Author:
Publication: Asian Tribune
Date: August 28, 2007
URL: http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/7156
Wahhabism is a new politico-religious movement
that is sweeping the Eastern province of Sri Lanka with more than 50 Muslim
fundamentalist organizations supporting it and helping in propagating the
movement throughout the Island.
Latest report reveals that Wahhabism, headquartered
in Kattankudy, has raced ahead and taken control of the Jihadist and Al Fatah
groups in Sri Lanka under their wings. This new brand of radical Islamic fundamentalism
imported and planted in the midst of peace-loving Muslims of Sri Lanka, mostly
through the lavish inflow of Saudi Riyal pumped into this war-torn country
has overtaken other Islamic competitors by threats, intimidation and coercion.
The latest victim of Wahabism is "Colonel"
Lateef in Oddamavadi. In the early part of August, Colonel Lateef was gun
down by the prominent Wahabists militant 'Police' Faiz in Oddamavadi. Earlier
in July Wahabists gun down Siddique who left Wahabism and joined Sufism.
According to reports Wahabism was introduced
to Sri Lanka after a section of the Sri Lanka's Muslims began to agitate against
America and Israel. Reports reveal that Wahabism has taken root in Sri Lanka
after a section of Muslims were influenced by Sufism -- a mystic tradition
within Islam and encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated
to divine love and the cultivation of the heart.
In Arabic: Al-Wahhabiyya, (Wahabism) is a
branch of Sunni Islam practiced by those who follow the teachings of Muhammad
ibn Abd-al-Wahhab, after whom the movement is named. Ibn Abdul Wahhab, who
reintroduced Shariah (Islamic law) to the Arabian Peninsula, was influenced
by the writings of scholars such as Ahmad ibn Hanbal and Ibn Taymiyya. This
theology is the dominant form found in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, as
well as some pockets of Somalia, Algeria, Palestine , Sudan and Mauritania.
Several Muslim scholars told the Asian Tribune
that America's CIA had a hand in introducing Wahabism in Sri Lanka through
Saudi Arabia as a means of countering the growing support for Iran and Sufism
among the Sri Lanka Muslims.
America's foreign intelligence service, it
is believed, had calculated that Wahabism would be an effective rival theology
to prevent the spread of Iranian influence in Sri Lanka. Saudi agents have
successfully penetrated the Eastern province Muslims social fabric and have
managed to defeat the Sufis in their game.
Early clashes between the Sufis and the Wahbist
was fought openly in Kattankudy and in Oddamavadi, in the early part of October
2006.
Clashes in Kattankudy between the Sufis and
the Wahabist occured on a regular basis due to the conflict of beliefs between
both schools of religious thought.
In October 2004 similar clashes occurred in
Kattankudy after a book was published by a Sufi leader which was considered
controversial and un-Islamic by the Jammiyathul Ulema which represent the
Wahhabi school of thought. Over 200 houses of Sufi followers were burnt down
in the melee that followed.
The author of the book M.S.M. Abdullah alias
'Payilvaan' founded the Sufi group Tharikathul Mufliheen - 35 years ago. The
book, written in Tamil and published in 1989 was criticized by the Jammiyathul
Ulema - for containing derogatory remarks about Islam.
The Jammiyathul Ulema later declared a 'Fatwa' (a religious decree) against
Payilvaan and after a court dispute that dragged on for years the Jammiyathul
Ulema reached a settlement.
Many wealthy Muslim businessmen and farmers
in the East coast are followers of Abdur Rauf Moulavi and 'Payilvaan' who
are the two main Sufi clerics in the area.
Wahabists said that Abdur Rauf Moulavi's teachings
have been borrowed from Hinduism and are the work of Muslims of Tamil Nadu
origin, settled in Kattankudy. The Wahhabi scholars claim that Rauf Moulavi's
teachings are new innovations and contradict the teaching of the Quran and
Hadees, who are considered to be fundamentalists.
Subsequently , sectarian violence between
orthodox Muslims and an Islamic Sufi sect that preaches pantheism resurfaced
in the Muslim town of Kattankudy, Batticaloa, following the death a leader
of the Sufi sect
M. S. Abdul Payilvan, 69, one of the leaders
of the Sufi sect and the President of All Island Tharikathul Mufliheen, passed
away in Colombo Apollo hospital on the night of December 6 and was buried
at Tharikathul Mufliheen Mosque burial grounds in Kattankudy the following
afternoon.
Wahabist Muslims observed a hartal (general
shutdown) demanding the removal of the body from the burial grounds. They
claim Kattankudy soil is sacred and bodies belonging to those who preach views
contradictory to the holy Quran should not be buried there.
Wahabists Muslims demanded that the body of
Abdul Payilvan, who is from Maruthamunai, another Muslim village in the Amparai
district, should be exhumed and buried elsewhere.
The death of Abdul Pavilvan had only exacerbated
a tense situation. Extremists had dug up the buried body of a Sufi follower
from the Tharikathul Mufliheen Mosque burial grounds and dumped the body on
a local road as an act of protest.
Kattankudy Police recovered the body, re-buried
it in the original burial space. The area was guarded for few days after the
incident.
In Kattankudy, the hatred between the two
factions has widened in the last few years. Violent clashes between the two
factions have grown in intensity and have left many injured, and millions
of rupees worth of property, including houses and vehicles, damaged.
Today the Wahabists have prevailed over the
Sufis and this was due to the training afforded by the Saudis.
Saudi intelligence agents are very careful
not to build one individual as the leader of the Wahabists movement in Sri
Lanka. They are in touch with fifty odd Wahabists organizations that are established
through out the Island.
It is learnt that the Wahabists leaders in
towns and villages in the Eastern province have managed to send their active
members for military training by volunteering to join the Home Guards.
All those selected Home Guards are given three
months military training and at the end of the training they are provided
with T- 56 assault weapons and other more sophisticated lethal weapons which
are kept in their homes for urgent use against the Tamil Tiger terrorists.
This has given an opportunity for the Wahabists
to legitimize the possession of weapons from being confiscated at any given
time by armed force. Consequently, Muslim militants are in possession of dangerous
weapons.
It is learnt that presently two qualified
Muslim engineers from the East are involved in the promotion of Wahabists
militant movement in the east. They are: Mustapah Abdul Rehaman, a qualified
Production Engineer and Falul Haque, a qualified Chemical Engineer, and both
are from the Paradeniya University Falul Haque is now away in Qatar and according
to an intelligence report he is said to be in Qatar to run a hotel over there.
According to reports he has gone there with
more than a dozen Muslim youngsters and these youngsters are being given training
in Qatar which is also one of the countries that follow Wahabism.
Asian Tribune also learnt that Abdul Rehaman
runs the 'British College of Applied Studies,' head quartered in Dehiwela
and with a branch in Kandy. So far through this institution he has managed
to send about 200 young Muslim youths to United Kingdom to work with the fundamentalists
group in the UK. According to reports received by Asian Tribune, these Muslims
sent to UK went on forged names. They have managed to obtain Sri Lankan Passports,
National Identity Cards, Bank statements and all other documents needed to
obtain visas in the British High Commission in Colombo in different names.
Furthermore, more than 40 percent of those
sent from Colombo to London are actually Bangladeshis.
Asian Tribune received reports that Wahabists
have so far managed to train nearly 3000 Muslims armed cadres. According to
reports all these 3000 armed cadres are in readiness to be assembled in one
spot by giving a short notice.
These armed men earlier went as Jihadists
and Al Fatah's, but today they all are Wahabists and instructions to them
are conveyed through Mowlavis - the prayer leaders in the mosques on the instructions
of the Saudi Agents.
The effectiveness of the Wahabi influence
is felt in the case of Rizana Naffek the 19-year-old house maid from Mutur
who was sentenced to behead by a Saudi Sharia Court on last 16 July. The Muslims
have been asked not to make a big noise about it. While the other communities
have been agitating against the Saudi Government the Sri Lankan Muslims have
been rather subdued.
