James Comey (2018). A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies and Leadership

I picked up this book for a couple of reasons. The first is that I’ve been wanting to see if it would provide an alternative view of the character of Donald Trump, or whether it would confirm what I read in Wolff’s Fire and Fury. The second main reason is that, as an executive in the corporate world, I am always interested in insights about leadership from people who should have something to say about leadership because of their social position and experience.

James Comey, a lawyer by education and profession, was a US district attorney, then director of the FBI, appointed by Barack Obama in 2013. He was fired from his position in the FBI by Trump in a controversial manner in 2017. When Trump attacked Comey after having fired him in a series of tweets, Comey responded with a Tweet saying “Mr. President, the American people will hear my story very soon. And they can judge for themselves who is honorable and who is not”. This is the book that would be Comey’s comeback…

William G. Carr (1955) Pawns in the Game — A couple of passages…

The following are passages from a book I was recently reading called Pawns in the Game, by William Guy Carr.

His biography indicates that he travelled to most countries of the world during his life, and eventually became a commander in the Canadian naval forces and participated in both world wars. He was also clearly a devout Christian as well as what people today would call a conspiracy theorist. He toured Canada multiple times giving public lectures to warn people against the dangers of an international conspiracy that will manipulate the world into another global war.

Making Sense of Wahhabism – 10

Wahhabism and Kharijism 6:

a few more details before moving on

I wanted to write one last entry concerning the ties between Kharijism and Wahhabism that also connects a lot of the dots together by providing finer details and nuances concerning the rise and operations of Wahhabism. (Please note that these entries are part of the series entitled Making Sense of Wahhabism. The links to all the articles in the series are provided at the bottom of this page.)

Making Sense of Wahhabism – 9

Wahhabism and Kharijism 5:

Highlighting the Parallels

 

(I remind you that these entries are part of the series entitled Making Sense of Wahhabism. The links to all the articles in the series are provided at the bottom of this page.)

As we mentioned previously, the movement of the Khawarij did not appear suddenly in the middle of the Battle of Siffin, right about when Imam Ali was about to regain control and be victorious. Many years prior to this incident, there was a man named Harqus, who objected to the manner in which Prophet Muhammad was dividing some items between the companions. The Prophet told his companions after the man left that there will be a people who will come out of him and who will follow him, and they will be the ones who exit religion as the arrow exits a bow (or how an arrow pierces through the body of an animal and exits it from the other side), and that he would fight them himself if he saw them. This narration is an indication that the seeds for this type of objectionist thought already existed in the time of Prophet Muhammad, that he was already aware of it, and that he warned his companions that they will reappear and cause mischief later so fight them and do not let them hijack religion.

Making Sense of Wahhabism – 8

Wahhabism and Kharijism 4

Muslim scholars linking Wahhabism to Kharijism (part 2)

This is the second part of the previous entry Muslim Scholars Linking Wahhabism to Kharijim. I wanted to emphasize that, in addition to the Muslim scholars themselves who consider Wahhabis as Khawarij (previous entry) the Salafists, Wahhabis, and Khawarij themselves call each other Khawarij! I remind you that these entries are part of the series entitled Making Sense of Wahhabism. The links to all the articles in the series are provided at the bottom of this page.

Making sense of Wahhabism – 7

Wahhabism and Kharijism 3

Muslim scholars linking Wahhabism to Kharijism (part 1)

This entry is part of a series entitled Making Sense of Wahhabism that I started writing as a result of the interest generated in an earlier post. The link to the post and the previous articles can be found at the end of this entry.

Our claim in previous articles of this series (specifically in Part 4 and Part 5) was that many scholars and historians have labeled Wahhabis as modern-day Khawarij. We went on giving an overview of the historical roots that led to the rise of the Khawarij, as well as a glimpse of the ideology and behavior of the Khawarij, so that parallels can be drawn, and the reader can start making the connection.

For instance Toshihiko Izutsu writes on the khawarij sect called Muhakkimah:

Those Muhakkimah used to go out with their swords to the market places. And when the innocent people gathered together without being aware of it, they suddenly cried out ‘La hukm illa lillah!’ and lifted up their swords against anybody they happened to overtake, and they went on killing people until they themselves were killed. ….The people used to

live in constant fear of them; it caused a terrible commotion.

[in “The concept of belief in Islamic theology” (p.7) by Toshihiko Izutsu referencing  his source as “al Tanbih wa-al Radd Ala Ahl al Ahwa wa al bidah” of Al-Malati.]

Sayyid Abdul Qadir al-Gilani al-Hanbali in his book al-Ghunya li-Talibi Tariq al-Haqq, describes the traits of a Khawarij sect named “Azariqa”:

The Azariqa also consider it permissible to kill young children, meaning the offspring of those who attribute partners to Allah.

He then describes the traits of another Khawarij sect named “Bida’iyya”:

 They are in agreement with the Azariqa on the permissibility of taking women captives from among the unbelievers, and of killing their infant children inadvertently…

In this entry, (in addition to posting a few pictures of book covers because I’m a book addict…sorry) I would simply like to provide a few references of scholars explicitly stating that the Wahhabis are Khawarij or like Khawarij. We could easily multiply such quotations, but the point here is simply to provide a representative sample of quotes from Muslim scholars of significant weight among Muslims. This is not only to inform Muslims who may be unaware of these positions, but to show the world in what light Wahhabism has been viewed by Sunni Muslim scholars since the day it appeared. This should also make it clear that when some journalists or analysts make the connection between Kharijism and Wahhabism, they are simply repeating the conclusions of Muslim scholars, as opposed to having some deeper insight into historical and theological matters than Muslims themselves…

(Shi’a scholars have also clearly made their position clear in hundreds of volumes, but Wahhabism is the sworn enemy of Shi’ism on the one hand, and on the other, Wahhabis claim adherence to Sunni Islam, specifically the Hanbali school (a point which we will address in some detail in subsequent entries…) So it is only fair to see how they are viewed by some of the specialists of those schools they claim adhering to. Again, the main point here is the connection between Kharijism and Wahhabism, and not how Wahhabism is viewed in general by Muslim scholars. We will get to that when talking about Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Abd al-Wahhab in more depth…)

Quebec Mosque Shooting…

By now, you should be aware that there was a deadly shooting that took place in the City of Québec on Sunday night.

A number of groups from the far right, especially in Quebec, were very quick to dissociate themselves from the attack, which has so far resulted in 6 deaths and 8 critical injuries.

Making sense of Wahhabism – 6

Québec City Shooting…

As we were about to continue with Part 6 of the Making Sense of Wahhabism Series, I wanted to underline an incident that took place in Québec City Sunday night, January 29, 2017.

Click here to read the story of how 3 shooters entered a mosque during the evening prayer just before 8p.m., killed 6 people, injured 8 others.

Making Sense of Wahhabism – 5

Wahhabism and Kharijism – 2

In Part 1 and Part 2 (as well as the entry Are Wahhabis Sunnis? Chechnya Conference and Saudi Anger), we got an overview of the founder of Wahhabism, Muhammad ibn Abdl-Wahhab, and the alliance he established with the Saud family. In Part 3, we took a closer look at the history of the house of Saud.

From this point on, we wanted to start exploring the deep ideological and historical roots of Wahhabism in its main manifestation today (including Islamic State), by going back to early Islamic history and following the main foci of inspiration. In Part 4 (Wahhabism and Kharijism – 1) we started explaining the early history of the Khawarij, to expose the striking similarities between them and the Wahhabis.

In this entry, we will continue dealing with the Khawarij as one of the main ideological and historical roots for Wahhabism.

Making Sense of Wahhabism – 4

Wahhabism and Kharijism – 1

In Part 1 and Part 2 (as well as the entry Are Wahhabis Sunnis? Chechnya Conference and Saudi Anger), we got an overview of the life and thoughts of the founder of Wahhabism, Muhammad ibn Abdl-Wahhab, and his close ties with the Saudi family since his initial contact with them. In Part 3, we took a quick look at the history of the Saud family, because of the very close ties between Wahhabism and the Saudi regime.

In this entry, we are going to start exploring the deeper historical and ideological roots of Wahhabism, beginning with their striking similarities to the Khawarij.

Many journalists, thinkers and authors have referred to Wahhabis over the years as the modern-day Khawarij (or Kharijis / Kharijites, as they are usually referred to in English). It is noteworthy to mention that once ISIS appeared on the scene, and their leader proclaimed himself as the caliph that everyone had to accept and pay allegiance to, some Wahhabi Saudi scholars, including their grand mufti, started referring to ISIS as Khawarij (when both Wahhabis and IS share the exact same ideology and principles!). In other words, while they are all relying on Salafism (which we’ll explain in detail in future posts), Saudi scholars (official Wahhabi ideology that is the foundation of such groups as al-Qaeda and Jabhat al-Nusra) declared IS a Kharijite movement. Of course, there are numerous reasons for this, but the main one is that Wahhabis are completely loyal to Saudi Arabia, whereas IS is now working independently with its own agenda, which may or may not overlap with that of the Wahhabis, whose agenda is often simply that of Saudi Arabia. Because of a number of factors, IS was able to grow much faster (geographically, militarily, financially) than anyone expected, becoming a competitor to the extremist movements blessed by the Wahhabism, the Saudi verion of Islam, especially in terms of recruitment of their agents…

So who are the Khawarij and what do they have to do with Wahhabism?