Iran Saudia

1. Iran- Saudi Conflict

2. In the Quran, Allah says:
..And hold fast by the covenant of Allah all together and be not disunited, and
remember the favor of Allah on you when you were enemies, then He united your
hearts so by His favor you became brethren. (Aal `Imran 3:103)
 Over centuries, different interpretations of the verses of Quran and Hadith
caused a few sects to be formed within Muslim community.
This verse bind all Muslims to be united and for this reason all of schism
and sectarianism become un-Islamic.
But number of sects in Islam is far more fewer than other belief system

3.  Sunni and Shiite are the two major groups among Muslims
 Both believe in Allah Almighty
 In Prophet Muhammad ( PBUH)
 In the Day of Judgment, as is in Qur’an verse;
 Majority of Sunni and Shiite believers recognize each other as genuine
Muslims
The Messenger believes in what has been revealed to him from his Lord, and
(so do) the believers; they all believe in Allah and His angels and His books
and His messengers; We make no difference between any of His messengers;
and they say: We hear and obey, our Lord! Your forgiveness (do we crave),
and to you is the eventual course.(Al-Baqarah 2:285)

4. The Division
The division between the Muslims was created after the immediate death of Prophet
Muhammad (PBUH), on who would take over the leadership of the Muslim
Thus the division between the two is more of a Political and Historical.
(Later on Tribalism and inequality also played a role in their difference )
Yet both share the main articles of Islamic belief and read the same Qur’an
One group held the view (along with most of the
Prophet (PBUH) companions
New leader should be elected from among those
capable of the job
Abu Baker (RA) was chosen the first Caliph of the
Islamic nation
Another group of Muslim held the view that the
leadership of the community should have gone to:
Member of Prophet’s (PBUH) own family
or
Someone specially appointed by him
or
To an Imam appointed by God himself

5. In 1959, the head of the prestigious Sunni Muslim al-Azhar University in Cairo,
Mahmood Shaltoot, said in a fatwa:
“The Ja'fari school of thought, which is also known as ‘al-Shi’a al-Imamiyyah al-
Ithna Ashariyyah’ (mainstream Shi’as), is a school of thought that is religiously
correct to follow in worship as are other Sunni schools of thought. Muslims
must know this, and ought to refrain from unjust prejudice to any particular
school of thought, since the religion of Allah and His Divine Law was never
restricted to a particular school of thought. Their jurists are accepted by
Almighty Allah and it is permissible to follow them and to accord with their
teaching whether in worship or transactions.”
One of the prominent Shi’a Muslim cleric, Ayatollah Sistani
“Differences between Shi’a and Sunnis are in jurisprudence issues, which also exist
between the people of the same sect... Sh’ia have to defend the social and political
rights of the Sunnis before the Sunnis themselves. Our call is for unity; and I said that
before, but still say it, do not say our Sunni brothers, but say ourselves. I listen to the
Sunni Friday prayer leaders more than I listen to Shi’a Friday prayer leaders. We do
not distinguish Arabs and Kurds. Islam is what unites us.”
The famous scholar Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi has written:
"It is important for the Sunnis to concentrate on the points of agreement, not
difference, when having dialogues with the Shiites especially that the points of
agreement are on the fundamental issues of religion, while the points of
difference have to do with the minor ones…
The most important point to be taken into account is that there is a great
deal of agreement between the Sunni jurisprudence and the Shiite one. This is
because both depend on the same sources, the Quran and the Sunnah, and also
because their aims in conducting research on religion are similar, that is,
establishing Allah's justice and mercy among people." (Sunnis & Shiites:
Overlooking Differences, last accessed March 9, 2009)

6. Wahhabism [Muwahhidun (Unitarians)]
 Muhammad Ibu Abdul Wahhab was a reformer who focused on tawheed (monotheism)
 He fought the polytheistic practices that have returned to his people
- Praying to saint
- Making sacrificed offering to holy person
 His movement did make significant contribution to Islam at that time
For example: He chopped down those trees that people used to worship and pray to.

7. Understanding Iran- Saudi conflict in present time
The big players in world Politics
* France, Britain, and United States
Countries within the region
* Saudi Arabia, Iran, & Turkey
All these three countries have their own economic interests and political
differences since long
For centuries, the players remained the same but the ‘piece and the board are
clearly not as black and white
Religion has be used to spur on the difference ( Shiite- Sunni Conflict)
Ghanim Hashem Kudhir argues that;
‘Their sect is nothing more than a uniform, a convenient way to tell friend from
enemy. What binds them is not religion, but common historical experience’.

8. The regime Type in Saudi Arabia
Sources of legitimacy for monarchical regime
 Custom
 History of family governance
 Ancestral ties to the Prophet Muhammad ( PBUH)
 A leader’s personal attributes
 The royal family’s role as a symbol of nationalism
The regime Type in Iran
It three characteristic of Islamic governance
1- Use of Islamic law- Sharia- in place of various system of civil law.
2- Supreme authority of the state is placed in the hands of religious council.
* (this council also chose a supreme religious leader)
3- It follows an approach to Islam that places a high priority on missionary efforts.
* ( See itself as vanguard of international revolution)
Traditional Monarchies
An Islamic Quase Democracy

9.  Five shock in the relations between the Muslim world and the
dominant West after World War 2 were
1. First was the emergence of stream of Islamic fundamentalism to challenge
global power.
2. Establishment of Israel and exacerbation of Arab and Islamic frustration.
3. The Suez Crisis, which proofed that former colonial ruler no longer re-impose
their past control.
4. The realization after 1973 war that oil could be used as a weapon.
5. Imam Khomeini’s revolution in Iran

10. Events and effects relating to first and third shock
 On July 23, the free Officers Committee carried out coup which removed King Farouk of
Egypt.
 At first General M. Naguib was head of the state but was soon removed and Gamal
Nasser became head of the State.
( He believed in a secular state but with a special emphasis on Socialist- Islamic ideologies)
 Nassir was Young, tough, and possessed immense charisma.
- He contrasted dramatically with the old men who then ruled the world
For Example: Dwight Eisenhower
Stalin
Ibn Sa’ud
 Nassir ideas and ambitions centered on the unification of the Arab nation and
modernization of Arab society, “ under Egyptian leadership
 Despite Soviet’s favor to Nassir’s regime, Nassir joined the neutralist coalition of nations
(NAM).

11.  On the other hand, some Arab intellectuals had turned to earlier forms of
Pan- Arab nationalism and radicalism.
 In Syria and Iraq, members of Arab Renaissance movement or Ba’ath party gained power.
 Soviet Union successfully allied the two countries and considered it as its area of influence.
 Ba’ath party in Syria developed a strong constituency among Alawis ( a powerful Shia trend
in that Country)
 While in other countries, Salafi movement had greater appeal. Like Wahhabis
, “ Salafi” asserted that ;
 Every development in Islam after its early period should be expunged.
 They rejected the four established schools of Islamic jurisprudence.
 Hated Sufism
 Attacked established Islam as unbelief.
They differed from Wahhabism in paying more attention to
western injustices against Islamic world.
Ba’ath party’s ideology combined Pan- Arab Unitarism with a nebulous
socialism closer to Fascism. (Later it merged Arab nationalism with Islam)

12.  In Egypt, Ikhwan al Muslimun or Muslim Brotherhood was a radical neo-Wahhabi
organization.
 At the beginning, they stood behind Nasser’s Free Officers.
 After the defeat and ouster of British, French and Israel from Suez, Nasser
became the Champion of the Arabs.
 This victory was followed by the creation of a short lived United Arab Republic (
1958) combining Egypt, Syria, & Yemen.
Nassir wanted to bring
Arab revival through
ethnic solidarity and
Social reform, rather
than promise f religious
purification.
Muslim Brotherhood
preached that a purge
in Muslim ranks must
precede a cataclysmic
global battle with the
Christian power and the
Jews.

13.  The Saudi reaction to the emergence of a secular nationalist as the leader of
the Arab nation was one of intense concern and even fear.
- Because Nassir’s Egypt became a modernist and anti-colonial pole in the Arab politics
 Reactionary, and Pro- American, Saudi Arabia increasingly opposed it.
* Both fought a proxy war in Yemen
* Saudi also founded a Muslim World League as a buffer against Nasserism
 All these development resulted in a split between the two faces of Arab Islamic
culture to become more widened.
Egyptian pluralism Saudi Wahhabism

14.  Beside Muslim Brotherhood, other militant groups had also emerged in
the Ummah ( since 1930)
 Some of these groups involved the blend of anti-western protest and borrowed from
Socialism.
 Other assumed a cover of theological purification
- Wahhabi- Saudi power drew many of these group into its orbit.
For example: The movement of Sayyed Abdul Ali Mawdudi ( 1903-79)
Founder of Jammat- I- Islami
Sayyid Qutb ( Who joined Muslim Brotherhood)
Later Nasser regime embarked on the brutal repression of the Muslim Brotherhood
King Hussain of Jordon was compelled to deal mercilessly with them.

15. Relating to the Second shock ( Creation of Israel…)
 The unity of Arabs against Israel had obscured the difference among the
Arab state.
 Yet the ideological rivalry abut the development of Arab society between Egypt (
pluralist and modernizing) and Saudi Arabia ( reactionary wahhabi kingdom)
continued during the period.
 In opposing Egyptian leader, Saudi Arabia considered United States as their ally
Saudi Arabia viewed the Egyptian leader as a dangerous challenger
to it’s claims t harmony over the Arab world.
While on one hand, United States benefited Israel with its support,
on the other it backed the Saudis.

16.  In Syria and Iraq, Ba’ath movement gained power
- The regimes revolutionary nature drove it toward Soviet camp
Their importance in two leading Middle Eastern countries aggravated tendencies
towards radicalism in Arab politic.
 In countering Israel;
- Nasserites and Ba’athists favored guerrilla warfare against Israel.
- Saudis
Believed in using its relations with U.S to undermine Jewish state.
But they also subsidized armed groups.

17.  In 1964, Egypt and Arab league cooperated in creating Palestinian Liberation
Organization ( PLO)
- PLO was an Umbrella organization made up of various groups of nationalist radicals.
- These groups were not just armed by different Arab regimes, but by Russians, Chinese and Western
leftist.
 At first, none of these groups were religious in nature.
- Like Nassir, they dreamed of Arab unification and modernization through “ revolution until victory” against Israel.
 But soon the difference within the PLO appeared.
- The difference that appeared was not of ideology but of personal ambition among intellectuals.

18.  Thus the hope that Palestine issue might unit the Arab nation proved to
be wrong.
- Arabs ( especially Palestinians) couldn’t free themselves from their long political crisis.
 All this reflected the more general weaknesses of the pan-Arab
movement
- Pan- Arab movement could never attain maturity so long as regimes like Egypt and Saudi Arabia ( leaders in the
Arab world), differed so greatly in their vision of the Arab

19. Relating to the Fourth Shock ( Oil as a weapon)
 When Arab armies were defeated in a war against Israel
- Saudi Arabia assisted the Arab leftist with a boycott on oil sales to the west.
 The boycott illustrated that the West’s dependence on oil was a great
weakness of their.
Ummah began to consider it
 Decline of the Judeo- Christian civilization.
Jews and Christians inability to resist a reassertion of
Islamic aggressivity.
The great powers had finally been rendered
powerless.
Also to Arabs
The increase in oil revenue brought enormous change.
&
The boycott had temporarily shifted the international
political advantage to the Arabs.

20.  But the new relationship of forces led to the weakening, rather than a
reinforcement, of the Arab position.
 For Saudi Arabia, new oil revenue meant;
- New ambitious effort to Wahhabize the worldwide Islamic community.
 Arab nation choose to waste their moment in a suicidal display of self inflicting
cruelty.
Example: Civil and religious war in Lebanon (1975)
Arabs in the Lebanon were divided into different groups.
Vast number of “Salafi” enthusiasts of the Muslim Brotherhood,
Sayyid Qutab, & Mawdudi were employed in this enterprise.
- Arab Christian group ( the Phalange or Kataeb)
- Palestinian guerrillas ( Headed by member of Druze Sect)
- Progressive Socialist Party
* Amal (Lebanese Resistance Squad)
* Hezbollah (Party of God)

21. Fifth Shock (Coming of Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini)
 The dimension of the conflict changed when Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his Shi’a
clerics arrive at the center stage of world history in 1978.
In fact experts, journalists, religious intellectuals and politician throughout the world were stunned when the Shah fled and Khomeini
declared an Islamic Republic.
 Due to revolution, Iran began to be viewed as the fountain head of fanatical Islamism.
But in fact, the worst excesses of Islamic intolerance and aggression had always derived from the Wahhabi- Saudi ideology.
Ayatollah was;
Charismatic
Learned
Articulated
Idealistic
Philosophical
Mystical
Had suffered for his principles
Was deeply angered at west ( esp. U.S
and Israel)
Some considered him the “hidden
Imam”.

22.  Khomeini and his fellow-clerics;
 Repudiated Wahhabis and Salafis claim that world’s Muslims lived in a state of unbelief.
 Rejected the traditional Islamic condemnation of revolutionary movements.
 Khomeini and his fellow clerics viewed themselves as champion of the oppressed.
 Khomeini's movement combined all the things about Islamic civilization ( Sunni as
well as Shi’a), that Wahhabi hated the most.
 They looked to the pluralist face of Islam
 Enjoyed music
 Didn't destroy classic work of art and literature
 Rejected paganism but studied and preserved its cultural remains
 Shi’as belonged to Sufi orders.
- Admitted and sought to understand esoteric.
(The very practice that stimulates Wahhabis to murderous frenzy. )
So in a way they denounced the influence upon them of the “Salafi”.

23.  Yet Iranian’s rage towards world was not just because of their rivalry with
Wahhabism
 They wanted to be recognized and respected for their own past glory and rich civilization.
- Iranian’s were certain that with the coming of Imam Khomeini they would once again be recognized as
one of the greatest and most powerful country.
 For Wahhabi- Saudi power, nothing could have been more shocking then an
Islamic revolution led by Shi’as.
 Khomeini’s revolution was a greater challenge to Wahhabism and Saudi King.
 For the first time since 1920s, Wahhabi claims to leadership of an Islamic revival had been
challenged and exceeded.
Similarly, Iranian have not forgotten or forgiven the Wahhabi- Saudi demolition of
Shi’a mosques and other sacred sites in the two holy places.
- and also the restriction of Shi’a pilgrim and other insult

24.  After 1979 revolution, western media had caused immense global anxiety about the
revolution that Iran had designs over the whole Muslim world.
 Neglecting the fact that Shaism in Islam was a minority tradition and that revolution was Iranian (which is not Arab).
 Never the less, Saudi took an opportunity of the western fear of Iran and bolster their
image as Arab “moderates”.
 They also founded Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussain (calling him Sword of Islam) as a weapon against Iran.
 They backed Saddam in his war of aggression against Iran in 1980 ( 9 year of war that ended in a costly standoff)
 In relation to Israel- Palestinian conflict, Iran adopted aggressive posture toward Israel.
 They began to support Hezbollah in Lebanon