Is Saudi To Blame For ‘IS’?
The Inquiry
BBC
4.6 • 1.7K Ratings
🗓️ 15 December 2015
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Many claim that ‘Islamic State’ is the ideological offspring of Saudi Arabia; that the strict form of Islam originating in the Kingdom - and the Saudi state's aggressive promotion of it around the world – has fostered terrorism. Saudi Arabia is also accused of funding IS, either directly or by failing to prevent private citizens from sending money to the group. But what is the evidence for these claims? Our expert witnesses include: a former recruiter for Al Qaeda who explains what motivates jihadists; an Islamic law scholar who explains the little-understood beliefs of the so-called Islamic State; and a Saudi government official who says, far from aiding IS, his country is at the cutting edge of countering it.
Presenter: Helena Merriman
(Photo: Kingdom Tower in Riyadh. Credit to Shutterstock)
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC World Service, this is Helena Merriman with the inquiry. |
| 0:07.0 | This week is Saudi Arabia to blame for Islamic State. |
| 0:18.0 | It's morning in Kabul, a hundred kilometers south of Baghdad. The market is packed, the air filled with a sound of people shopping and neighborly chit chat. |
| 0:24.0 | Suddenly there's a scream. |
| 0:27.0 | Then another and another. |
| 0:29.0 | Men dressed in black carrying black flag storm into the market. Each person they |
| 0:35.1 | meet they slaughter men women and children. Then they move systematically |
| 0:41.2 | street by street until they've taken the whole city. |
| 0:45.0 | Thousands are dead. |
| 0:50.0 | The men responsible weren't from so-called Islamic State. This massacre took place too hard. The |
| 0:55.0 | men responsible weren't from so-called Islamic State. |
| 0:56.0 | The killers were led by one of the first rulers of Saudi Arabia, |
| 1:00.0 | fighting alongside men from a newly established religious movement called Wahhabism. |
| 1:05.0 | This strict conservative form of Islam is today Saudi Arabia's official religion, |
| 1:10.0 | and some have described it as the ideological parent of Islamic State. |
| 1:15.0 | They blame Saudi Arabia for embracing Wahhabism and then aggressively |
| 1:20.0 | spreading it around the world. |
| 1:22.0 | Saudi Arabia has also been accused of funding IS. |
| 1:27.0 | So in this inquiry we'll hear testimony from an Islamic scholar, a former al-Qaeda recruit, |
| 1:36.0 | and an official from the Saudi government. |
| 1:38.0 | As we ask, is Saudi Arabia to blame for Islamic State. Part 1. A Deal in the Desert. Many of the accusations leveled at Saudi Arabia center on its official religion. |
| 2:11.0 | Critics say that by exporting Wahhabism around the world, Saudi Arabia has helped create |
... |
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