The British documentary about Salafists

Penny Anderson, of The Worldly Event, recently sent me links to a series of videos. It's a documentary made by UK's Channel 4, claiming to be an expose about the Muslim community's radical underbelly in Britain. What's worse, Channel 4 seemed quite adamant to pin the radicalism onto the particular stream of Islam emanating from Saudi Arabia- a stream we've all come to know as either "Wahhabism", or the anachronistic Salafism.

Well, I've viewed it, and my first impression is: it's a very blunt weapon. Shield of Islam's Jinnzaman correctly pointed out that the criticisms leveled against certain Salafist institutions and mosques might very well apply to the rest of the Muslim community. For example, the issues of jihad, Muslim and non-Muslim relations, prayer and hijab for women are not exclusively near and dear to Salafists alone, but to most Muslims. The problem with the documentary is that it took many of the situations and quotes out of context, and does not bother to take a more in-depth look at those issues and present their many facets.

I am not going to analyze the program because it has been making its rounds in the Muslim blogosphere, especially at Mujahidden Ryder's blog, but I will offer some comments off the top of my head.

I think it is very good that mainstream media has finally learned to particularize between Muslims who adhere to orthodoxy and those who subscribe to more ideological interpretations. Such a courtesy was not evident in the early days of the stupidly-named "War on Terror", and a lot of damage has been done in the way of relations between Muslims and the proverbial West because of the lapse.

To be fair, when more astute commentators did try to expose the dubious agendas of certain Muslim groups, these Muslim groups tend to fall back on a tired tactic. Islamaphobia! They'd say. Anti-Muslim sentiment! In fact, I had discussed this public-relations coup in an earlier post:

Dubious institutions propagating a particular brand of Islam have time and again also described attacks on them as being Islamaphobic in nature. By spreading out the criticism amongst the whole community, the intent of such organizations is perhaps to win the sympathy and outrage of a greater number of people than it can realistically muster on its own. A critique on its aims, members and sources of funding, for example, becomes an unprovoked assault on Muslims and Islam itself, even though it never began that way.

That is why I believe it is good that a name is pinned on these movements because that is the first step in isolating them. Such a step is important because it destroys the ridiculous myth that Muslims only come in one shape and size. There are moderates (much as I dislike the term for its inherent condescension) and there are extremists, and the moderates far outweigh the extremists. It's pretty obvious here.

Some labels do invite controversy, however. How useful is such a term as "Wahhabi", for example, when those who fall under that label claim there is no such group?

Indigo Jo gives a careful defense of why the label remains useful.

...it is the convention in Islam to name groups after their founder or after its most prominent characteristic or proponent. In the case of Wahhabism, it is called that because it traces back to Muhammad ibn Abdil-Wahhab.

I agree. History attests to the fact that prominent Saudi scholars had not only been aware of the term, but had rhetorically accepted it. In a widely-circulated fatwa condemning the otherwise unremarkable practice of Muslims celebrating the Prophet Muhammad's birthday, Shaykh Abdullah bin Baaz proclaimed that,

...the creed of the Wahhabiyya is based upon fulfillment of witnessing that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah and completely abandoning all innovations, superstitions and whatever goes against the Sharee'ah.

I don't quite see what the all the fuss is about, especially since the line of descendants that emerged from Shaykh Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab is still singled out by his admirers as ahl al-shaykh, meaning, "family of the shaykh".

Now, if "ahl al-Sunna" refers to Sunnis in general, then "ahl al-shaykh" refers to...

I'm not going to insult your intelligence.