But the Wahabi creed considers making a journey to a shrine for the purpose of visiting it a form of idolatry which deserve the extreme punishment of loss of life and possessions. In effect, they condemned Imam Ahmed, his contemporaries and early Muslims who practiced this ritual and condoned it as idolators who must be put to death and their possessions confiscated. Furthermore, this Wahabi decree must also extend to the Prophet Companions who approved or performed this ritual. Their claim to be followers of Imam Ahmed is thus unfounded.

The slaughter of Muslims at the time of the Wahhabi takeover is the bloodiest chapter in the history of our religion. And what did the Wahhabis do in Mecca, the holiest place in the universe:

During the demonstration, arranged by the people of Makkah al-Mukarramah, to end the attacks directed towards their lives \ufffdtwo of the shells fired (by the Wahhabi forces) from the guns at Qalah al-Jiyad to the (Masjid al-Haram) landed (a few) metres from the sacred stone, the Hajr al-Aswad. The Sutrah al-Sharifah, the cover of the Ka\ufffdbah, caught fire from these shells, and the people, to extinguish (the fire), had to open the door and climb on the Ka\ufffdbah. Although the (Wahhabi) soldiers saw the fire, they kept Maqam Ibrahim and the Haram Sharif under cannon fire and martyred a number of Muslims. Thepeople could not enter the masjid, and salah could not be performed in the Holy Masjid for days (From a letter written to the Muslim world by the Amir of Mecca in 1916). This was other than the slaughter of the scholars.

Although Qatari officials say they have received no request for use of the base against Iraq, the U.S. Central Command will move command and control facilities from Florida to Qatar in November. The move is officially billed as a biennial exercise, but equipment and personnel will remain afterward, according to a U.S. official. There appears to be no doubt here that Qatar will be used as a launching pad if the United States attacks Iraq.

Qatar, a wealthy oil and natural gas emirate jutting from the Arabian Peninsula into the Gulf, would seem an unlikely U.S. ally in at least one way. Qataris belong to the Wahhabi sect of Islam, the same as Osama bin Laden and many Saudis. Yet, Wahhabism here is a relaxed variety. Women can work and drive, alcohol is served in hotels, and foreigners seem genuinely welcome.

Qataris, even those who oppose the U.S. plans for Iraq, value the U.S. security umbrella. Qatar's gas fields in the Gulf nudge up against Iran's. And Qatar shares with other small Gulf states a fear of Saudi domination. The Al Udeid base is an insurance policy.