CONTEMPORARY EURASIA VOLUME VIII (1) ContemporaryEurasia81 | Page 37

ARAKS PASHAYAN
and human rights activism and made it difficult for the religious authorities
to allow a more pluralistic and moderate practice of Islam. Nevertheless, the
old system allowed limited channels to express opinions. Those channels
have been closed during the reign of King Salman and his son, Mohammed.
The new rulers have reorganized agencies and rewritten the laws on
counterterrorism - a legitimate security concern - to gain more power to
quash dissent and imprison people for long periods on the slightest pretext. 9
The Crown Prince purged his cousin, Mohammed bin Nayef, who
controlled the interior ministry. In its place a powerful new agency, the
Presidency of State Security, was created, which reports directly to the King
and can conduct “search, investigation, seizure, criminal and administrative
prosecution” without judicial oversight. 10 In October 2017, the
Kingdom updated its counterterrorism law, which was already overly broad,
to add a host of tripwires to criminalize free expression. For example, the
definition of terrorism was extended to those who “describe” the King or
crown prince “in any way offensive to religion or justice”. 11
However, the highly noteworthy thing for us is Mohammed bin
Salman’s noteworthy intention to uproot the country from religious
extremism and to return to “moderate Islam.” This is the matter which is of
great interest to the outside world, since Saudi Arabia is viewed as a
religiously conservative state that holds and “exports” extremist ideas. Saudi
Arabia is an absolute Sunni monarchy, a “God-state,” a country that
practices Wahhabism, which is one of the most conservative directions of
Sunni Islam with foundations laid back in the 18 th century. It was in this
period that the founder of the Saudi dynasty, Ibn Saud, concluded an
agreement with Wahhabi religious preacher Muhammad ibn Abdal Wahhab,
and this became the foundation for the birth of the Emirate of Diriyah, and
later, in 1932—for the creation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
In fact, Saudi Arabia’s tradition of countering terrorism goes back to
the founding of the Saudi state. Saudi efforts to counter extremism (ghuluw)
emerged for the first time in response to the Ikhwan revolt in 1927-30. On
the other hand, the contention that Wahhabism is part of the problem seems
correct. It remains to be seen if Saudi counter-discourse can effectively fight
its “inner demons” with basically the same religious reasoning on which
radical currents draw their justification for violence. 12
9
Ibid
Rosie Bsheer, “How Muhammad bin Salman has transformed the Saudi Arabia,” The
Nation, May 21, 2018, https://www.thenation.com/article/how-mohammed-bin-salman-has-
transformed-saudi-arabia accessed (April 2, 2019).
11
United States Department of State, Country reports on terrorism 2017- Saudi Arabia,
September 19, 2018, https://www.refworld.org/docid/5bcf1f85c.html accessed (April 7,
2019).
Roel Meijer, “Saudi Arabia religious counter terrorist discourse,” Middle East Institute,
February 15, 2012, https://www.mei.edu/publications/saudi-arabias-religious-counter-
terrorist-discourse (accessed April 1, 2019).
10
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