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The Man Who Declared War on America
by Yossef Bodansky
The wealth and worldly character of Jedda also transformed it into a shelter for
Islamist intellectuals persecuted throughout the Muslim world. Several
universities, primarily King Abdul Aziz University in Jedda, which bin Laden
attended from 1974 to 1978, became a hub of vibrant Islamist intellectual
activity; the best experts and preachers were sheltered in the universities and
mosques, providing an opportunity to study and share their knowledge. They
addressed the growing doubts of the Saudi youth. Their message to the confused
was simple and unequivocal -- only an absolute and unconditional return to the
fold of conservative Islamism could protect the Muslim world from the inherent
dangers and sins of the West.
In March 1975, in the midst of the oil boom and the Islamic intellectual
backlash against it, Saudi Arabia's King Faisal was assassinated. The assassin,
Prince Faisal ibn Musaid, was the king's deranged nephew. He was also thoroughly
Westernized and had visited the United States and Western Europe frequently.
Both Islamists and Court insiders expressed apprehension that exposure to
Western ways had caused Faisal ibn Musaid to go insane. Although the succession
process worked and the kingdom suffered no ensuing crisis, the seed of doubt and
discontent was sown. The assassination was a turning point for Saudi Arabia. For
both the Saudi establishment and the conscientious elite, the assassination of
the beloved king served as proof that the Islamists' warning against the sinful
and perilous influence of the West had been on target. The shock of the
assassination brought home the real and communal ramifications of the
Westernization of the country's educated and affluent youth, creating a
grassroots backlash and sending many of these youth, including bin Laden, back
into the fold of Islamism.
In the mid-1970s unfolding events in Egypt -- the undisputed leader of the Arab
world and politics -- were also having a major impact on the Saudi educated
elite. Jedda was the key entry port for printed material arriving from Egypt,
and many of the Islamist intellectuals operating in the city's universities and
mosques were Egyptian. They maintained close contacts with their colleagues
still in Egypt and advocated their views, exposing the students of Jedda's
universities, including bin Laden, to their works and opinions. Already attuned
to and tilting toward Islamism, bin Laden was influenced by these Egyptian
studies and the events that prompted them. In the mid-1970s Egyptian president
Anwar Sadat courted the Americans to gain political and economic assistance in
working out a series of interim agreements with Israel. In the process of
courting the United States, Sadat's image changed from that of a traditional
village leader to that of a thoroughly Westernized world leader. The personality
cult that Sadat developed domestically only alienated the educated elite, whose
knowledge of and firsthand experience with the West caused them to fear its
adverse impact on the traditional values of Muslim society.
The Islamist fundamentalist movement in Egypt was rejuvenated in the mid-1970s
by young activists with Western -- mainly secular and technical -- educations
who gave up their attempt to define their communal place in a world dominated by
the West and its values. Intellectually active and curious, they produced
high-quality literature that was widely circulated among the young Arab elite.
In 1975 Egyptian writer and engineer Wail Uthman, one of the early influential
ideologues of the most militant branch of the Islamist movement, published The
Party of God in Struggle with the Party of Satan. This book divided the world
into two social entities -- the Party of God and the Party of Satan -- and urged
believers to fight to restore the rule of the former. In the preface to the
second edition of his book, Uthman emphasized that in writing about the
unbelievers, the members of the Party of Satan, he was actually referring to
Sadat's regime. "Many thought I meant the Communist party when I wrote the
Devil's party," he admitted. But although according to Uthman the
Communists are an "essential support" of the Party of Satan, to him
they are not the source of evil. "The Party of Satan is that group of
people who pretend to believe in Islam but in reality are Islam's first
enemies," Uthman wrote. He considered exposure to Western everyday life the
source of the mounting crisis of Islam and saw no solution but Islamic
militancy.
Excerpted from bin Laden by Yossef Bodansky Copyright 2001 by Yossef Bodansky. Excerpted by permission of Prima Lifestyles, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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