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Expanding the Wahhabi Mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the Transnational Religious Economy

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Expanding the Wahhabi Mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the Transnational Religious Economy The London School of Economics and Political Science Expanding the Wahhabi Mission: Saudi Arabia, the Islamic University of Medina and the Transnational Religious Economy Michael Farquhar A thesis submitted to the Department of Government of the London School of Economics for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, London, November 2013 Declaration I certify that the thesis I have presented for examination for the MPhil/PhD degree of the London School of Economics and Political Science is solely my own work other than where I have clearly indicated that it is the work of others (in which case the extent of any work carried out jointly by me and any other person is clearly identified in it). The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. Quotation from it is permitted, provided that full acknowledgement is made. This thesis may not be reproduced without my prior written consent. I warrant that this authorisation does not, to the best of my belief, infringe the rights of any third party. I declare that my thesis consists of 99,556 words. 2 Abstract This thesis offers a historical account of the emergence and evolution of new Islamic educational institutions in Saudi Arabia in the twentieth century which came to sit at the heart of migratory circuits of students and scholars from across the globe. It pays special attention to the Islamic University of Medina (IUM), which was launched by the Saudi state in 1961 to offer fully-funded religious instruction to mostly non-Saudi students. Exploring the history of this missionary project provides a point of departure for interrogating the commonplace claim that Saudi actors have taken advantage of wealth derived from oil rents in recent decades to fund the export of Wahhabism. In order to understand the far-reaching cultural, social and political dynamics that have emerged from this nexus between migration, education, material investment and religious mission, this study develops a historiography grounded in a novel conception of transnational religious economies. These are understood to consist in flows – both within and across national borders – of material capital, spiritual capital, religious migrants and social technologies. While Saudi state spending has been crucial for the operation of institutions like the IUM, its missionary project has also drawn on a far wider range of resources within the terms of these economies, including migrant labour, sources of symbolic legitimation and modes of pedagogy appropriated from beyond the Peninsula. The IUM’s syllabuses, whilst firmly rooted in core Wahhabi concerns, have also been shaped by processes of hegemonic engagement with migrant students. Finally, students bearing spiritual capital accumulated on its campus have themselves made divergent uses of these resources in locations around the world. The notion of transnational religious economies developed here shines light on the multiple resources, border crossings, historical contingencies, interests and forms of agency bound up in the articulation of a power-laden, state-led project of “religious expansion”. 3 Contents Acknowledgements ...................................................................................................... 7 Note on Transliteration and Referencing ...................................................................... 9 Glossary...................................................................................................................... 11 Introduction................................................................................................................ 13 Islamic, Salafi and Wahhabi Traditions ................................................................ 20 Transnational Religious Economies ..................................................................... 23 Methods ............................................................................................................. 41 The Structure of the Thesis.................................................................................. 45 Chapter 1: Religious Education in the Ottoman and Sharifian Hijaz............................. 52 Mosques, Madrasas and Sufi Lodges................................................................... 53 Bureaucratising Education................................................................................... 71 Conclusion .......................................................................................................... 78 Chapter 2: Education and Wahhabi Expansion Within Saudi-Ruled Territories: Transformations in the Occupied Hijaz........................................................................ 80 Religious Instruction in the Wahhabi Tradition.................................................... 81 Developments in the Occupied Hijaz................................................................... 83 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 105 Chapter 3: National Politics and Global Mission: The Founding and Expansion of the Islamic University of Medina from 1961.............................................................. 107 Geopolitics, Domestic Discord and a New Missionary Project............................ 108 Resources and Regulation: The Evolving Relationship between the Islamic University and the Saudi State........................................................................... 120 4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 134 Chapter 4: Migration and the Legitimation of the Islamic University......................... 136 Reaching Abroad............................................................................................... 138 Flows: Sojourners, Immigrants and Itinerants.................................................... 144 Structures: Transnational Circuits and Social Fields ........................................... 147 Domesticating the IUM ..................................................................................... 159 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 162 Chapter 5: Post-Colonial Contestation and Social Technologies of Education at the Islamic University................................................................................................ 164 Rethinking Religious Education.......................................................................... 165 Forging Industrious Duʿat .................................................................................. 174 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 187 Chapter 6: Unequal Reciprocity and the Construction of Correct Religious Knowledge at the Islamic University.......................................................................... 189 Delineating the Content of Teaching ................................................................. 190 Knowledge of Others......................................................................................... 192 Knowledge of God............................................................................................. 200 Knowledge of God’s Law ................................................................................... 208 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 221 Chapter 7: The Islamic University and Its Students: Facilitating, Mediating and Contesting Wahhabi Religious Expansion.................................................................. 223 The IUM as a Site of Investment, Exchange and Accumulation .......................... 224 Student Responses: Assent, Rejection and Negotiation..................................... 231 5 Leaving Medina................................................................................................. 238 Conclusion ........................................................................................................ 254 Conclusion ................................................................................................................ 256 Bibliography.............................................................................................................. 265 6 Acknowledgements The shortcomings of this thesis are entirely my own responsibility. If there is any merit in it, that is in very large part down to all those who have lent their assistance over the four years that it took to come to fruition. Thanks go first and foremost to John Chalcraft, without whose extraordinarily patient, dedicated and inventive supervision this project would not have stood a chance. So many of the ideas in this thesis are rooted in his questions and suggestions that I have given up trying to acknowledge them individually. It has been a privilege to work with a scholar whose breadth of knowledge, critical insight and political conscience will remain an inspiration for a long time to come. Likewise, I am immensely grateful to John Sidel, who has consistently offered support and incisive comments on draft work, and who first pointed me in the direction of an article by Bradford Verter which came to have a big impact on my research. It goes without saying that neither is accountable for the analysis presented here. I would also like to extend my appreciation to the former students of the Islamic University of Medina who lent me their time and trust. If there is
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