by Kim Ghattas
$10 billion up to December 1981: Fürtig, Iran’s Rivalry with Saudi Arabia Between the Gulf Wars, 64–65.
They once offered the Iranians $25 billion: Ibid., 66.
a cease-fire through backroom deals: M. Sieff, “New Ties with Iran Aim of Saudi Role,” Washington Times, December 18, 1986.
No caliph had reigned: Sardar, Une Histoire de La Mecque, chapter 3.
there were violent clashes: Fürtig, Iran’s Rivalry with Saudi Arabia Between the Gulf Wars, 43–45.
The leaders assigned to guide: M. Khalaji, “Iran’s Ideological Exploitation of the Hajj,” Washington Institute, September 12, 2016, available online at https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/irans-ideological-exploitation-of-the-hajj.
First introduced by Saladin: G. Fakkar, “Story Behind the King’s Title,” Arab News, January 27, 2015.
the title had never been officially used: King Faisal once referred to himself as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques but never adopted the title officially.
turn it into a “battlefield”: E. Sciolino, “Mecca Tragedy: Chain of Events Begins to Emerge,” New York Times, September 6, 1987.
“with as much ceremony as possible”: “Excerpts from Khomeini Speeches,” New York Times, August 4, 1987.
denied that such an agreement: Author interview with Turki al-Faisal, Riyadh, February 2018.
The crowd of sixty thousand: I. Leverrier, “L’Arabie Saoudite, le Pèlerinage et l’Iran” [Saudi Arabia, the pilgrimage and Iran], Cahiers d’études sur la Méditerranée orientale et le monde turco-iranien 22 (1996): 111–48.
“Shots could be heard”: M. Hussain, “Eyewitness in Mecca,” Washington Post, August 20, 1987.
275 of them Iranian: The death tolls varied depending on accounts; these are both the official Saudi death toll and the tolls reported in ibid.
in the face of the “Iranian mob”: “Ta’yeed islami shamil lil ‘ijra’at al-saudiyya al-hazimah” [Complete Islamic support for Saudi Arabia’s decisive actions], Asharq al-Awsat, August 4, 1987.
“uproot the Saudi rulers”: Associated Press, “Tehran Urges Faithful to Attack Saudis,” Orlando Sentinel, August 3, 1987.
The Saudis gathered six hundred supporters: M. Kramer, Arab Awakening and Islamic Revival (New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 1996), 161–87.
expel the Al-Sauds from the Hejaz: Ibid.
invited delegations from Persia: Badeeb, Saudi-Iranian Relations 1932–1982, 80–81.
“the remains of great saints”: O. Beranek and P. Tupek, “From Visiting Graves to Their Destruction: The Question of Ziyara Through the Eyes of Salafis,” Crown Center for Middle East Studies, Brandeis University, July 2009, available online at https://www.brandeis.edu/crown/publications/cp/CP2.pdf.
killing two thousand people: H. Redissi, Une Histoire du Wahhabisme: Comment l’Islam Sectaire Est Devenu l’Islam (Paris: Editions du Seuil, 2007), 63.
“killing 300 Wahhabis”: M. Ajlani, History of Saudi Arabia: The First Saudi State, vol. 2, Era of Imam AbdelAziz Bin Muhamad (Beirut: Dar al-Nafa’es, 1994), 128–29.
10: Culture Wars
a four-engine C-130 … crashed: E. Sciolino, “Zia of Pakistan Dies as Blast Downs Plane,” New York Times, August 18, 1988.
The US secretary of state: Ibid.
Shias celebrated loudly: T. Weaver, “Zia’s Death Sparks Intra-Moslem Feud,” Washington Post, August 24, 1988.
This was God’s wrath: Author interview with Mehtab Rashdi, Karachi, October 2017.
“I do not regret the death of Zia”: Sciolino, “Zia of Pakistan Dies as Blast Downs Plane.”
He maintained the ban on political parties: T. Mehdi, “An Overview of 1988 General Elections: Triumph but No Glory,” Dawn, April 11, 2013.
Benazir would be days away from delivering her: M. Fineman, “Timing Puts Pregnant Foe at Disadvantage: Zia Sets Pakistan Election for November,” Los Angeles Times, July 21, 1988.
sixty-six infants and children: Associated Press, “30 Years Later, US Downing of Iran Flight Haunts Relations,” Voice of America, July 3, 2018.
The country could take no more: Moin, Khomeini, 268.
“Happy are those who have departed”: Khomeini’s full statement is available online at https://www.nytimes.com/1988/07/23/world/words-of-khomeini-on-islam-the-revolution-and-a-cease-fire.html?searchResultPosition=1.
At headquarters, they popped the champagne: Coll, Ghost Wars, 185.
the headlines in … Asharq al-Awsat: “Iran tuhadidu al-mujahideen wa tatadakhal li-maslahati a-lshi’a” [Iran threatens the mujahedeen and intercedes in favor of shiites], Asharq al-Awsat, February 13, 1989.
On Valentine’s Day 1989: K. Malik, From Fatwa to Jihad (London: Atlantic Books, 2017), 8.
“I inform the proud Muslim people”: P. Murtagh, “Rushdie in Hiding After Ayatollah’s Death Threat,” Guardian, February 15, 1989.
“migration, metamorphosis, divided selves”: S. Subrahmanyam, “The Angel and the Toady: Twenty Years Ago Today Ayatollah Khomeini Issued a Fatwa Against Salman Rushdie for The Satanic Verses,” Guardian, February 14, 2009.
Ahmad had previously worked: D. H. Clark, “Syed Faiyazuddin Ahmad Obituary,” Guardian, September 24, 2014.
which received funding from Saudi Arabia: Malik, From Fatwa to Jihad, 3.
five were shot dead: P. E. Tyler, “Khomeini Says Writer Must Die,” Washington Post, February 15, 1989.
came out against Khomeini’s fatwa: “Al-azhar yukhalif fatwa al-khomeini bi ‘ihdar dam salman rushdi” [Al-Azhar opposes Khomeini’s fatwa on killing Rushdie], Asharq al-Awsat, February 16, 1989; Y. M. Ibrahim, “Saudi Muslim Weighs Rushdie Trial,” New York Times, February 23, 1989.
“Muslims should curse the tyrants”: Moin, Khomeini, 305.
11: Black Wave
“was against Islam. Far from it”: N. H Abu Zayd and E. R. Nelson, Voice of an Exile: Reflections on Islam (Westport, CT: Praeger, 2004), 11.
inshallah, he would die a Muslim: Ibid.
in October 1992 the pope: A. Cowell, “After 350 Years, Vatican Says Galileo Was Right: It Moves,” New York Times, October 31, 1992.
“scientific reasoning and solid methodology”: “Dr. Nasr Abu Zeid: fi bayan ‘ila l’ummah: al-7aqiqa aw il-shahada” [Dr. Nasr Abu Zeid in a statement to the nation: a testimony], Rose al-Youssef, June 19, 1995.
“the earth does not move”: “Qadiyat Nasr Abu Zeid” [The Nasr Abu Zeid case], Al-Ahram, March 31, 1993.
“in the garb of religion”: Ibid.
“Liberalism till victory or martyrdom”: A. Buccianti, “Les Obsèques de l’Écrivain Farag Foda Se Sont Transformées en Manifestation Anti-Islamiste,” Le Monde, June 12, 1992.
“the Quran needs to be reconsidered”: Abu Zayd and Nelson, Voice of an Exile, 57.
how could anyone understand it?: Ibid.
purest form of the original faith: M. Hoexter, S. N. Eisenstadt, and N. Levtzion, The Public Sphere in Muslim Societies (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2002), 41.
“kind of ‘Sunni inquisition’”: W. Muir and T. H. Weir, The Caliphate, Its Rise, Decline, and Fall: From Original Sources (Edinburgh: J. Grant, 1915), 570–71.
“to destroy Egypt’s Muslim society”: Abu Zayd and Nelson, Voice of an Exile, 2.
“who had lost his way”: Ajami, Dream Palace of the Arabs, 214.
Islamists were using to hurt Nasr: Abu Zayd and Nelson, Voice of an Exile, 128.
dressed up as a political act: Author interview with Ebtehal Younes, Cairo, October 2017.
the Islam of riches: F. Fodah, Before the Fall, 2nd ed. (Cairo, Egypt: F. A. Fawda, 1995), 151.
supposedly more righteous ways: Ibid., 156.
could earn $3,000 per month: J. Miller, “The Embattled Arab Intellectual,” New York Times, June 9, 1985.
“But leave us our culture, our letters”: N. Qabbani, “Abu Jahl Buys Fleet Street,” 1990. Author’s translation. Poem is available online in Arabic at http://www.nizariat.com/.
“I cannot accept that Islam be insulted”: Full video of debate can be found online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ubF2jHuHN1w.
as the martyr of the nation: “Janazat farag foda tahawalat ila muzhaharah wataniyyah tandud al-irhab” [Farag Foda’s funeral turned into a national demonstration denouncing terrorism], Al-Ahram, June 11, 1992.
“long live the cross”: Ibid.
“divide us between Muslims and infidels?”: “‘I’tirafat al-muttahem ‘an khutuwat al-‘amaliyyah” [Confessions of the accused about the different steps of the operation], Akher Saa’a, June 18, 1992.
“hounding them with war”: K. Murphy, “Egypt’s ‘Unknown Army’ Wages War in Islam’s Name,” Los Angeles Times, July 12, 1992.
enemies “of everything that is Islamic”: Mohammad Kamal El Sayyed Mohammad, Al Azhar Jami’an wa Jami’atan [Al-Azhar, the mosque and the university], book 4 (Cairo: Majma’ Al Bohouth al Islamiya, 1984).
carry out this deadly duty: C. Murphy, “Killing Apostates Condoned,” Washington Post, July 2, 1993.
was feeding intolerance and playing with fire: “Silenced: Egypt,” Economist, June 13, 1992.
condemning women who didn’t cover their hair: J. Lancaster, “Top Islamic University Gains Influence in Cairo,” Washington Post, April 11, 1995.
considered Wahhabism to be a deviation: Author interview with Al-Azhar expert Amr Ezzat, Cairo, October 2017.
Egyptian women wore the headscarf: T. Osman, Egypt on the Brink: From Nasser to Mubarak (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2010), 89.
decided to the veil on the spot: “Muhadarat al-sheikhah hanaa tharwat” [Sheikha Hanaa Tharwat’s Lectures], Rose al-Youssef, March 1, 1993.
and a monthly salary of $150,000: K. Van Nieuwkerk, Performing Piety: Singers and Actors in Egypt’s Islamic Revival (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2014), 131.
“to their account if they stop dancing”: Ibid., 130.
and traditional religious forces: A. Cooperman, “First Bombs, Now Lawsuits: Egypt’s Vibrant Cultural Life Is the Target of a New Legal Assault by Islamic Fundamentalists,” U.S. News & World Report, December 23, 1996.
at the Cairo book fair were religious: Van Nieuwkerk, Performing Piety, 115.
came off the walls and mantels: Details gathered from conversations with several Egyptian intellectuals and journalists describing how social norms changed within a generation.
In front of his usual massive crowd: A section of Nasser’s speech is available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TX4RK8bj2W0.
coursed through his veins: Abu Zayd and Nelson, Voice of an Exile, 2.
It was a village of believers: Reset DOC (producer), Nasr Abu Zayd: My Life Fighting Intolerance, part 1 [video uploaded September 2, 2010], available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_d7WGgHKfXc.
“throwing a few pebbles into it”: Ajami, Dream Palace of the Arabs, 225.
“has now been transplanted into the university”: A. Bakr, E. Colla, and N. H. Abu Zayd, “Silencing Is at the Heart of My Case,” Middle East Report 185 (1993).
had already died inside her: Associated Press, “Egypt: Separated Muslim Scholar Faces Death Threats,” video, June 26, 1995, available online at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Chup196QNt4.
declared his marriage to Ebtehal null and void: Abu Zayd and Nelson, Voice of an Exile, 8.
“a murtad is a dead man”: Associated Press, “Egypt: Separated Muslim Scholar Faces Death Threats.”
from Cairo University’s library: Abu Zayd and Nelson, Voice of an Exile, 155.
Zawahiri had approved: Wright, Looming Tower, 211.
Palestinian militants had opted: Associated Press, “Suicide Car Bomb Kills Two Near West Bank Restaurant,” Sarasota Herald, April 17, 1993.
12: Generation 1979
At 11:40 a.m., a car bomb exploded: Descriptions of the incident are taken from E. Sciolino, “Bomb Kills 4 Americans in Saudi Arabia,” New York Times, November 14, 1995; and J. Lancaster, “Five Americans Killed by Car Bomb at Military Building in Saudi Capital,” Washington Post, November 14, 1995.
“This was not something you think would”: Sciolino, “Bomb Kills 4 Americans in Saudi Arabia.”
some fifteen thousand American troops: M. R. Gordon, “Bush Sends US Force to Saudi Arabia as Kingdom Agrees to Confront Iraq,” New York Times, August 8, 1990.
“organizing battalions of righteous Islamic”: Coll, Ghost Wars, 222–23.
“We will fight him with faith”: Ibid., 223.
Saddam convened a repeat of: Helfont, “Saddam and the Islamists.”
Against the advice of some: “Obituary: Sheikh Bin Baz,” Economist, May 22, 1999; J. Millerjan, “Muslims; Saudis Decree Holy War on Hussein,” New York Times, January 20, 1991.
seventy Saudi women gathered: Y. M. Ibrahim, “Saudi Women Take Driver’s Seat in a Rare Protest for the Right to Travel,” New York Times, November 7, 1990.
made to sign pledges: Ibid.
denounced the protesters as: J. Miller, “The Struggle Within,” New York Times Magazine, March 10, 1991.
“It is not the world against Iraq”: M. Fandy, “The Hawali Tapes,” New York Times, November 24, 1990.
Audah had been deeply influenced by Surur: H. Saleh, “A Contemporary of the Founder of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood Reveals Muhammad Surur’s Secrets,” Al-Arabiya, November 20, 2016.
had an explicit mission: Description of the role and scope of the Islamic University of Medina and the role of the Muslim Brotherhood in the teaching are summarized from M. Farquhar, Circuits of Faith: Migration, Education, and the Wahhabi Mission (Redwood City, CA: Stanford University Press, 2016).
Assailed by doubts: Mansour’s journey is summarized from M. Al-Mansour, “Losing My Jihadism,” Washington Post, July 22, 2007; and E. Rubin, “The Jihadi Who Kept Asking Why,” New York Times Magazine, March 7, 2004.
The Saudis supported the growth: Coll, Ghost Wars, 296–97.
a twenty-four-year-old Saudi, Abdelaziz Mu’atham: M. Fandy, Saudi Arabia and the Politics of Dissent (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 1999), 3–4.
such extremism needed to be fought: A. Y. Shaheen, “Riyadh Explosion: The Full Confessions and the Afghan Link,” Al-Hayat, April 29, 1996.
and Sheikh Huthaifi was removed: B. Rubin, “Escaping Isolation,” Jerusalem Post, April 2, 1998; author interview with Mansour al-Mansour.
resuming diplomatic ties within forty-eight hours: T. Wilkinson, “Saudis, Iran Settling Bitter Dispute over Mecca Pilgrimage, May Soon Resume Ties,” Los Angeles Times, March 19, 1991.
were also paying off: W. Drozdiak, “Iran Reasserts Influence in Gulf,” Washington Post, March 24, 1991.
Rafsanjani believed that keeping it off-limits: Author’s interview in May 2018 with Hossein Mousavian, former high-ranking Iranian official who conducted secret negotiations with Crown Prince Abdallah on behalf of Rafsanjani in 1995 and 1996.
made sure that Jannat al-Baqi was opened: “Rafsanjani yazuru fadk wa yaltaqi shiah al-madinah wa yushahidu raksat al-‘ardah” [Rafsanjani visits Fadak, meets the Shias of Medina and watches the arda dance], Al-Wasat, June 10, 2008.
Even after an indictment in June 2001: D. Johnston, “14 Indicted by U.S. in ’96 Blast,” New York Times, June 22, 2001.
“We still ask ourselves”: T. Mostyn, “Crown Prince Nayef bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud Obituary,” Guardian, June 21, 2012.
few had made it to an actual battlefield: T. McDermott, Perfect Soldiers: The 9/11 Hijackers: Who They Were, Why They Did It (New York: Harper, 2005), 219, 295.
channeled $300 million worth of weapons: M. Dobbs, “Saudis Funded Weapons for Bosnia, Official Says,” Washington Post, February 2, 1996.
attacks against the House of Saud: Wright, Looming Tower, 181.
He began to focus his newspaper articles: Al-Mansour, “Losing My Jihadism.”
had pronounced him an infidel: Ibid.
three hundred private Saudi charities: Z. Abuza, “Funding Terrorism in Southeast
Asia: The Financial Network of Al Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiya,” Contemporary Southeast Asia 25, no. 2 (August 2003): 169–99.
acting as a kind of unofficial intermediary: Wright, Looming Tower, 227.
as living in a fantasyland of terror: N. Boustany, “Bin Laden Now a Target in Arab Media,” Washington Post, November 23, 2001.
of some three hundred sites, only ten remained: H. Pope, “Iconic Clash: Saudi Fights to End Demolition Driven by Islamic Dictate,” Wall Street Journal, August 18, 2004.
If there was any trauma in his life: Author interview with Sami Angawi, Jeddah, February 2018.
Saudi officials dismissed: Pope, “Iconic Clash.”
“The sky’s the limit”: Iranian Press Service, “Saudi Defence Minister Visit to Iran Good for Persian Gulf Peace and Security,” May 3, 1999.
13: Cain and Abel
survived the initial impact: As told to author by Jawad al-Khoei in an interview in Najaf in March 2018. The Khoei family stated that details of the arranged car accident were contained in files of the Baath Party that were uncovered after 2003.
Jawad loved the city: Author interview with Jawad al-Khoei, Najaf, March 2018.
hosted him for a week: Ibid.
the senior clergy in Najaf: Moin, Khomeini, 158.
empress of Iran had visited: Ibid.
He thought the Iranians were crazy: Author interviews in Najaf with senior clerics and scholars from the Najaf hawza.
Abdulmajid understood: Interview and private correspondence with Hayder al-Khoei, son of Abdulmajid, in Najaf, March 2018.
if Shias had come to see the state: F. Haddad, “Shia-centric State-Building and Sunni Rejection in Post-2003 Iraq,” in F. Wehrey, ed., Beyond Sunni and Shia: The Roots of Sectarianism in a Changing Middle East (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017), 133.
“But the Shia of Iraq are not happy”: C. Clover, “Warm Homecoming for Exiled Clergyman,” Financial Times, April 6, 2003.
“I must go because the risks”: F. Alam and M. Bright, “Murdered Cleric’s Family Vow to Continue His Work,” Guardian, April 13, 2003.
camping on the outskirts of Najaf: Clover, “Warm Homecoming for Exiled Clergyman.”
