On the House . . . of Saud, that is: The kingdom's spending in America

National Review, April 8, 2002 by John J. Miller

For the Wahhabis, every aspect of the faith is an instrument of doctrinal control, including the Hajj-the pilgrimage to Mecca that faithful Muslims are expected to make at least once in their lifetimes, if they are able. Ordinary Muslims feel a deep emotional attachment to this part of their spiritual lives, and it is more meaningful to them than a trip to St. Peter's is to a typical Roman Catholic. Yet the Saudis restrict access to Mecca, often refusing to grant the necessary travel visas to American Muslims who don't have Wahhabi ties. When Muslims express frustration at this, the Saudis essentially deny what they're doing and claim it's all in the interests of security. Mecca, after all, has been taken over by guerrilla forces in recent memory, to the tremendous embarrassment of its caretakers. What they're really doing, however, is enforcing Wahhabi orthodoxy.

American Muslims have proven themselves to be abnormally susceptible to Wahhabism, for a couple of reasons. First, U.S. Muslims are largely an immigrant community; because Islam has not had much of an institutional presence in this country until recently, they are more dependent on clergymen from abroad than, say, the Italian immigrants of the Ellis Island era or the Mexican newcomers of today. The Muslims' current position is not entirely different from that of the Irish Catholic immigrants of the mid 19th century, who had to import priests for many years before there were a sufficient number of native-born vocations. As a result, Saudi-trained Wahhabi imams have a booming job market in the U.S.

The other chief attraction of Wahhabism is its stripped-down theology, which has a special appeal for converts (who make up perhaps one-third of all American Muslims). By tossing out centuries-old traditions and elevating the importance of a single text, the Wahhabis make their form of faith more accessible to people who haven't been part of a lifelong cultural fermentation.

No matter what the reasons, Wahhabism is now leaving an indelible stamp on American Islam, from the schools that train the men who become Islamic military chaplains to the prison outreach programs that have been a successful vehicle of conversion. The Wahhabi influence is so great that it has trickled down all the way to minor rap groups that refuse to use musical instruments, because musical instruments (with the exception of drums) are anathema to the austere Wahhabis.

Financial experts say that Saudis hold as much as $1 trillion in banks outside the Middle East. Barring some fundamental shift in Saudi culture, much of this money ultimately will be deployed toward Wahhabi projects, creating a massive endowment for Islamic extremism around the globe-and right here at home.