Only time will tell if he is sincere, and how much the nation’s Wahhabi clerics will allow him to do. But one statement from this article is flatly false: MBS says “there should be no punishment related to a religious matter except when there is a clear Quranic stipulation, and this penalty will be implemented […]
Mali: Islamic charity channels $3 million a year of Gulf oil money for mosques and Qur’an schools teaching Wahhabism
Ibrahim Kontao “studied theology in Saudi Arabia, heads Mali’s wealthiest Islamic charity, known as Al-Farouk, which channels $3 million a year from donors in Gulf Arab states and Turkey.” This money goes to open health clinics in remote areas, but also for mosques and Qur’anic schools. Kontao busily signs checks “as men and women line […]
Muslim World League urges EU to assimilate Muslim migrants better and criminalize criticism of Islam
Europe must do more to assimilate Muslim immigrant populations and criminalise religious hate speech, said the head of a global Muslim missionary society trying to help Saudi Arabia mend its reputation as a promoter of intolerant ideology. It is astonishing that Secretary General Mohammed al-Issa of the Muslim World League (MWL) would offer the assistance of […]
Saudi Arabia, promoting image of reform, to open its first cinemas
Cinemas will open to the public in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia in 2018, the kingdom’s culture ministry has announced. The lifting of the ban follows several other steps by the Saudi Crown Prince touted as liberalization of the country. This is good news, at least on the surface, as fun in Islam is generally regarded as […]
Saudi schools teach Muhammad’s statements that Jews and Christians are accursed and Muslims must kill Jews
“‘Whoever makes the graves of the prophets and righteous ones into mosques is evil,’ is the title of a seventh-grade textbook.” This idea isn’t some Wahhabi invention. It comes from statements attributed to Muhammad in the Hadith: “It was narrated from Aishah that the Prophet said: ‘May Allah curse people who take the graves of […]
Force and Fanaticism — Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond
Note: In what follows, Raymond Ibrahim reviews Force and Fanaticism: Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia and Beyond, by Simon Ross Valentine. A shorter version of the book review first appeared in the Middle East Quarterly (Fall, 2016, vol. 23, no. 4). Valentine, a British Methodist pastor and teacher who taught in Saudi Arabia, has written a useful book about […]