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The Life, Teachings and Influence of Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhaab
Schwartz
Stephen Schwartz is a Jewish author who pictures himself as
some kind of Naqshabandi Sufi. 1 As was the case with Algar 2, this
does not a priori mean that he cannot rise above his tendencies to
produce an objective, scholarly work. He has written a work entitled
The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa’ud from Tradition to
Terror. This book is being widely propagated in the United States.
This author has found seven or eight copies always available in the
major bookstores in the United States. Furthermore, its author has
made numerous appearances on “news shows” in the Western media.
Hence, although much of Schwartz’s book is beyond the realm of this
work, the portions of his work that most directly concern ibn Abdul-
Wahhaab “deserve” some study. 3
Schwartz tries to present himself as someone very sympathetic
to Islam. 4 His main hypothesis, as is clear from the title of the work, is
that there are “two faces of Islam.” In a somewhat surprising
approach, he dates these two all the way back to the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him), even picturing the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as somewhat confused or,
at worst, schizophrenic. He describes the early Muslims who fled to
Ethiopia to escape persecution in Makkah. Then he writes,
Though he remained behind, Muhammad supported this venture,
which marked the first instance of a recurrent motif in Islam: the
emigration of believers to escape persecution. It is here that in the
Prophet’s own life, the two faces of Islam were first seen:
separation, which would inevitably encourage purism and
extremism, versus entry into the world, even under difficult
conditions, leading to pluralism and tolerance. 5
1 In his acknowledgements, he wrote (pp. 288-289), “I owe even more to Shaykh
Muhammad Hisham Kabbani of the Most Distinguished Naqshbandi Order of
Sufis, very beloved teacher and friend, whose companionship freed my heart,
may the blessings of merciful Allah (swt) always be upon him.”
2 Schwartz quotes Algar on a few occasions. In fact, when reading their “logic”
and arguments, the two of them seem virtually interchangeable.
3 Chapter 3 is his chapter that is most dedicated to ibn Abdul-Wahhaab and most
relevant here.
4 In reality, he has no kind words for any type of Muslim, branding them all
“Wahhabis,” except for the Sufis and the Shiites.
5 Schwartz, p. 11.