Only Saudi Arabia is able to defeat ISIS and other terrorist organizations

According to Saudi researcher Nawaf Obaid ; Saudi Arabia is the only state capable of defeating ISIS and other terrorist organizations, stressing that linking Saudi Arabia to these organizations is not based on any real arguments and justifications.

 In a reported by Le Temps, the Saudi researcher, Nawaf Obaid, confirmed that Saudi Arabia is the only country capable of defeating terrorist groups, particularly ISIS.

The end of 2017 has witnessed the collapse of the ISIS Caliphate regime after the large-scale attacks against jihadists in both Syria and Iraq, and losing their regional control in Mesopotamia and neighboring regions. Still, followers of this organization are still deployed in all around the world, especially in Europe.

 In light of these developments, the researcher points out that "analysts are trying to improve their understanding of the group to stop it, and for some of them, this organization is linked to Saudi Arabia, but a closer look makes us sure that ISIS is engaged in an entrenched war against the Kingdom and the Saudi religious establishment in an attempt to redefine the principles of the Islamic religion to serve the interests of the organization, and to control the most sacred holy places in Islam, such as Mecca and Medina, to gain religious legitimacy in the Islamic world. "

Saudi Arabia is well aware of the danger of this organization, so it formed a coalition of 34 Muslim countries in December 2015 to combat terrorism and to prove that "the Kingdom is not the source of the Islamic state organization, but its central opponent, and it is the state that can defeat it". 

“Many people mistakenly believe that Saudi Arabia is a source of ISIS because they both practice a version of Islam called “Salafism”. says the Saudi researcher and fellow at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs. "Salafism, however, applied by the kingdom, is rooted to the word “Salaf” or “forefathers”. In which the believers practiced Islam during the first three generations after the Noble Prophet (PBH). “But Salafism practiced by the Islamic state has no religious basis,” he continues his words.

 The researcher adds that "this organization is in fact a continuation of the Kharijites, defected from the principles of Islam, in the era of the fourth Caliph Ali (whom the Kharijites assassinated) ... Like the Islamic state, Kharijites believe that anyone who disagreed with them should be executed."

This makes the organization, according to the Saudi researcher, boasts of mass killings against civilians, including women and children, and insists on the practice of some form of inquisition to test the faith of people, up to that its leaders consider themselves guardians for people and that the Islam they call for is the only way to practice Islam. 

Obaid added that Da'ash (ISIS) and Saudi Arabia had clashed in an entrenched religious conflict that rules out any connection between the two sides.

In this context, the Saudi researcher points out that the highest authority is "wali al amr" who owns all the religious and military authority under his command, which is a system well embodied by Saudi Arabia in the modern world. The main job of “wali al amr” is to ensure the welfare of the nation, and in return, the people pledge allegiance to him.

Nawaf Obaid says that "If the first deviates from the principles and foundations of Islam, the later are obliged to replace him. Therefore, allegiance (oath of allegiance) from the nation to the ruler is crucial in Salafism, and whoever breaks or violates it, as what the Islamic state has done, can never be considered a true Salafist".

 The Islamic State Organization has committed a series of terrorist attacks in the Kingdom in recent years. In response to these attacks, the Saudi authorities put the organization on the list of terrorist organizations, warning that anyone who helps ISIS is considered criminal and shall be punished.

Obaid says that when ISIS first appeared in Syria in 2011, King Abdullah tried to galvanise support for the moderate Syrian opposition, but the world failed to listen, making it a threat to the Middle East as well as to the entire world.

The Saudi researcher concluded by saying that "only a coalition led by Saudi Arabia can defeat ISIS and delegitimize it”.