Re: barelvis
http://www.muslimedia.com/archives/features98/saud2.htm
It was the rapid rise of Abdul Aziz, moving with his tribal hordes from the east, that soon caught the imagination of the wily British. Abdul Aziz grabbed Asir and a number of other provinces before moving on the Hijaz. His opportunity came when Sheriff Husain declared himself the Caliph upon its abolition by Mustafa Kemal. The Muslim world would have none of it from a man who had betrayed Islam and was a known agent of the British.
With the tide turning against him, Husain fled Jeddah for Cyprus. Abdul Aziz’s hordes, meanwhile, made their debut in the Hijaz by sacking Taif in September 1924, in the manner of his forebears a century ago. He massacred most of its male inhabitants, even those who had taken refuge in mosques, many of which were destroyed with the occupants inside. When news of the Taif massacre reached Makkah, there was total chaos. The residents of Makkah fled to Jeddah as Abdul Aziz’s shock troops advanced on the holy city.
Hundreds of pilgrims were slaughtered in the frenzy before Makkah was taken. The sacrilege at Makkah sent a shock-wave throughout the world of Islam. It is forbidden to carry firearms in Makkah. Nor is warfare allowed, much less the slaughter of innocent people.
Abdul Aziz had to act quickly to restore his credibility. He eschewed any plans of occupying the Hijaz, only to ‘rid the Hedjaz and my people of the cruelty of the Sheriff’. The people of Hijaz were neither ‘his people’, nor suffering any great ‘cruelty’ at the hands of the Sheriff. True, they may have had no liking for him but Abdul Aziz hardly meant relief.
He chose a fine way to ‘end the cruelty of the Sheriff’: by massacring hundreds of pilgrims - the guests of Allah, as well as desecrating the sanctity of the Haram. Between 400 to 900 pilgrims, mostly from Aceh-Sumatra, Mindanao, India, Iran and Central Asia, were murdered in complete violation of the commandments in the Qur’an.
Medina was occupied a year later on December 5, 1925. Within a month, he proclaimed himself ‘king of the Hijaz’ as well, in the presence of the imam of Masjid al-Haram. He said that he took this step at the ‘request of the merchants and notables of Jeddah’!
Whether the merchants of Jeddah really made any such request or they even had authority to do so is a moot point. Abdul Aziz had stormed the Hijaz with guns and swords. He desecrated the sanctity of the Haram by shedding blood and killing pilgrims. Even so, he had the gall to announce that he would take into account the wishes of the Muslims regarding the Haramain and the Hijaz.
With Najd and Hijaz both under his control, he turned his attention to the Ikhwan who had by now discovered his treachery. Once they realised that he was a British agent, they wanted to have no truck with him. Backed by British guns and money, Abdul Aziz’s hordes stormed the Ikhwan stronghold of Ghot Ghot. Many Ikhwan leaders were massacred and Ghot Ghot was completely razed. He had betrayed the last of his friends.
In 1932, presumably tired of ‘waiting’ for the Muslims, he declared himself the king of both Najd and Hijaz and named it the ‘kingdom of Saudi Arabia’. This confirmed, yet again, that he was a liar and a brigand. Such men are naturally devoid of any Islamic values and principles. In Islam, there is no concept of kingship.