Bin Salman Toys With Religious Reform

For Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, religious reform has long been a question of when rather than if.

Mr. Bin Salman’s potential embrace of religious, not just social and economic reform, could have far-reaching consequences for the role of religion in Saudi Arabia and religious soft power rivalry in the Muslim world.

A recent Washington Institute of Near East Policy public opinion survey suggests that Saudi Arabia, long dominated by an ultra-conservative and supremacist strand of Islam, increasingly favours religious moderation and may be more open to religious reform.

Forty-three per cent of those surveyed agreed that Saudis “should listen to those among us who are trying to interpret Islam in a more moderate, tolerant, and modern direction.” When asked the same question four years ago, only 20 per cent agreed.

Since coming to office, Mr. Bin Salman has pushed reforms that have significantly enhanced women's rights and opportunities, catered to youth aspirations for greater social freedom and contributed to economic diversification.

To do so, the crown prince has subjugated the kingdom’s conservative religious establishment and shattered long-held taboos. He has also brutally repressed criticism and dissent.

Yet, for all his bold moves, Mr. Bin Salman has stopped short of anchoring his reforms in religious law. Seemingly, the crown prince was concerned that religious reform could be one step too far.

On occasion, Mr. Bin Salman has insisted that describing his reforms as “moderate” Islam would “make terrorists and extremists happy” because they could assert that “we in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries are changing Islam into something new, which is not true.”…

James M. Dorsey in the Turbulent World.

James M. Dorsey

James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and commentator on foreign affairs who has covered ethnic and religious conflict and terrorism across the globe for more than three decades. Over his career, Dorsey served as a foreign correspondent for, among others, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Fair Observer and UPI in the Middle East, Europe, Africa, Central America and the US. He is currently a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and the author of the blog, "The Turbulent World of Middle East Soccer," as well as a book of the same name.

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