The Saudi Terror Machine by Pierre Conesa

Author:Pierre Conesa
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2018-09-10T16:00:00+00:00

SAUDI ACTIVITIES IN THE MAGHREB COUNTRIES

Algeria

In June 2015, the Minister of Religious Affairs, Muhammad Aïssa, led a crusade against the increasingly aggressive emergence of Salafist fatwas. During a recent broadcast on the national channel, he dared to take the official discourse further. Asked about the devastation caused by Wahhabi ideology in society, Muhammad Aïssa did not beat about the bush in saying it as he saw it: “Wahhabism can be beneficial, but only in the society in which it was born. That is not the case with us, especially not in Algeria, where we have a religious referent.” He confirmed at the beginning of January that the Saudi radical Salafist Imam, Muhammad Al-Arifi, a professor at King Saud University and a member of the MWL, would not be among the guests at a forthcoming symposium in Constantine: “The request as well as the visa have been refused, because we know that he is an actor in the subversion of the system called the Arab Spring and that he is also a promoter of propaganda for the benefit of the radical group, Jabhat Al Nusra (Al Nusra Front) of the Al-Qaeda in Syria.”

It was Algeria that witnessed one of the worst religious wars during the “dark years” in the 1990s (about 150,000 dead). Its causes have been analyzed in depth by many, including the anthropologist, Abderrahmane Moussaoui, in an article entitled, “L’islam traditionnel mis à mal par les chouyoukh”124 (“Traditional Islam Undermined by the Shuyukh” [religious scholars]). In his view, the establishment of the Islamic University of Madinah in 1960, a full-fledged academy and school for the management and marketing of the Wahhabi doctrine, was a major turning point and many Algerians from the newly independent country attended it to pursue a course in Islamic sciences, alongside the great Saudi masters. “They were made welcome, housed, and taught to gain a good command of the Arabic language and ‘fiqh’ [Islamic jurisprudence]. This was where the greatest theologians taught their precepts. The teaching of classical Arabic was the lure used to draw in followers. The Saudi university also granted scholarships to its students.” Algerian students did internships in the great Saudi mosques, thereby enhancing their resumes, which did not fail to impress when they returned home. Many of the Algerian Salafists of the 1980s and 1990s benefited from these teachings under very comfortable conditions. In their biography, Algerian Islamists described this period as somewhat “magical,” giving the impression that these encounters had been a moment of truth for them. They were the first to join the ranks of the Jihadi candidates when Russian troops entered Afghanistan. “In some respects, the Afghan epic could be considered the beginning of the restoration of the House of Islam. The first Arab martyr in Afghanistan was an Algerian, a former student of Madinah,” concluded the anthropologist.

Boumédiène actually disregarded the initial terrorist acts at the Law Faculty in 1976, even though he knew full well that an Islamist political movement was gaining ground in the university, seeking to indoctrinate students and counter left-wing opposition.

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