A Smooth Stone Study Lesson: What is Wahhabism?

For more than two centuries, Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia's dominant faith.

It is an austere form of Islam that insists on a literal interpretation of the Koran. Strict Wahhabis believe that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and enemies.

Wahhabism's rigidity has led it to misinterpret and distort Islam, breeding such extremists as Osama bin Laden and the Taliban.

When the rest of the world saw the Taliban destroy the Buddhist statues and other artifacts in Afghanistan, that was a Wahhabi view because Wahhabis don't believe in tombstones, don't believe in images being acceptable, and don't believe in statues. They believe all of these are forms of polytheism.

Saudi Arabia has its own particular interpretation of Islam which is very legalistic and very austere.

Bin Laden's political goal is to cleanse the land of Mecca and Medina of infidels and to supplant the Saudi monarchy with an Islamic state in the Taliban mold.

Because of America's close ties to the Saudi monarchy, and particularly because of the links between the Saudi regime and Bush administration officials, the contradictory behavior of the Saudi royals has become the unmentionable scandal of the crisis ushered in by the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.

The Saudi Information Agency has obtained a tape by prominent government official cleric Shaikh Saad Al-Buraik calling for enslaving Jewish women. The tape is called "a Monkey Desecrates Mosque," and was delivered in a Riyadh government mosque. The monkey refers to Jews.

Since Sept. 11, the Saudis have mounted a well-funded campaign to convince Americans that they bear no blame for anything.

It has been a Saudi pretext that they could buy whatever influence they needed in America, and they have had many Americans on their payroll, from lawyers to politicians.

But the American people cannot be bought. Not even with cheap oil.

We must begin by confronting the Saudis and giving them the choice President Bush offered the rest of the world: Either you are with us in the fight against terror, or you are against us.