OPINION: Saudi Arabia opens the gates of Hell

IN the 1930s, Nazi Germany opened the gates of Hell, America did it in Vietnam and the Middle East and, now, it’s Saudi Arabia’s turn with that country’s promotion of a fanatical ideology, Wahhabism – on which the Saudis spent eighty-seven billion dollars since 1975 spreading the foul plague.

Because if Hell is a place of evil, then surely after the Nice atrocity in which small children were targeted for slaughter, this satanic faith, which was incubated in the netherworld and is the mainstay of al-Qaeda and ISIL, is surely the agent of misery, destruction, discord, pain, and anguish,  

Question is: how long will it be before the Wahhabi monsters of humanity direct their evil at Ireland, now that it is clear that the Saudis, as well as Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates, have lost control of the heinous forces they unleashed on the world? 

According to Gilles Kepel in ‘Jihad: The Trail of Political Islam,’ prior to 1973, ‘Islam everywhere was dominated by a national or local tradition rooted in the piety of the common people. After 1973, the oil-rich Wahhabis found themselves in a different economic position, being able to mount a wide-ranging campaign of proselytising among the Sunnis. 

‘The objective was to bring Islam to the forefront of the international scene, to substitute it for the various discredited nationalist movements, and to refine the multitudes of voices within the religion down to the single creed of the masters of Mecca.  The Saudis’ zeal now embraced the whole world, extending beyond the traditional frontiers of Islam to the heart of the West, where immigrant Muslim populations were their special target.’

Clueless Ministers

Alarmingly, as far as Irish Government is concerned, Religious extremism, (in other words Wahhabism) is no longer an abstract problem. It’s here!’ exclaimed Tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald last month.  Her comments were echoed by Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes, who warned that the Government must come up with a plan to stop the radicalisation of people in ‘new communities’ in Ireland.

‘If people are known within a community to have very radical views, or anti-Irish views, or views which are pro-ISIL, it’s important that the intelligence services are aware of this,’ said Hayes before skedaddling off to Brussels without contributing an iota of information on how this was to be done.

Not that Hayes’ analysis of the situation amounted to much, nor for that matter did that of Minister Fitzgerald who confessed she hadn’t a clue if any garda tasked with combating terrorism had a knowledge of Arabic. 

But, according to the two buckos, since the gardaí has been involved in sophisticated training here and abroad with the Defence Forces the risk of an attack had been reduced. So that’s alright then!

Likewise the Boys in Blue are ambiguous in their response as to whether a ‘direct threat’ exists or not. Garda sources declared it was ‘possible but unlikely,’ before they went on to blame overtime cuts for ineffective undercover surveillance.

No language skills

Neither is the Gardaí sure of the number of Irish jihadist terrorists that returned to this country after their blood-soaked decapitation exploits in Syria and Iraq even though (according to a detective) ‘the biggest threat comes from those lads. They have military training and experience, and could be a danger to embassies.’

And although the Special Detective Unit has about 300 members only about 40 are assigned to Counter-Terrorism International, the group that monitors Islamic militants.  Superior to the Special Detective Unit is the Security and Intelligence Section at Garda Headquarters, which directs surveillance, intercepts communications, watches over social media, taps phones and gathers what’s called ‘open source information’ – all of which makes for a rather onerous task when they try to unravel Arabic communications, considering that not one garda can read or speak the language! 

The gardaí consequently rely on Interpol and the auld private language school to figure out what Irish Islamic extremists are jabbering-on about – a somewhat shambolic way of ensuring we sleep peacefully in our beds!

Thankfully, hundreds of Muslims from across the country (led by a remarkable man, Dr Shaykh Umar Al-Qadri, an Imam from the Al-Mustafa mosque in Blanchardstown) are leading the charge in protecting us from the maniacs.

Not to blame

Last year, Al-Qadri founded the Muslim Peace and Integration Council, which works with 25 other faith leaders in cities such as Belfast and Cork to prevent extremism from taking root in Ireland.

Last year he pinpointed two of the country’s 26 mosques where Islamic extremists were congregating regularly. Muslims, he said, must accept there is a problem with extremists hijacking their faith.

Recently he appealed to Irish people not to blame Islam or Muslims but instead to see them as allies in the war against terrorism. ‘You can’t defeat terrorism if you blame Muslims because you will push people towards radicalisation and you will push the agenda of the terrorist. Muslims are allies in the war against terrorism, not the enemy.’

Of great concern to him are the carriers of the Wahhabi bacillus who visit this country in the guise of Muslim scholars. Before being allowed to preach at mosques in this State, he wants the Irish authorities to demand a declaration from them that condemns Osama bin Laden, ISIS and all extremist militants.  He criticised the invitation to hard-line clerics by the Dublin Islamic Conference 2016, at which opinions intolerant of other religions, such as Christianity and Judaism as well as Shia Muslims and Sufi Sunnis, were expressed.

Later, at an anti-extremist conference in Dublin, Al-Qadri’s opinions were echoed by South African cleric, Shaykh Fekhruddin Owaisi al-Madani, who warned the government that Ireland was not immune to Islamic extremism. He urged politicians to act now rather than when it was too late, arguing that extremism was the first step to violence and was mainly driven by foreign speakers who should be stopped from coming to this country. The South African also called on the silent Muslim majority in this country to express its abhorrence at terrorist atrocities that were happening in the name of their religion.

Ironic twist

And yet, while all this is going in this country, strange things are happening on the international front. Although it is official Saudi entities and non-governmental organisations that support the propagation of Wahhabism in Ireland and elsewhere, extremists are now biting the hand that fed them.

Three suicide bombings shook Saudi Arabia earlier this month, including one near the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, which is Islam’s second-holiest site and the burial place of Muhammad.

The reason?  Islamic State, al-Qaeda and their fanatical supporters now consider the conservative Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to be heretical and corrupt! And if that’s not ironic, what is?