A radical Wahhabi group affiliated with al-Qaeda’s Jabhat al-Nusra
(Nusra Front) is seen surrounding and then destroying with a bulldozer a
historic mausoleum or shrine visited by pilgrims for the prophet
Abraham, who supposedly spent some time with his wife Sarah in the town
of Ayn al-Arous where the shrine was built. Ayn al-Arous is located
south of Tal Abyad in the Raqqa province in northern Syria.
The person filming the scene refers to the
shrine as containing heresies and being worshiped besides Allah without
specifying who exactly worshiped the edifice.
I have no idea what this shrine is or whether it had any connection to our forefather, Abraham. The references to it having been worshiped for '40 years under Assad' make me suspect that it has nothing to do with Jews
The Saudi role in the Boston Marathon terror attack
Aside from the Saudi 'person of interest' who is to be deported later this week (and who was visited by Michelle Obama in Boston on Friday - but I'll try to get to that later today), there's another Saudi connection to the Boston Marathon terror attack: the spread of Wahhabi Islam throughout Chechnya with the support of the Saudi regime (Hat Tip: China Confidential).
The spread of Wahhabism in Chechnya sparked a great deal of
opposition within the local society, the strong ideals of which
contradicted the traditional Islam practiced in the area, as well as the
way of life in Chechnya and Dagestan. Fierce battles and political
conflicts ensued in the 1990s, and continued after the war in Chechnya.
The institutionalization of Wahhabism in Chechnya happened not without a
significant amount of force, as its supporters fought both the
Chechnyans and the Russians. Despite the efforts of current Chechen
President Ramzan Kadyrov to prevent his capital Grozny from becoming the
“Dubai of the Caucasus,” the Wahhabist extremism attracts many youths
from Chechnya and Dagestan.
Only
recently, video clips were published featuring Chechen jihadists that
traveled to Syria to fighting against President Bashar Assad’s regime.
Kadyrov came out with a statement that “no Chechen is fighting in
Syria,” later altering his statement by claiming that those fighting in
Syria were mercenaries.
The
extremist propaganda is functioning as always, and a new generation in
Chechnya has grown up with conflict and propaganda. This generation is
attracted to the simple ideological base of Wahhabism, and to the
murderous romance of the jihad its leaders are calling for. The members
of this new generation go to Syria and Iraq. Some of them maybe go to
the United States and other places in the world in order to join the
“army of believers,” according to them. It is not impossible to rule out
that the Saudis who flew planes into the World Trade Center and the
brothers from Chechnya who set off bombs at the Boston Marathon
subscribed to the same radical Wahhabist ideology.
Immediately
after reports were published that the suspects in the Boston Marathon
bombing were of Chechen origin, Kadyrov tweeted that “terror has no
nationality.” Currently, his followers in Chechnya and Ingushetia will
once again have to “deal with” the Wahhabist problem in Russia’s
backyard. The question is if even a leader as powerful as Kadyrov can
dismantle the Wahhabist institution fostering in the Caucasus for
decades, receiving monetary and ideological support from Riyadh.
And the world continues to act like there is no problem.
I am an Orthodox Jew - some would even call me 'ultra-Orthodox.' Born in Boston, I was a corporate and securities attorney in New York City for seven years before making aliya to Israel in 1991 (I don't look it but I really am that old :-). I have been happily married to the same woman for thirty-five years, and we have eight children (bli ayin hara) ranging in age from 13 to 33 years and nine grandchildren. Four of our children are married! Before I started blogging I was a heavy contributor on a number of email lists and ran an email list called the Matzav from 2000-2004. You can contact me at: IsraelMatzav at gmail dot com
