Liberal and Religious Wings in Saudi Arabia

2009-03-23
Saudi Arabia is living a state of expectancy, where various internal forces and trends are interacting in an unprecedented political and social movement.

On one hand, there is the liberal trend led by some modern liberal princes who want to modernize the country and take it out of the grip of 'religious conservatism. This trend is focusing on the liberation of women, opening the door for them to participate in building the society, allowing them to occupy important positions and drive cars.

On the other hand, there are the ultra conservatives headed by the clergy, who resist liberalization and regard it as contrary to Islamic Shari'ah and the traditional Wahabi thought prevalent in the country.

The liberal trend is expressing itself through unprecedented articles in the media, demanding to curb the authority of the clergy and religious police that represents them, known by the name 'the vice and virtue commission.'

Thus, Saudi citizens were surprised by an unprecedented picture of Prince Al-Walid Bin-Talal with his elegant wife beside him, in a local paper with a statement saying that she drives her car on their travels abroad and she is looking forward to driving her car in the Saudi kingdom. The multibillionaire prince went even further yesterday [ 22 March] when he met with the first ever Saudi female football team at his company's head office.

Prince Al-Walid Bin-Talal would not have dared to take this step, which the religious establishment would find 'provocative,' had he not been supported by the Saudi King, Abdallah Bin-Abd-al-Aziz, who is strongly behind the liberal trend, as can be seen from his modernization of the judicial system, reduction of the powers of Shari'ah courts, and the appointment of a woman as deputy education minister.

King Abdallah has also introduced changes to the religious police [vice and virtue commission] and their basic law; removed its leader and reduced its powers. He also removed most of the ultra-conservative figures in the Saudi Higher Ulema Council -the highest religious authority in the country, and replaced them by a new generation of scholars representing most Sunni schools of thought, for the first time in the kingdom's history.

This challenge to the religious establishment in Saudi Arabia is 'gamble' fraught with danger. The religious establishment is deep-rooted in the kingdom and highly esteemed in Saudi society, regarded as among the most conservative Muslim societies in the world. The religious establishment has been in place for almost 300 years, during which time it was dominant in the country. It participated in ruling the country through a social political pact giving it a free hand in the field of proselytizing [Da'wah], education and mosques.

Perhaps the first open challenge to the liberal modernizing trend is the declaration signed by 35 prominent Saudi Ulema demanding from the new Minister of Media and Culture, Abd-al-Aziz al-Khujah, to ban the appearance of women on TV and other mass media, including newsreaders and singers. This may represent an open challenge to the liberal trend, as well as a first warning to the minister of media and culture, who is regarded among the most prominent modernizers, and a reaction to his promise to increase openness in the media.

The conflict between the conservative and the liberal trends in Saudi Arabia is polarizing Saudi society on a large scale. And while there are members of the Saudi royal family supporting the liberal trend, there are others in the royal family, including older and influential princes, supporting the conservative religious trend.

It is too early to judge which of the two trends would prevail; but it may be safe to say that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia stands at the crossroads, the results of which are difficult to predict. The picture may become clearer when the issue of who would succeed the current Crown Prince Sultan Bin-abd-al-Aziz, who is recuperating from an operation to remove a cancerous tumor, which, an official communication said was successful.