Culture and Controversy
Falsely quoted in a Saudi Arabian newspaper, Prof. Natana DeLong-Bas now strives to shed light on Wahhabism, an Islamic movement that is often misunderstood
by Bernard Herman
Features | 1/23/07
Posted online at 2:24 AM EST on 1/23/07
Prof. Natana DeLong-Bas (NEJS) is a recent victim of a journalistic gaffe that could be either an honest mistake or outright slander. But at least she has a sense of humor about it.
To punctuate her explanation of how she was misquoted in Asharq al-Alawsat, a Saudi Arabian newspaper, she throws her hands into the air and declares, "Sorry to disappoint you. I'm not a terrorist!"
DeLong-Bas is, however, a leading expert on Wahhabism, an ultraorthodox sect of Sunni Islam that is now the dominant movement in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and some parts of Iraq. This faith is misunderstood by many in United7 States and Western Europe, DeLong-Bas says, because it is now associated with fundamentalism, sectarian violence and, like DeLong-Bas herself, the nefarious Osama bin Laden.
"Asharq al-Awset made it look as if I thought that Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11," she says. "Of course he did. He's the CEO of Al-Qaeda and the leader of their political agenda. All I claimed was that he didn't have anything to do with the logistics or the planning of the attacks themselves."
She says the Saudi Arabian reporter asked her whether she thought either of the two most popular conspiracy theories surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks-that either the U.S. government or the Israeli people were behind them-were accurate. "I find that neither conspiracy theory is accurate, and I have not seen one shred of evidence supporting either," she says.
It is ironic that DeLong-Bas' own image has suffered the pitfalls of misunderstanding, since she has devoted much of her career to furthering the understanding of what Wahhabism really stands for.
Understanding and misunderstanding have been themes in DeLong-Bas' work and life. She is teaching a course this semester called "Contemporary Islamic Thought and Practice," but before her senior year at Middlebury College in Vermont, DeLong-Bas had never even heard of Islam. Her course covers the current theological and political trends among moderate and extremist Muslims and uses groups in the United States and Europe as case studies.
To punctuate her explanation of how she was misquoted in Asharq al-Alawsat, a Saudi Arabian newspaper, she throws her hands into the air and declares, "Sorry to disappoint you. I'm not a terrorist!"
DeLong-Bas is, however, a leading expert on Wahhabism, an ultraorthodox sect of Sunni Islam that is now the dominant movement in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Pakistan and some parts of Iraq. This faith is misunderstood by many in United7 States and Western Europe, DeLong-Bas says, because it is now associated with fundamentalism, sectarian violence and, like DeLong-Bas herself, the nefarious Osama bin Laden.
"Asharq al-Awset made it look as if I thought that Osama Bin Laden had nothing to do with the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11," she says. "Of course he did. He's the CEO of Al-Qaeda and the leader of their political agenda. All I claimed was that he didn't have anything to do with the logistics or the planning of the attacks themselves."
She says the Saudi Arabian reporter asked her whether she thought either of the two most popular conspiracy theories surrounding the Sept. 11 attacks-that either the U.S. government or the Israeli people were behind them-were accurate. "I find that neither conspiracy theory is accurate, and I have not seen one shred of evidence supporting either," she says.
It is ironic that DeLong-Bas' own image has suffered the pitfalls of misunderstanding, since she has devoted much of her career to furthering the understanding of what Wahhabism really stands for.
Understanding and misunderstanding have been themes in DeLong-Bas' work and life. She is teaching a course this semester called "Contemporary Islamic Thought and Practice," but before her senior year at Middlebury College in Vermont, DeLong-Bas had never even heard of Islam. Her course covers the current theological and political trends among moderate and extremist Muslims and uses groups in the United States and Europe as case studies.
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