[Middle East Transparent] Elham Manea - We live in a time where a version of Islam, Wahhabi Islam exported from Saudi Arabia, has become dominant in the Arab world. It is dominant in the mosques and the media, and is propagated actively with the support of Saudi oil money. Another version of Islam, Shi'ite Islam, exported from the Islamic Republic of Iran, is also being disseminated in parts of the Islamic world. Both are expressions of a religion that has become politicized. The re-Islamization of secular Arab societies gave ground to the belief that there is indeed only one version of Islam - Najdi Wahhabi Islam from the heart of Saudi Arabia. The writer is a post-doctoral fellow and lecturer at the Political Science Institute, Zurich University.
2006-11-10 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive