Right Islam Vs. Wrong Islam: Muslims and Non-Muslims Must Unite to Defeat the Wahhabi Ideology

Abstract

Abdurrahman Wahid, the former president of Indonesia, is co-founder and patron of the LibForAll Foundation, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to reducing religious extremism and discrediting the use of terror worldwide. In the following article, which appeared in the Wall Street Journal on December 30, 2005, President Wahid, analyzes the strength and wide appeal of a virulent Wahhabi/Salafi fundamentalism that supports Islamist terrorism. He summons both Muslims and the non-Muslims to unite in a campaign against religious extremism, “a global struggle for the soul of Islam.” Such a campaign should develop strategies based on an understanding of our own strengths and weaknesses. Among our strengths, we should recognize that the large majority of Muslims and Muslim religious leaders have not been radicalized, that we can work with individuals and organizations that represent moderate religious views, that we dispose of considerable resources to spread our message, that “the power of the feminine spirit” can play an important role because women have a vital stake in the outcome of this struggle, and that the “desire for freedom, justice, and a better life” is universal.