The Collaborators: How Empire Manufactures “Reform” to Criminalise Islam, How Wahhabi Distortion Became The Empire’s Favourite Alibi

By Naseer Ahmed, New Age Islam 7 October 2025 This article examines how imperial powers construct and exploit a binary of ‘Good Muslim’ and ‘Bad Muslim’ through selective readings of Islamic tradition. It argues that so-called reformist voices often serve as collaborators in this process, reinforcing Wahhabi distortions as Islam’s ‘literalism’ while erasing the Qur’an’s universal and plural message. The result is a theological alibi for endless war, packaged as reform from within. Ashrof, in a recent comment, writes: “Verses like 60:8–9 enjoin Muslims to treat non-belligerent outsiders with kindness and justice. Yet, classical Tafsir—by al-Ṭabari, Ibn Kathir, and al-Razi—routinely subsumed Jews, Christians, and polytheists under the umbrella of kufr. How? By synthesizing verses based on theological premises. That, precisely, is hermeneutics.” That is quite an admission. He acknowledges that hermeneutics can convert every non-Muslim into a kafir destined for eternal hellfire—though the Qur’an itself does not. He concedes that this requires importing an alien human standard (“theology”) into Qur’anic interpretation. This “synthesis” is nothing but the art of erasing contradictions. It produced the fiction that the Qur’an “evolved,” that its early tolerance was later abrogated, and that later verses cancel earlier ones. But if that were true, then 4:82—which declares a divine book must be free of contradiction—would be meaningless. Hermeneuticists Live And Breathe Contradiction. And then the sleight of hand: Ashrof calls Wahhabi/Salafi distortion both literalism and hermeneutics. Why dignify distortion with the name of “literalism”? Because that is the script. Demonise the extremist’s version as a literalist Quran, then outsource the role of “Bad Muslim” to Wahhabis and Salafis. Project yourself as the enlightened reformer, the “Good Muslim,” bravely rescuing Islam from itself. This Is Not Scholarship. It Is Political Choreography The Wahhabis are a convenient foil. They are a minority, widely despised in the Muslim world, making them the perfect proxy. Attack Islam through them, and the majority of Muslims—who dislike Wahhabis—will nod along. Meanwhile, to the Western audience, the message is simple: Islam in its “literal” form is dangerous, violent, and in need of reform. This Trick Is Not Accidental. It Is A Service To The Empire. Ashrof has already acknowledged the rigor of my work on kafir. I have shown—through textually grounded proofs—that not every disbeliever is a kafir, and that morally upright polytheists are entitled to salvation. This demolishes the traditionalist conflation of kufr with disbelief. A truly literal Qur’an turns out to be radically universalist and pluralist. But that unsettles collaborators like him. They need the distortions intact because the distortions are what the Empire requires. Their role is to launder those distortions through a “justice and mercy” filter, to posture as enlightened reformers while reinforcing the very narratives that criminalise Muslims. Why does the Empire need this? Because the “clash of civilisations” story needs Muslim voices inside Islam to confirm it. After 9/11, General Wesley Clark revealed the plan: seven countries were targeted for destruction—Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Somalia, and Iran. None had anything to do with 9/11. The hijackers were overwhelmingly Saudi and Emirati, yet Saudi Arabia and the UAE—key collaborators—were untouched. The plan was never about terrorism; it was about redesigning the region in Israel’s favour. But to sell endless war, you need more than tanks. You need theology. Netanyahu supplies it: Israel, he says, fights on behalf of “civilisation.” He invokes Amalek, the biblical enemy marked for total extermination—including women and infants—as a frame for Gaza. Settler expansion is sanctified by Genesis 15:18 (“from the Nile to the Euphrates”) and Deuteronomy 11:24 (“every place you set your foot shall be yours”). Ethnic cleansing becomes prophecy fulfilled. Christian Zionists amplify it. For them, Israel is the “super sign” of the End Times, a prerequisite for Christ’s return. Bush invoked Gog and Magog before launching the Iraq war. Evangelical preachers map Ezekiel’s prophecy onto Muslim nations. Eschatology and empire feed each other: biblical prophecy justifies U.S. wars, and U.S. weapons make prophecy “come true.” Enter the collaborators. Their role is to echo the same dehumanising frames—Muslims as literalists, as inherently backward, as eternal enemies—only this time in a Muslim voice. That confirmation is gold. When Netanyahu invokes Amalek, when Bush invokes Gog and Magog, they can point to Muslim “critics” like Ashrof and say: See? Even Muslims admit it. This is why his articles follow a fixed script: Selective targeting: Wahhabis are demonised, while parallel faults across other sects are ignored. Universalising the flaw: What is framed as Wahhabi extremism quietly becomes “Muslim literalism.” Supplying authenticity: To Western ears, this is “reform from within.” In reality, it is a native informer feeding the narrative machine. And to what end? To justify wars of conquest as wars of civilisation. To turn every Palestinian child killed under rubble into not a tragedy, but a prophecy fulfilled. The Qur’an described this pathology long ago: (2:11–12) When it is said to them: “Make not mischief on the earth,” they say: “We are only reformers!” Truly, they are the ones who make mischief, though they realise it not. And it defined Fasad—not just disorder but bloodshed, expulsion, terror (5:33; 59:2). By that standard, there is no fasād greater than genocide dressed as reform, ethnic cleansing cloaked as civilisation, or dehumanisation sanctified by scripture. That is why the collaborators are so dangerous. They do not just misread the Qur’an. They feed the very eschatological and imperial machinery that turns massacre into virtue. Ashrof’s “self-criticism” is therefore not reform. It is mischief. It is the Muslim counterpart to Netanyahu’s Amalek. Both wrap destruction in the language of piety. Both sanctify slaughter while claiming to heal. (47:12) As for those who believe and do righteous deeds, Allah will admit them to Gardens beneath which rivers flow. But those who reject—who enjoy themselves and eat as cattle eat—the Fire will be their abode. Ashrof will no doubt demand “proof” that he is a collaborator. But the proof is not in a single citation—it is in the unbroken pattern: article after article recycling the Empire’s favourite binary, with Wahhabi cast as the grotesque Muslim and Sufi as the tame Muslim, leaving nothing in between. That is not reform. It is stenography for the “war on terror” narrative. Were he merely naïve, following heroes who all—by uncanny coincidence—happen to be collaborators, he would eventually have noticed the blunder and shifted course toward genuine reform. Genuine reform restores Muslim dignity without the Wahhabi straw man. His writings never do this. They are not reformatory; they are confirmatory. By contrast, the Wahhabi distortions are best dismantled by efforts such as mine, which prove that the Qur’an’s literal Islam is universal, plural, merciful, and just for all humankind. That is why his project needs distortion, while mine exposes it. Wahhabi distortion is not Islam’s truth, but the Empire’s alibi. ------ A frequent contributor to NewAgeIslam.com, Naseer Ahmed is an independent researcher and Quran-centric thinker whose work bridges faith, reason, and contemporary knowledge systems. Through a method rooted in intra-Quranic analysis and scientific coherence, the author has offered ground-breaking interpretations that challenge traditional dogma while staying firmly within the Quran’s framework. His work represents a bold, reasoned, and deeply reverent attempt to revive the Quran’s message in a language the modern world can test and trust. 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