical. Saudi capture of the holy cities following WWI, together with enormous wealth coming from oil revenues and increasing globalisation, which was recently accelerated by the internet, all this gave this ideology a global outreach and prestige. This ideology is predatory and hostile to all traditional and non-Sunni Islam. It is also the ideology supplying steady stream of hotheads willing to die for the so called Islamic causes by killing innocents who they perceive as heretical or infidel, anywhere from Bosnia to Bali.

Chechens are great fighters and their service is very valued by the Russian military, their country enjoys substantial autonomy and is being rebuilt by Moscow's money. The Emirate's wish is to carve out an Islamic state not only out of Chechnya but the entire North Caucasus and who knows if it wishes to stop there. Such a state would be a security threat to Russia and would result in yet another war and destruction of all that has so far been achieved. I think that what we are witnessing with this meeting is continuation of policy which took off years ago with Putin and Akhmad Kadyrov, who defeated the insurgency. What we are witnessing from the Emirate is nothing but mindless bloodbath, it may be well organised and also well funded (I would not be surprised if the money and management came from the Khaleej or Saudi) but it is governed by anger, hate and thirst for revenge. There needs to be a rational solution to this irrational problem. Hunting the scum in the forest or in the Khaleej (Gulf) is one thing but winning the larger war of ideas is another.

PS: I have seen some videos on youtube were some imebecille calls Kadyrov, Kafirov. This should give you an impressions how these wretches think of other Muslims.

Comments

[mood ring]

The origins of nearly all of the 20th century's Islamic extremist movements lie in a new Islamic theology and ideology developed in the 18th and 19th centuries in tribal areas of the eastern Arabian Peninsula. The source of this new stream of thought was a Muslim scholar named Muhammad ibn Abd-al Wahhab, hence the name "Wahhabism."

The premise of this new, narrow ideology was to reject traditional scholars, scholarship and practices under the guise of "reviving the true tenets of Islam" and protecting the concept of monotheism. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab's brand of "purification" of Islam consisted of prohibiting many traditionally accepted acts of worship, reverence of the person of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him and the pious saints, and burning books containing traditional prayers, interpretations of law and commentaries on the Qur'an and Hadith. He encouraged his followers to interpret the holy books for themselves and to act on their interpretations in light of their own understanding, regardless of their understanding of fundamental principles or lack thereof. Anyone who did not profess to this new ideology was considered outside of the realm of Islam - an apostate, disbeliever or idolater, thus making the shedding of their blood and confiscation of their wealth permitted. In this way, he was able to secure a significant following whose legacy continues in one form or another until today.

Over time, Ibn Wahhab's ideas spread far and wide, being debated, called into question and sometimes supported. A struggle ensued between the staunchly orthodox Ottoman Empire and the "Wahhabi" tribes. The Wahhabis were put down until the eventual dismantling of the Ottoman Empire in the 1920s and the dissolution of its influence. Finding a new opportunity among the tribes, Wahhabis were able to reinstate their beliefs and assert their influence on Muslims of the Peninsula.

Gradually from 1920 until today, they were very successful in establishing an "accepted" new ideology in Islam whose essential characteristic is extreme views and interpretations, as contrasted with traditional Sunni Islam. Coming under the guise of reform of the religion, the movement gathered momentum in the last three decades with support from a number of wealthy individuals. As it has grown, the movement mutated and splintered, with the eventual outcome that some groups went to the extreme in radicalization of their beliefs.

mood ring

[Leoš Tomíček]

This is perhaps the best spam comment here in years, normally you people do not bother to write a topical essay like the above. Unfortunately, the essay can stay, your commercial link cannot. :-)