Arthur Chrenkoff has a great interview with author and journalist Stephen Schwartz. They cover a surprisingly wide range of related topics, from Wahhabism to the war on terror to the many faces of Islam and Mr. Schwartz's personal spiritual journey. The whole post is a must-read, but I will quote from one part in which Arthur asks his subject to give an assessment of the war on terror, which, by the way, Mr. Schwartz believes we are winning.
Four things can go wrong, and they are quite simply defined:
First, we may fail to compel Saudi Arabia to stop financing international Wahhabi expansionism. We absolutely must, in dealing with the Saudi kingdom, do as we did with the former Soviet Union: make them shut off the money tap.
Second, we may fail to halt Saudi-Wahhabi infiltration and bloodshed in Pakistan, the country that even more than Iraq - is the crucial frontline state in the battle against radical Islam. We must compel Musharraf or his successor to pursue a consequential and effective struggle against extremism in that country.
Third, we may fail to free American Islam from the influence of the Wahhabi lobby. We must examine why a foreign state, Saudi Arabia, is permitted to operate extremist religious and educational institutions in our country. This intrusion into our internal affairs should be dealt with by severe legal measures. In addition, the main organizations of the Wahhabi lobby - the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Students Association of the U.S. and Canada (MSA), the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), and the Arab American Institute (AAI) - should be fully investigated and, if possible, shut down. They camouflage themselves as legitimate civil liberties and advocacy groups, but in reality exist to prevent the free exercise of opinion among American Muslims and by non-Muslims commenting or reporting on Muslim issues. Those among them receiving Saudi funding should, to begin with, be compelled to register as foreign agents.
Fourth, or as part of the third proposition, we may fail to enable and support moderate American Muslims in liberating themselves from Wahhabi influence. The shocking truth is that Saudi Arabia and the U.S. are the only countries in the world where Wahhabism dominates Islam.
Schwartz is an adherent of the Sufi branch of Islam. I mention this only because my daughter goes to school in London and has many Sufi Muslim friends. When we talk about Islam, she is always reminding me that the radical Islam we see on the news is not the Islam that most of the Muslim world practices and that Sufism is rich with tradition, yet is a very "progressive" religion.
She will be traveling to Morocco this Summer. Sufism is the dominant form of Islam in that country I hope to have something to report on her trip there.
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