Khaled Beydoun, author of a preposterous book about “Islamophobia,” has taken to the pages of Al Jazeera (the media mouthpiece of the government of Qatar, now at daggers drawn with Saudi Arabia) to deplore what he sees as blaming Islam for the murder of Khashoggi.
The Khashoggi affair is yet another reason for the world to abandon the assumption that the kingdom represents Islam.
The recent disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi has the world’s fingers pointed in the direction of the Saudi government, specifically at its de-facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman….
And where Saudi Arabia is the subject of wrongdoing, Islam stands alongside it. Collaterally implicated and indicted as the source of the vile actions taken by a government that, since its inception as a sovereign state, has been popularly anointed as the living embodiment of the religion.
This, again, was the case with the Khashoggi affair. The unknown whereabouts of the journalist, widely regarded to be among the most courageous indigenous critics of the Saudi regime, implicated Islam in the minds of many. The “redeployment of Orientalist tropes,” as articulated by law scholar Leti Volpp, surged to the surface and steered the popular discourse, driving immediate conclusions that Islam itself is “intolerant to criticism,” “resistant to independent media voices,” and “suppressive of dissidence.”
These blanket assessments of the religion, spurred by the actions of the Saudi state, colored conversations about Khashoggi’s disappearance, and cast Islam as the source of Saudi actions. However, what is more insidious than these stereotypes is the assumption that undergirds them: specifically, that Saudi Arabia itself is the primary manifestation of Islam, and everything that it does is representative of the religion.
Saudi Arabia does not represent Islam. Despite its best efforts to promote and project itself as the symbol and “centre of Islam,” the Saudi state represents a regime steered by a desperate and austere few and, namely, one Mohammed bin Salman. Home to Medina and Mecca, the two holiest sites in Islam, the regime leverages its role as ward to these cities to shroud its legitimacy with religion; and function as the gatekeeper to the 1.8 billion Muslims around the globe called to enter its bounds to complete the mandated pilgrimage to Mecca. Being home to these holy sites has been just as potent as its boundless supply of crude oil to sustain the regime, with ruling monarch after monarch strategically intertwining the heft of their petrodollars with the global promotion of Wahhabism to propel the idea that Saudi Arabia and Islam are interchangeable entities.
Let’s be clear: while the bulk of the idea that Islam and Saudi Arabia are one is rooted in Orientalist ideas and portrayals of Saudi clerics, sheiks and monarchs as the very archetypes of Islam, Saudi Arabia itself has been very intentional in distilling that idea and disseminating it broadly in the Middle East, Muslim majority countries, and the West. In fact, Wahhabi thought is largely intolerant of other Islamic traditions, and holds itself out to be the only authentic mode of Islamic practice. In addition to this, strategic alliances with global powers, principally the US, have emboldened the Saudi regime to further its project of positioning itself as the political representative of Islam. For better, and far more frequently, as represented by the Khashoggi affair, for worst.
But it does not represent Islam, before and especially today. Saudi Arabia is just one nation, which enshrines an austere and primitive interpretation of Sunni Islam, Wahhabism. This tradition is only practised within the country of approximately 32 million people and other nations where the Saudi regime has spread its influence by way of direct economic and political influence, or indirectly, through the spread of terror networks. In fact, Indonesia, Pakistan and India are home to far bigger Muslim populations, and Nigeria has two-and-a-half times the number of Muslim citizens as Saudi Arabia. Beyond its spiritual and demographic shortcomings, Muslims globally are beginning to see Saudi Arabia as a blight to how Islam and Muslims are viewed, a sentiment that is especially strong in the US.
To highlight the force of the popular association of Saudi Arabia with Islam, it is common for both media pundits and lay people to conflate the whole of Islam with the aberrant tradition of Wahhabism, viewing the latter as a stand-in for a religion comprised of distinct sects, subsects, and diverse schools of thought. Again, this is in great part the work of prominent Orientalists and modern Islamophobes, but also the intended fruit of Saudi policy and propaganda, proselytization and posturing. At most, Saudi Arabia represents the insular and static canon of Wahhabism. But further investigation of its domestic and global maneuvering even renders that position obsolete, revealing that the regime is fundamentally driven by the all-costs ambition of one crown prince and the shadowy figures backing his rise to power.
In what way does “Wahhabism” represent an “insular and static canon”? Having spent $100 billion to promote Wahhabism, it is certainly no longer either insular nor static. Wahhabism is simply the name that has been given to the strict Saudi version of Salafism, which stands for a deliberate return to the purity of early Islam. It is literalist, strict, and puritanical. Khaled Beydoin claims that Salafism, under the name Wahhabism, is only to be found in Saudi Arabia. But Salafism has appeared in a great many countries other than Saudi Arabia: half the Muslims in the U.A.E. and Qatar call themselves “Salafists.” Salafists are found, thanks in large part to Saudi financial support for mosques and imams, all over the Muslim world: in Pakistan, in Nigeria (the Uzala Society), in the Sudan (only 10% of the population is now Salafi, but they continue to make inroads against the 60% who are Sufis). Salafists have been increasing in numbers, and shown their power by destroying Sufi mosques and shrines in Somalia, Egypt, Chechnya, and a half-dozen other Muslim countries. Their greatest act of civilizational vandalism was the destruction by Salafists of the ancient Muslim library in Timbuktu, Mali. In the United States, the Sufi cleric Hisham Kabbani claims that 80% of the mosques he investigated were “Wahhabi” or “Salafist” in orientation.
The Saudi regime is not yet a one-man affair, as Khaled Beydoun seems to think. In fact, it is farther away than ever. MBS has been shaken by the Khashoggi fiasco, and will be even less able to consolidate all power in his hands after the death of King Salman. His ambitions are not nearly as sinister as Khaled Beydoun seems to think. What, after all, has MBS done so far? First, he rounded up both rich businessmen and members of the ruling family whom he accused of corruption, and holding them hostage in a luxury hotel, forced them to disgorge to the Saudi state $100 billion in ill-gotten gains. That is something no previous leader in Saudi Arabia had attempted. Was he hypocritical, given his $500 million dollar yacht, and his $400 million French chateau? Of course. But he has made a start, in combating the culture of corruption, by clawing back $100 billion, much of it from his relatives.
jewdog says
Khashoggi was a vile, Israel-hating, Islamic hardliner who wrote for the leftist sheet WaPo. He was murdered by agents of a corrupt, backward, reactionary state which could not abide his critiques. There was nothing unusual about his mob-like rub out in that part of the world where Islamic ethics is synonymous with Judeo-Christian criminality. Let’s not blame Saudi Arabia itself, so much as violent and intolerant Islam for the deceased’s despicable views and for his cold-blooded murder.
mortimer says
But, JD, Soddy Barbaria FOLLOWS THE SUNNA (sacred example) of MOHAMMED WHO SENT OUT HITMEN TO ASSASSINATE HIS PERSONAL CRITICS !!!
The Soddy Barbarians are BEHAVING AS BARBARICALLY AS MOHAMMED … no more, no less.
Learn how Mohammed ASSASSINATED WRITERS…
Read this ARTICLE to be convinced: “Muhammad’s Dead Poets Society”
https://www.answering-islam.org/Authors/Arlandson/dead_poets.htm
jewdog says
The article fleshes out the details. If one imitates Mo, then assassinating critics is de rigueur, or par for the course. In Islamic history, there were the Hashishin, the Shiite-like Ismailis who tried to assassinate Saladin, medieval precursors of the suicide bombers. Khashoggi was no Saladin, of course, but he was a critic.
jule says
This has been in the works for Qatar/Muslim Bros/alQaeda for 10 years AT Least..but with things falling in place, like allies of Iran/Turkey/Pakistan, & the fail of Yemen/Iraq/Syria, they will only get full on violent. (I could never trust Saudi either and they are as vile as the rest of Islam BUT..the others want us gone and feel so challenged to find a way to get at us again. Its an ego thing as well as Qur’ans orders. I used to read alJazeeras propaganda)
Bill Quest says
The real Khashoggi, a cynical and manipulative apologist for Islamic terrorism, not the mythical martyred ‘journalist’ dissident whose demise the feckless western media has spent the most part of 3 months mourning for !
While Jamal Khashoggi has often been misidentified as a Washington Post journalist, all he did for the radical leftist paper owned by Amazon’s CEO is write editorials promoting the Muslim Brotherhood agenda. The Muslim Brotherhood leader and former Bin Laden pal was never a bona-fide journalist. The closest he came to that trade was acting as a terrorist propagandist in Afghanistan, glamorizing Osama bin Laden.
This whole sob story is about Amazon CEO ‘s losing his cherished anti-western scribe ……
It’s high time to drop that mourning garb….. and turn a jaundice eye at the persecution of real journalists worldwide…perchance turning a jaundiced eye at Recep Tayyip-yip-yip-yip Erdoğan’s Turkey …… Perchance….. Egypt, Pakistan, Sudan, North Korea, China…….
Jamal the western media’s cherished Muslim Brotherhood shahid ….
Jamal’s sleazy Muslim Brotherhood creds caught up with him….. when you sup with al-Shaitan bring a long spoon…
gravenimage says
Both are true–Khashoggi was Muslim Broitherhood, and his murderers were also Islamic thugs.
It is just like the Nazi Night of the Long Knives.
Kesselman says
The futile activities to talk away the intertwined relation between religion, culture, and policy in every human realm is shown in Khaled Beydoun’s writings. – People do right in taking distance to Moslems generally. It seems that you cannot be a Moslem and be truthfully at the same time.
mortimer says
Khaled Beydoun is not TRUTHFUL about the ‘CONSENSUS’ of Sunnite Islam. He pretends that on his own authority, he can invent a NEW VERSION of Islam.
He also suggests that what he calls ‘ORIENTALISM’ is the BIG PROBLEM.
The fact of the matter is ORIENTALISM comes from certain colleges and universities where CRITICAL TEXTUAL METHODS are APPLIED TO ISLAMIC PRIMARY SOURCE TEXTS to discover if they have any COHERENCE, HISTORICITY or ETHICAL VALIDITY.
When ‘Orientalist’ (non-Muslims who study Islam) find DISCREPANCIES, SELF-REFERENTIAL INCOHERENCY, ETHICAL OPPORTUNISM and LACK OF HISTORICITY or a LACK OF TEXTUAL “PROVENANCE” … then SUBJECTIVIST, OBSCURANTIST MUSLIMS like Khaled Beydoun cry “FOUL” …
Khaled Beydoun is merely applying the DHIMMI CONTRACT to modern scholars who FIND TEXTUAL, INTELLECTUAL, PHILOSOPHICAL, ETHICAL and HISTORICAL PROBLEMS within the Islamic PRIMARY TEXTS.
Oh, dear, BEYDOUN … we would anyone to use INDEPENDENT REASONING IN SCHOLARSHIP, WOULD WE ???
OK, BEYDOUN, we’ll all just elect you as the next POPE OF ISLAM and YOU CAN TELL THE WORLD WHAT TO THINK. Then to enforce YOUR views, Beydoun, you can set up your own HIT SQUADS to enforce YOUR VERSION of Islam.
mortimer says
correction: “we WOULDN’T anyone to use INDEPENDENT REASONING IN SCHOLARSHIP, WOULD WE ???” (sarc/off)
jule says
This has been in the works for Qatar/Muslim Bros/alQaeda for 10 years AT Least..but with things falling in place, like allies of Iran/Turkey/Pakistan, & the fail of Yemen/Iraq/Syria, they will only get full on violent. (I could never trust Saudi either and they are as vile as the rest of Islam BUT..the others want us gone and feel so challenged to find a way to get at us again. Its an ego thing as well as Qur’ans orders. I used to read al Jazeeras propaganda)
jule says
Surely he is NO authority. An Egyptian-American who returned to Cairo for the ‘Great Arab Spring’ of Muslim Bros/alQaeda/Salafists (who are rampant in Egypt, Turkey, Israel & territories…all over) He’s all Free Egypt from al Sissi, who is an authority on MB’s and that they also are not acceptable ‘Islam’, which only means they ARE but tribal.
mortimer says
And the Vatican doesn’t represent Roman Catholicism … (sarc/off)
Khaled Beydoun believes he is SMARTER and knows Islamic jurisprudence better than all the teachers at Al Azhar University… teachers who spend their whole lives studying and PROMOTING THE CLASSICAL CONSENSUS of SUNNISM.
What AUTHORITY is Khaled Beydoun using to condemn CLASSICAL, CONSENSUS SUNNISM … presumably, Beydoun projects HIS OWN AUTHORITY. But what is that? Nothing.
Khaled Beydoun has written clearly to defend MODERATE ISLAM … a watered down version of Islam for today.
Sharia law calls Beydoun’s watered down Islam “KUFR” (wrong-worshipping or heresy) and “BIDA” (innovation to modernize or MODERATE Sharia law to make it seem easier in an INFIDEL CULTURE).
KHALED BEYDOUN chiefly is guilty of the following ERRORS AGAINST SHARIA … 1. Kufrul-’Inaad: Disbelief out of stubborness. 2. Kufrul-Inkaar: Disbelief out of denial. 3. Kufrul-Kibr: Disbelief out of arrogance and pride. 4. Kufrul-Juhood: Disbelief out of rejection.This applies to someone who aknowledges the truth in his heart, but rejects it with his tongue. 5. Kufrul-Nifaaq: Disbelief out of hypocrisy. 6. This applies to someone who pretends to be a believer but conceals his disbelief. 7. Kufrul-Istihaal: Disbelief out of trying to make HARAM into HALAL. 9. Kufrul-I’raadh: Disbelief due to avoidance. This applies to those who turn away and avoid the truth. 10. Kufrul-Istibdaal: Disbelief because of trying to substitute human laws for Allaah’s Laws. (Summary at Bottom)
Khaled Beydoun is writing for SECULAR GODLESS KAFIRS and DOPEY DHIMMIS who believe any soothing nonsense that CONTRADICTS SHARIA LAW.
Khaled Beydoun knows that … he is crafty, slippery eel. Wahhabism is REFORMED, BACK-TO-BASICS Islam … puritan Islam … basic Islam without additions or substractions.
Khaled Beydoun promotes PICK-AND-CHOOSE Islam, ‘cafeteria’ Islam, ISLAM-À-LA-CARTE.
jule says
Its all Muslim Bros/al Qaeda from all over isn’t it? (in Canada and US too) And now joining with Iran/Turkey. They are not harmless or righteous.
jule says
You are right but now he thinks USA will fall for him as the American Muslim Brotherhood authority. After all, he went back to Egypt for the beginning of the Great ‘Arab’ (Muslim Brotherhood) Spring. Islam pretends like ‘there is no Boss, no King’ but each and every one tries to BE it. However, they all speak Arab for a reason…and it was NOT indigenous to Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Levant region, Iraq, or any Muslim country but Arabia.
Indiana Tom says
The Saudi Regime Does Not Represent Islam
Islam is Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is Islam.
Guy Forester says
Ding! Ding! Ding!
You win the prize for best analysis and explanation of the issue.
The House of Saud = KSA = Traditional Arabian Islam = KSA = House of Saud
Remove any one of these from the equation and the other two will cease to exist shortly.
jule says
Shhh, don’t tell that to Iran. (or Pakistan, Qatar, Turkey Etc.)
Bill Quest says
The hajj , that mandatory Islamic pilgrimage , held in Mecca inseminates a heavy dose of Saudi Wahhabism to a captive audience ….. Brainwashing millions of star-struck Muslims every year … Pious fools lapidating their perceived demons with a expensive little rocks sold at this 21st century circus maximus …
Terry Gain says
If not KSA then what country is the true representative of Islam? Almost all Muslim countries are human rights cesspools, which is hardly surprising given the evil nature of Islam.
https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world-2018-table-country-scores
Duncan says
Useful site, Terry. Thank you!
Guy Forester says
Dear KB:
Please go and do some reading and you will find that middle eastern despots, regardless of religion, race, or ethnicity have been doing this to their enemies, real or imagined, since recorded history (and probably before). Sometimes, they do this just because they can.
jule says
And to think he has been TEACHING at Berkeley and some other Universities! Its a disgrace.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Fitzgerald, the only reason why you the supporters of the most wicked people on earth the fascist evil zionists support idiot bastard murderer Ibn salman is that he supports the sinister agenda of whipping out the Palestinians and residents of Sinai and Golan height territories for the expansion of fascist evil Zionist State of Israel. what do you mean by MBS fighting corruption in Saudi Arabia?Because he bribed kushner with the sum of $700 millions to get him out of the case of khashoggi murder by mad devil Trump?Remember, the Congress is ready to investigate mad devil Trump for receiving financial inducements through his company from MBS. As stated by the scholar ,MBS or Saudi monarchs are not representing Islam. you Mr Fitzgerald represent the mindsets of liars.
Singer says
ibrahim itace m0-hamhead – mate. You are the stupidest moslims I’ve encountered in my lifetime and given the inbreeding of the majority of moslims, which substantiates moslims as the lowest Intelligent Quotient (IQ) group of homo Sapiens on the planet, that places you somewhere between the original mad m0-hamhead (of Mekka/Medina heritage) and camels in order of intelligence.
Have another glass of Camel piss and get back to us.
kabooooooooooooooom says
A question for you Singer. When you reference the “the original mad m0-hamhead (of Mekka/Medina heritage)” am I correct in assuming you are referring to the pervert, psychopath, murderer, paedophile, monster who created islam?
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
singer, your satan god you call Holy Spirit is the source of mental delusion and horrible bad smells which he emits into your bodies while having anus sex with you while you are busy fucking your horrible bad smelly ladies. I cannot even take food comfortably while you dirty ugly monkeys are present. you resemble your one-eyed Satan god. you are provoking me to kick your satan pagan god harder on his nose. scums of horrible bad smells!!
jule says
Now I see why some in USA call this a hate site. Its because of thinkers like you. To think someone talks like this but calls others evil satans.
You are really hard to read. Is this what Islam taught you?
gravenimage says
Notice that Ibrahim itace muhammed is saying that the mere presence of Infidels “provokes” him to violence.
He also first started ranting about this when told some months back that infidels make love to their wives rather than brutally forcing them to have sex as Muslims so often do.
gravenimage says
Ibrahim itace muhammed knows that Muslims murdering their critics is perfectly Islamic–he has, many times here, demanded that his coreligionists butcher anyone who criticizes Islam or its representatives.
The only difference here is that he considers the Saudis rivals to his own Jihad gang, who he wants to see in control of the “Kingdom of the Two Holy Places” instead.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Liar Gravenimage,you are becoming more closer to the satan you call Holy Spirit who inspires you to give more support to the most wicked people on earth the fascist evil Zionist State of Israel. you try to make retreat in Nigeria wearing winged gowns jumping up and down to fly to heaven for more orientations because heaven is closer in Nigeria mithraist christians Kill Muslims ànd eat dead bodies as sacrifice to appease one-eyed Satan god you call Holy Spirit. make sure you memorise “mutashi mutashi, mutashi zuwa sama inda Ubangiji (we rise up we rise up, we rise up to heaven to meet our god) “.
gravenimage says
The unhinged Ibrahim itace muhammed wrote:
Liar Gravenimage,you are becoming more closer to the satan you call Holy Spirit who inspires you to give more support to the most wicked people on earth the fascist evil Zionist State of Israel. you try to make retreat in Nigeria wearing winged gowns jumping up and down to fly to heaven for more orientations because heaven is closer in Nigeria mithraist christians Kill Muslims ànd eat dead bodies as sacrifice to appease one-eyed Satan god you call Holy Spirit. make sure you memorise “mutashi mutashi, mutashi zuwa sama inda Ubangiji (we rise up we rise up, we rise up to heaven to meet our god) “.
……………………
First, notice that Ibrahim itace muhammed does not even address his demands that anyone be murdered if they say anything at all critical of Islam.
Then, I have never said that heaven is closer to Nigeria–what a bizarre concept. And I see that he is babbling again about Christians donning “winged gowns” and “jumping up to heaven”–of course, there is no such Christian belief.
As for this:
“mutashi mutashi, mutashi zuwa sama inda Ubangiji (we rise up we rise up, we rise up to heaven to meet our god)
This is, of course, a complete mistranslation. This passage refers to the resurrection of Christ–not to Christians jumping up and down thinking they can fly to heaven.
Such ignorance might be laughable–save that Ibrahim itace muhammed wants to murder Christians over his ignorance.
And no–there is no human sacrifice in Christianity–would we could say the same of bloody Islam.
gravenimage says
Khaled Beydoun: The Saudi Regime Does Not Represent Islam (Part One)
…,………………….
What is more Islamic than Muslims assassinating their critics? The “Prophet” Muhammed himself had his critics murdered.
Sam says
Islam is such an idiotic and evil ideology that anyone can make an absurd comment about it. True nature of Islam surfaces through terror, murder, beheadings, honor killings, genital mutilations, throwing gays off roofs and so on.
People still call this ideology “religion of peace” including presidents. Can it get any bazaar than this?
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Liar Gravenimage, happy your Xmas celebrations!Are you travelling to Nigeria during Easter wearing winged gowns to join mithraist christian barbarians to fly to heaven to meet the satan you call Holy Spirit chanting “mutashi mutashi, mutashi zuwa sama inda Ubangiji (we rise up we rise, we rise up to heaven to meet our god ? mithraist Nigerian Christians said heaven is closer in Nigeria because they Kill Muslims ànd fry and eat dead bodies as sacrifice to appease one-eyed Satan god you call Holy Spirit.
jule says
Maybe this is partly culture clash. Nigeria and USA are SO DIFFERENT. We just do not understand you or the kind of life you may have lived and you not ours. Talk about stereotypes. Mithras is not Christian and not all in USA are Christian. Maye in Nigeria some early Persians turned Christian brought some strange ideas to you? As it stands, there can be no real communication.
Ibrahim itace muhammed says
Jule, you mean mithraist christians in the evil United States are not drinking Muslim bloods and eating the flesh to appease one-eyed Satan god you call Holy ?your masters the fascist evil zionists kill Palestinians and consume Muslim the fats to appease the satan In yahweh and his wife Ashera hero gods of evils pursuant to obnoxious Talmud. check
jule says
Absolutely not understandable.
jule says
I just want to ask a serious, if naive, question….are you a Muslim?
Did islam teach you this?
gravenimage says
More from the deranged Ibrahim itace muhammed:
Liar Gravenimage, happy your Xmas celebrations!Are you travelling to Nigeria during Easter wearing winged gowns to join mithraist christian barbarians to fly to heaven to meet the satan you call Holy Spirit chanting “mutashi mutashi, mutashi zuwa sama inda Ubangiji (we rise up we rise, we rise up to heaven to meet our god ?
……………………………..
As noted, this phrase is actually about the resurrection of Christ, not about Christians flying to heaven wearing “winged gowns”–whatever those are.
More:
mithraist (sic) Nigerian Christians said heaven is closer in Nigeria because they Kill Muslims ànd fry and eat dead bodies as sacrifice to appease one-eyed Satan god you call Holy Spirit.
……………………………..
What Christian–Nigerian or otherwise–has *ever* said any such thing? Citations, please.
Of course, pious Muslims never believe that they have to offer proof for any insane claim they might make.
More, in reply to Jule:
Jule, you mean mithraist christians in the evil United States are not drinking Muslim bloods and eating the flesh to appease one-eyed Satan god you call Holy ?
……………………………..
No, American Christians are not doing this–nor have they ever done any such thing. What madness.
More:
your masters the fascist evil zionists kill Palestinians and consume Muslim the fats to appease the satan In yahweh and his wife Ashera hero gods of evils pursuant to obnoxious Talmud. check
……………………………..
Of course, there is no such thing in the Talmud–this does not exist, nor have Jews ever done any such thing.
Again. Ibrahim itace muhammed just makes up crap–along, of course, with the claim that Jews worship an ancient godess.
As for the claim that Zionists are our “masters”, this comes from the idea that if Infidels are not the slaves of Muslims that we must, ergo, be the slaves of Jews.
The idea that we can regard others as equals–and treat them that way–does not even occur to pious Muslims. *Ugh*.