Saudi funds 24,000 madrassas in Pakistan to spread hatred, terrorism: US senator

Saudi Arabia is funding some 24,000 madrassas (religious schools) in Pakistan through an unleashed “tsunami of money” in order to “export intolerance”, a top American senator says.

“In 1956, there were 244 madrassas in Pakistan. Today, there are 24,000. These schools are multiplying all over the globe. These schools, by and large, don't teach violence. They aren't the minor leagues for al-Qaeda or ISIS (Daesh). But they do teach a version of Islam that leads very nicely into an anti-Shia, anti-Western militancy,” Senator Chris Murphy said in a speech at the Council on Foreign Relations, a top American think-tank, in New York on Friday.

According to Murphy, Pakistan is an excellent example of Saudi money funneled to religious schools to nurture hatred and terrorism.

“The United States should suspend supporting Saudi Arabia's military campaign in Yemen, at the very least until we get assurances that this campaign does not distract from the fight against Daesh and al-Qaeda, and until we make some progress on the Saudi export of Wahhabism,” he further said.

Murphy called on the US Congress not to sign off on any more military sales to Saudis until similar "assurances" are granted.

Political alliances between the Saudi royal family and the Wahhabi clerics is as old as the nation, which means billions of dollars are funneled to and through the Wahhabi movement, he noted, adding that vicious terrorist organizations, such as the Daesh and al-Qaeda, are greatly influenced and derived by Wahhabi and Salafist teachings.

Takfirism, the practice of branding others as "infidels," is a characteristic of Wahhabism, the radical ideology dominating Saudi Arabia and is freely preached by clerics of the country.

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