![]() ![]() ‘Saudi Vision 2030’ aims to bring a complete Saudi political, economic, educational and cultural transformation. A ‘moderate Wahhabism’ for Saudi society? He has worked quickly to erase those accommodations and, like his grandfather, affirm the supremacy of the monarchy. He blames some Wahhabi scholars for the violence that the monarchy faced in 1979 and again in the the 1990s and 2000s. He’s abandoning the monarchy’s accommodations of the Wahhabi establishment. ![]() When MBS speaks of a “moderate Islam” he is not just condemning the violence of al-Qaida. As historian Madawi Al-Rasheed notes, many Saudi scholars framed themselves as reformers who sought to correct Fahd’s departures from “authentic” Islam and restore Faisal’s vision. Not all conservative Islamist leaders called for violence. Al-Qaida launched anti-Saudi insurgent campaigns lasting through 2010. Bin Ladin proclaimed the presence of American infidels in Saudi Arabia to be a defilement of Islamic holy lands, an “ affront” to Islamic sensibilities, and demanded the destruction of the monarchy. soldiers to Saudi soil following Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990. One such Saudi who answered the call that year was Osama bin Laden, who would establish al-Qaida in 1988.īin Laden’s and al-Qaida’s grievances against the monarchy emerged following King Fahd’s acceptance of an increased deployment of U.S. Afterward, Khalid agreed to elevate religious officials who affirmed the Islamic credentials of the monarchy.Īlso in 1979, other Saudi youth traveled to join the resistance against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. The seizure came to a violent end with combined action by French and Saudi military forces. An attack on the Grand Mosque was viewed as an attack on the monarchy itself, which claims the mantle of “Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.” ![]() King Khalid, who followed Faisal, continued to favor Wahhabi scholars, particularly while responding to two major challenges in 1979.Ī group of Saudi students, who believed Faisal’s and Khalid’s reforms to be illegitimate, seized the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam’s most sacred site, for two weeks in 1979. Resisting Wahhabismįaisal’s reforms met with success. Wealthy Saudis, these Wahhabi scholars argued, had a religious duty to promote Wahhabism across the globe. Abroad, Faisal’s scholars presented Wahhabism as an authentic Islamic alternative to the Cold War ideologies of the U.S. Saudis who felt left behind in the emerging Saudi oil economy had found an inspirational symbol of liberation in Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, who helped overthrow the Egyptian monarchy in 1952 and implemented plans to redistribute Egyptian wealth.įaisal encouraged Wahhabi scholars to work with politically driven Islamists to reject the revolutionary politics of Abdel Nasser’s Egypt and craft a new vision of Islam for Saudi youth.įaisal permitted Wahhabi scholars to reform Saudi educational institutions with their conservative Islamic curriculum. Unlike Abdulaziz, Faisal believed Wahhabis would help him save the kingdom. ![]() The booming Saudi oil economy developed by Abdulaziz required his son, King Faisal, who ruled from 1964 to 1975, to reconsider the monarchy’s relationship with Wahhabism. He did the opposite and asserted the supremacy of the monarchy. This vision rejects policies toward Wahhabi Islam favored by his uncles, King Faisal and King Khalid.īetween 19, Abdulaziz suppressed Wahhabi scholars and militants who had demanded that he uphold their version of “pure Islam” and not open the kingdom to trade and development. This proclaimed return of “moderate Islam” echoes the reforms of MBS’s grandfather, King Abdulaziz, founder of the modern Saudi kingdom. A country of moderate Islam that is open to all religions, traditions and people around the globe.” Negotiating Wahhabism MBS defended these actions, claiming, “We are returning to what we were before. He then detained a major Wahhabi scholar from whom he once sought counsel, charging him with crimes against the monarchy. In an interview broadcast widely throughout the kingdom, MBS chastised Wahhabi scholars, accusing some of falsifying Islamic doctrines. MBS seems unconcerned with such challenges. military to station weapons and female service members on Saudi soil, several of them supported a violent insurrection against him. When King Fahd, who ruled between 1982-2005, rejected the advice of his Wahhabi scholars and allowed the U.S. In the past, Saudis who challenged the authority of Wahhabis have provoked unrest. As a scholar who studies interpretations of Islamic law to justify or contest militancy, I’ve followed these reforms closely. MBS acknowledges that these reforms risk infuriating certain constituents or could even provoke retaliation. ![]()
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