Sunni Islam maintained that the new leadership of Islam (the Caliph) should devolve upon the most capable individual.

Shiite Islam maintained that the leadership should be retained within Muhammad’s family – specifically by Muhammad’s cousin and son-in-law, Ali ibn Abi Talib.

Now for the primary source of the Islamic extremism we are facing today. Within Sunni Islam, there developed an extremely narrow, intolerant, severe and repressive branch referred to as Wahhabis – after the 18th-century Sunni radical Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. And today, Wahhabism is at the same time alive and sick – sick because it is extremist beyond being extreme.

Osama bin Laden was a Wahhabist; members of Al Qaeda, the Taliban and ISIL are Wahhabists. And many of the “morphed-out” groups active in Yemen, Nigeria, Chechnya, Libya and elsewhere are Wahhabists. Further, most of the sleepers in, say, France, Great Britain, and perhaps the United States, are Wahhabists.

There is this about Wahhabists other than the Taliban (who are specific to Pakistan and Afghanistan): They are transnational, not having any national identity. They see their jihad as spanning national borders. There are Shiite extremists, true. But they are not transnational.

And then there is this about Wahhabists: They are not representative of the majority of Sunni Muslims. This is precisely what we need to “get” about these Sunni extremists: Because they are not representative, they can be isolated and marginalized once they are separated from the issues that they adhere to parasitically.

As I’ve said before, resolve the issues that fester in the Middle East; and most of the Muslim extremists will find themselves standing alone, exposed. Then, bang!

Tom Wright

Aztec