Nearly five years after September 11, it is fair to say that the U.S. government remains challenged by how to combat the ideology of radical Islamists. In some ways, this is not surprising. The West now faces a challenge in an area - religious controversy - which the modern state prefers to leave to individual discretion, and in which it is not accustomed to contend. Moreover, the struggle is taking place within a largely unfamiliar religion, in an area in which the West is, at best, tone-deaf. Nevertheless, this new “war of ideas” must be joined and won if the United States is to address what have become grave threats to its security.
The ideas of radical Islamists are growing in popularity today among Muslims not because they are correct or have such irresistible inherent appeal, but because the Saudi Arabia has spent $90 billion over the span of more than three decades in order to support them, and advocates of moderate Islam have not been able to match such spending in order to spread their ideas. As America searches for a way to effectively wage the "war of ideas" against this ideology, known as Wahhabism, tapping into the expertise of those in Central Asia who are successfully waging this battle, and applying their lessons more widely, can help to fill some of the gaping holes in current U.S. strategy.
Before September 11, the United States paid little attention to Wahhabi ideology, which has spread all over the Muslim world and became a major component in shaping the agenda of Islamic terrorist organizations. According to Freedom House, the “Wahhabi sect, which would have been regarded as recently as fifty years ago as an austere, fringe group by a large majority of Muslims, is now extremely powerful and influential in the Muslim world due to Saudi government support and the oil wealth of the Arabian peninsula.”1 Since the 1970s, the Saudi government has provided about $90 billion to the Wahhabis for spreading their ideology of hatred around the world. This money has supported thousands of religious schools and colleges in Muslim countries that spread the Wahhabi vision of Islam and advocate Islamic “holy war” against infidels, mostly Americans and U.S. allies. In addition, Saudi money finances hundreds of print and electronic publications that promote this ideology of hatred, thereby helping to brainwash new recruits for terrorist organizations.
In the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, the United States realized that it can not avoid the war of ideas against Wahhabism. But, as the final report of the task force on public diplomacy chaired by Edward Djerejian noted, ” America has not excelled in the struggle of ideas in the Arab and Muslim world. What is required is not merely tactical adaptation but strategic, and radical, transformation."2
U.S. strategy against militant Islamists should be based on a clear understanding of how Wahhabis misuse Islamic theology and implant an incorrect vision of Islam in the minds of people in the Arab and Muslim worlds. The United States needs to discredit the core ideas of Wahhabism, and demonstrate that its proponents deny the word and the spirit of true Islam and abuse the accepted wisdom of the Koran and the teaching of the Prophet Mohammed.
One major problem facing U.S. participants in the "war of ideas" is finding the most effective ways to communicate and influence Muslim audiences. It is important to remember that Muslims and Arabs are more likely to acknowledge criticisms of Wahhabism as legitimate if these criticisms are made by Muslim scholars and experts. Many Muslims and Arabs tend to portray criticisms of militant Islamist ideology by Western experts on Islam as an attack on Islam's sacred spiritual heritage by "infidels."
In order to more effectively communicate with Arabs and Muslims, the United States should examine the arguments of Muslim scholars who advocate tolerant Islam. Since Wahhabi ideology is at odds with mainstream Islam, such scholars have had their own reasons to speak out against proponents of militant Islam. The U.S. policy community should study the arguments such scholars and clerics have developed in places such as the republics of Central Asia. These moderate Muslims have developed ways to counter Wahhabi ideology that rely on the traditions and concepts of local, tolerant Islam. Most Central Asian Muslims are champions of the Khanafi strain of Islam, which is much older and has far greater authority within the Islamic world than does Wahhabism. Their quarrel with Wahhabism is based on a very precise knowledge of the Koran and the Hadith, the sayings of the Prophet - a kind of knowledge that is very rare among Western experts.
American politicians and journalists should, at a minimum, be aware of the critique of Wahhabism that is offered by Central Asian Muslims. A better understanding of the language, arguments, discussion methods, theological sources, images, allegories, and examples being used in the Central Asian struggle against radical Islam can inform U.S. public diplomacy and American efforts to support more moderate strains of Islam throughout the world. Central Asian scholars, policymakers and activists are working to find ways to defeat the advocates of Wahhabism on their own turf - the knowledge of original Islamic ideas - and thereby demolish their distorted vision of Islam. Likewise, by examining how Central Asian fight Wahhabism and its Saudi supporters, Americans can better understand how to shape effective aid programs in key Muslim regions in order to make moderate Muslims more successful, and to give Muslim opponents of militant Islamism a more powerful voice than that which they currently have.
Why the Central Asian experience is important
Long before September 11, Central Asian governments had recognized the danger that radical Islamists posed to their existence. Eleven years ago, the scholars Roald Sagdeev and Susan Eisenhower noted that “Uzbekistan with its authoritarian secular regime... is the main obstacle to the expansion of Islamic fundamentalism in the region.”3 Indeed, Uzbekistan and other Central Asian governments have undertaken tough administrative measures against adherents of radical Islam, often violating international human rights standards in the process.4 This has posed a dilemma for the United States and its efforts to promote democracy in region. Washington certainly does not wish to condone or approve of such methods, but neither should it wish to undermine regional governments in their struggle against radical Islam, which is even less likely to adhere to honor human rights. Very often, the result has been a form of policy paralysis and avoidance.
None of this, however, diminishes the important steps Central Asian governments have taken to de-legitimize the Wahhabi ideology, to limit its ideological influence on local Muslims, and to "immunize" the hearts and minds of local youth against the appeal of radical Islamist organizations and terrorist groups. Central Asian governments, especially those in Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan, have developed an educational system - from kindergarten through the university level - that inculcates the moral norms and social principles of tolerant Islam, and that respects the value of any human life (Muslim, Christian, Jewish, or other). That system provides textbooks for schools, cartoons for children, education for imams of local mosques, a network of counselors in Islamic affairs for central and local administrations, and television and radio talk shows that challenge the Wahhabi interpretation of the Koran and Hadith and provide listeners with an alternative, moderate, religious vision.
Similarly, these governments have created a network of educational establishments and research centers that champion the tolerant and peaceful ideas of Islam and condemn Wahhabi ideas. Students of madrassas and universities in Tashkent and Bishkek study Arabic intensively, and upon graduation not only can read and interpret the Koran and Hadith, but also teach in Arabic. Graduates of these educational establishments become knowledgeable imams for mosques and theology teachers for public schools. Yet most American analysts, primarily influenced by concerns about the shortcomings of the Central Asian governments in the human rights arena, are not aware of these important initiatives.
Today, the United States and Central Asian governments share a common enemy - radical Islam - and U.S. policy makers can learn valuable lessons for the war of ideas from Central Asian religious leaders, academic researchers and governmental officials, who have much practical experience in fighting Wahhabism and winning the hearts and minds of Islamic audiences. These governments have been successful in dealing with extremism, and Americans should bring their experience to bear in the larger "war of ideas" with radical Islam taking place throughout the Muslim world. The advantages Central Asia can offer are manifold:
By contrast, the ideological foundations of Wahhabism are meager, and can be reduced to a few cornerstones such as “denouncing Western democracy,” “declaring that Muslim clergy should rule the state,” “hatred of the United States,” “call for holy war - jihad,” “glorification of suicide and suffering for the cause of Islam,” “blame and damnation of modern education and science,” “depriving women of civil rights,” and “a ban on modern films and television programs.” All of these positions are justified by citing specific passages of the Koran, Hadith and other core sources of the Muslim faith. Because in Islam the right to interpret these sources does not belong to any “Muslim Vatican,” and because any knowledgeable and respectful Muslim has the right to interpret the Koran and Hadith, the opinions of Central Asian experts in Islam can be useful in challenging Wahhabi ideas.
NOTES:
1. Saudi Publications on Hate Ideology Invade American Mosques (Washington, DC: Freedom House, Center for Religious Freedom), 8.
2. Changing Minds, Winning Peace, Report of the Advisory Group on Public Diplomacy for the Arab and Muslim World (Washington, DC: Government Printing Office, October 2003), 15.
3. Central Asia : Conflict, Resolution, and Change (Washington, DC: The Eisenhower Institute, January 1, 1995), 183.
4. Notably, it is difficult to find truly democratic regimes, even among Muslim allies of the United States. A 2005 survey by Freedom House notes that just 10 of the world's 47 Muslim-majority countries are true electoral democracies. See David R. Sands, "Finding Allies Within Islam," Washington Times, April 17, 2005