I READ with great astonishment and disbelief an article published in The New York Times titled "Let Us Rid the World of Wahhabisim" (Sept. 14, 2016) by Foreign Minister of Iran Mohammad Javad Zarif. His article is appalling, misleading and full of lies. Without going into details, here are some facts that counter the accusations that Zarif has leveled against Saudi Arabia. Within Sunni Islam, there is no such thing as Wahhabism. They are only four major Sunni interpretations of Islam: the Maliki, Hanafi, Shafi and Hanbali schools. Saudi Arabia largely follows the latter. Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab, the individual from whose name the term Wahhabi was coined by his adversaries, was a religious reformer who dispelled misunderstandings about Islam that had become widespread within the Arabian Peninsula about three centuries ago. Some Shiite extremists such as Zarif and Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei often indulge in smearing and deforming his peaceful message as a way of denouncing Sunni Islam. Sheikh Muhammad Bin Abdul Wahhab never claimed direct authority from God as is the case with Iran's Supreme Leader who, according to the Iranian constitution, is the Governance of Jurist (Wilayat Al-Faqih), a term that means he is God's appointed representative on earth. May I also point out that official US records show that many of the 9-11 attackers had been in Iran prior to the attacks. As part of its counter terrorism efforts, Saudi Arabia has taken the lead in rallying world support. This included the Riyadh International Conference to Counter Terrorism held in 2005 and other similar conferences held in 2006 in both Madrid and New York. As part of its counter terrorism efforts, Saudi Arabia has also donated over $150 million in the past six years to help establish a UN center to counter terrorism. In fact, Saudi Arabia has been targeted 80 times by Al-Qaeda and the Daesh group (so-called IS). On the other hand, these groups have never attacked Iran. Zarif's article clearly shows the ability of Iran's leadership to misconstrue facts and weave a yarn. People know better. They might be fooled some time, but they definitely cannot be misled all the time.
