Wahabis and Tsunamis

Paul Marshall of Freedom House's Center on Religious Freedoms gives us more on the Saudis' response to the tsunami in Weekly Standard. (here)

How have the Wahabists and their Mullahs explain the tsunami?

The prominent Islamist website Jihad Unspun maintains the tsunami struck Thailand for supporting "the Christian crusaders in the war on terror," Sri Lanka for giving "its full backing to the Christian Crusaders inside the White House," India for its "Shirk (polytheism)," and Indonesia because "the Kufr (non-Islamic) government of the apostate Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono" is fighting against the "mujahideen" in Aceh who want to establish an "Islamic Sultanate where the Sharee'ah (Islamic laws) prevail."

The Middle East Media Research Institute--which posts excerpts from Arabic TV, with translations, at memritv.org--has provided a sampling of Saudi sermons on the same theme. Ibrahim Al-Bashar emphasizes that the countries that were struck "refrain from adopting Allah's law, which is a form of heresy." Sheikh Fawzan Al-Fawzan asserts, "these great tragedies . . . are Allah's punishments of the people of these countries, even if they are Muslims." Cleric Muhammad Al-Munajjid concludes that the tsunami was caused by Christian holidays "accompanied by forbidden things, by immorality, abomination, adultery, alcohol, drunken dancing."

How, then, do they explain the destruction of Bande Aceh, the "most Islamicist of any Indonesian province?" They don't. It's not mentioned, in a showcase of religious propaganda.

Marshall also makes this intersting point:

The same pattern is shown in Saudi government giving. Riyadh originally offered $10 million for tsunami relief; then, after international criticism, upped its pledge to $30 million. This sum is dwarfed by the $150 million per year the Saudis have given to the families of suicide bombers.