Petro-Islam  

From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

Revision as of 19:48, 19 October 2017

Related e

Wikipedia Wiktionary Shop Featured: Rhombicuboctahedron by Leonardo da Vinci

Petro-Islam usually refers to the extremist and fundamentalist interpretation of Sunni Islam—sometimes called "Wahhabism"—favored by the conservative oil-exporting Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Its name derives from source of the funding—petroleum exports—that spread it through the Muslim world following the Yom Kippur War. The term is sometimes called "pejorative" or a "nickname". According to Sandra Mackey the term was coined by Fouad Ajami. It has been used by French political scientist Gilles Kepel, Bangladeshi religious scholar Imtiyaz Ahmed, and Egyptian philosopher Fouad Zakariyya and Fouad Zakariyya.

Usage and definitions

The use of the term to refer to "Wahhabism" (the dominant interpretation of Islam in Saudi Arabia) is widespread but not universal. Variations on, or different uses of, the term include:

• Use of resources by Saudi Arabia "to project itself as a major player in the Muslim world". The distribution of large sums of money from public and private sources in Saudi Arabia to advance Wahhabi doctrines and pursue the Saudi Arabian foreign policy.
• Attempts by the Saudi rulers to use both Islam and its wealth to win the loyalty of the Muslim world.
• Diplomatic, political and economic—as well as religious—policies promoted by Saudi Arabia.
• The type of Islam favored by petroleum-exporting Muslim-majority countries, particularly the other Gulf monarchies (United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, etc.)—not just Saudi Arabia.
• A "hugely successful" enterprise made up of a "colossal ensemble" of media and other cultural organs that has broken the "secularist and nationalist" monopoly of the state on culture, media and, "to a lesser extent", education; and is supported by both Islamists and socially conservative business "elements", who opposed the Arab nationalist ideologies of Nasserism and Baathism.
• More conservative Islamic cultural practices (separation of the sexes, hijab or more complete hijab) brought back (to Egypt) from Gulf oil states by migrant workers.
• A term used by secularists, particularly in Egypt, to refer to efforts to require the enforcement of sharia (Islamic law).
• Islamic interpretation that is "anti-woman, anti-intellectual, anti-progress, and anti-science ... largely funded by the Saudis and Kuwaitis".

Background

One scholar who spelled out the idea of petro-Islam in some detail is Gilles Kepel.<ref>quoted in a number of sources</ref><ref>Books quoting Kepel on Petro-Islam include A Choice of Enemies: America Confronts the Middle East By Sir Lawrence Freedman; Life among the Anthros and Other Essays By Clifford Geertz;</ref> According to Kepel, prior to the 1973 oil embargo, religion throughout the Muslim world was "dominated by national or local traditions rooted in the piety of the common people." Clerics looked to their different schools of fiqh (the four Sunni Madhhabs: Hanafi in the Turkish zones of South Asia, Maliki in Africa, Shafi'i in Southeast Asia, plus Shi'a Ja'fari, and "held Saudi inspired puritanism" (using another school of fiqh, Hanbali) in "great suspicion on account of its sectarian character," according to Gilles Kepel. <ref name=kepel-70> Template:Cite book</ref>

While the 1973 War (also called the Yom Kippur War) was started by Egypt and Syria to take back land won by Israel in 1967, the "real victors" of the war were the Arab "oil-exporting countries", (according to Gilles Kepel), whose embargo against Israel's western allies stopped Israel's counter offensive.<ref name=kepel-69/>

The embargo's political success enhanced the prestige of the embargo-ers and the reduction in the global supply of oil sent oil prices soaring (from US$3 per barrel to nearly $12<ref name=cbc>Template:Cite news</ref>) and with them, oil exporter revenues. This put Muslim oil exporting states in a "clear position of dominance within the Muslim world". The most dominant was Saudi Arabia, the largest exporter by far (see bar chart).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=kepel-69> Template:Cite book</ref>

Saudi Arabians viewed their oil wealth not as an accident of geology or history, but connected to religion—a blessing by God of them, to "be solemnly acknowledged and lived up to" with pious behavior.<ref name=Ayubi>Template:Cite book</ref> <ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=Sayeed>Gilles Kepel and Nazih N. Ayubi both use the term Petro-Islam, but others subscribe to this view as well, example: Template:Cite book</ref>

With its new wealth the rulers of Saudi Arabia sought to replace nationalist movements in the Muslim world with Islam, to bring Islam "to the forefront of the international scene", and to unify Islam worldwide under the "single creed" of Wahhabism, paying particular attention to Muslims who had immigrated to the West (a "special target")."<ref name=kepel-70/>

Influence of "Petro-dollars"

According to scholar Gilles Kepel, (who devoted a chapter of his book Jihad to the subject -- "Building Petro-Islam on the Ruins of Arab Nationalism"),<ref name=Kepel73/> in the years immediately after the 1973 War, `petro-Islam` was a "sort of nickname" for a "constituency" of Wahhabi preachers and Muslim intellectuals who promoted "strict implementation of the sharia [Islamic law] in the political, moral and cultural spheres".<ref name=Kepel51/>

In the coming decades, Saudi Arabia's interpretation of Islam became influential (according to Kepel) through

• the spread of Wahhabi religious doctrines via Saudi charities; an
• increased migration of Muslims to work in Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states; and
• a shift in the balance of power among Muslim states toward the oil-producing countries.<ref name=Kepel73>Template:Cite book</ref>

Author Sandra Mackey describes the use of petrodollars on facilities for the hajj—for example leveling hill peaks to make room for tents, providing electricity for tents and cooling pilgrims with ice and air conditioning—as part of "Petro-Islam", which she describes as a way of building the Muslim faithful's loyalty toward the Saudi government.<ref name=Mackey-quote>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=kepel-hegem>Kepel describes Saudi control of the two holy cities as "an essential instrument of hegemony over Islam". Template:Cite book</ref>

Religious funding

The Saudi ministry for religious affairs printed and distributed millions of Qurans free of charge, along with doctrinal texts that followed the Wahhabi interpretation. In mosques throughout the world "from the African plains to the rice paddies of Indonesia and the Muslim immigrant high-rise housing projects of European cities, the same books could be found", paid for by Saudi Arabian government.<ref name=Kepel-WML >Template:Cite book </ref>

Imtiyaz Ahmed, a religious scholar and professor of International Relations at University of Dhaka sees changes in religious practices in Bangladesh as linked to Saudi Arabia's efforts to promote Wahhabism through the financial help it provides countries like Bangladesh.<ref name=dw-hijab>Template:Cite news</ref> The Mawlid, the celebration of the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday and formerly "an integral part of Bangladeshi culture" is no longer popular, while black burqas for women are much more so.<ref name=dw-2>Template:Cite news</ref> The discount on the price of oil imports Bangladesh receives doesn't "come free", according to Ahmed. "Saudi Arabia is giving oil, Saudi Arabia would definitely want that some of their ideas to come with oil."

Mosques

[[File:FaisalMasjid.jpg|thumb|Pakistan's Faisal Mosque, a gift from Saudi Arabia's King Faisal<ref>{{

1. if: {{#if: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/pakistan/islamabad-rawalpindi/attractions/shah-faisal-mosque/a/poi-sig/464356/357196 | {{#if: Shah Faisal Mosque |1}}}}

 ||Error on call to Template:cite web: Parameters url and title must be specified

}}{{

1. if:

 | {{#if: {{#if: | {{#if:  |1}}}}
   ||Error on call to template:cite web: Parameters archiveurl and archivedate must be both specified or both omitted

}} }}{{#if:

 | {{#if: 
   | [[{{{authorlink}}}|{{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}]]
   | {{#if: 
     | {{{last}}}{{#if:  | , {{{first}}} }}
     | {{{author}}}
   }}
 }}

}}{{#if:

 | {{#if: | ; {{{coauthors}}} }}

}}{{#if: |

   {{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 |}}

}}{{#if:

 | . }}{{
 #if: 
 |  {{{editor}}}: 

}}{{#if:

   | {{#if:  | {{#if: Shah Faisal Mosque | [{{{archiveurl}}} Shah Faisal Mosque] }}}}
   | {{#if: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/pakistan/islamabad-rawalpindi/attractions/shah-faisal-mosque/a/poi-sig/464356/357196 | {{#if: Shah Faisal Mosque | Shah Faisal Mosque }}}}

}}{{#if: | ({{{language}}}) }}{{#if:

 |  ()

}}{{#if:

 | . {{{work}}}

}}{{#if:

 |  {{{pages}}}

}}{{#if: Lonely Planet

 | . Lonely Planet{{#if: 
   | 
   | {{#if:  || }}
 }}

}}{{#if:

 ||{{#if: 
   |  ({{{date}}})
   | {{#if: 
     | {{#if: 
       |  ({{{month}}} {{{year}}})
       |  ({{{year}}})
     }}
   }}
 }}

}}.{{#if:

 |  Archived from the original on [[{{{archivedate}}}]].

}}{{#if: 29 March 2017

 |  Retrieved on {{#time:Y F j|29 March 2017{{#if:  | , {{{accessyear}}}}}}}.

}}{{#if:

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessmonthday}}}, {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if:

 |  Retrieved on {{{accessdaymonth}}} {{{accessyear}}}.

}}{{#if:

 |  “{{{quote}}}”

}}</ref>]]

More than 1,500 mosques were built around the world from 1975 to 2000 paid for by Saudi public funds. The Saudi-headquartered and financed Muslim World League played a pioneering role in supporting Islamic associations, mosques, and investment plans for the future. It opened offices in "every area of the world where Muslims lived."<ref name=Kepel-WML/> The process of financing mosques usually involved presenting a local office of the Muslim World League with evidence of the need for a mosque/Islamic center to obtain the offices `recommendation` (tazkiya) to "a generous donor within the kingdom or one of the emirates".<ref name=Kepel-WML-73>Template:Cite book</ref>

Saudi-financed mosques were generally built using marble `international style` design and green neon lighting, in a break with most local Islamic architectural traditions, but following Wahhabi ones.<ref name=Kepel-72/>

Islamic banking

Main article{{#if:|s}}: Islamic banking{{#if:

 |{{#if:|, | and }}[[{{{2}}}|{{{2}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{3}}}|{{{3}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{4}}}|{{{4}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{5}}}|{{{5}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{6}}}|{{{6}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{7}}}|{{{7}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{8}}}|{{{8}}}]]}}{{#if:
 |{{#if:|, |, and }}[[{{{9}}}|{{{9}}}]]}}{{#if: