Two weeks ago a slight but noticeable rumble took place at the very highest levels of Saudi state power that could result in a myriad of interconnected changes for the kingdom’s politics and society. Essentially, King Abdullah moved against entrenched conservatives in the religious establishment. However, the ‘reforms’ will also rein in the religious police, could signal the coming of preliminary steps to enhance the role of women in public affairs, and may help modernize practices in some of the most anachronistic realms of Saudi society.
First on the agenda was the dismissal of Sheik Ibrahim al-Ghaith, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice – which oversees the religious police – after numerous complaints about their overzealous repression of the populace’s perceived un-Islamic behaviour. As recently as a few years ago, such citizen outrage could never have even been aired publicly, let alone resulted in action to by a monarch to rectify the complaint. As other key personnel have changed little, the responsibility for acting upon the long-standing issue should be attributed to the king.
King Abdullah also removed Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan, chief of the Supreme Court of Justice, a man who in September advocated the lynching of TV network owners who aired ‘morally corrupt’ programmes. This is a very welcome change indeed, and may stem bouts of uncontrolled extremism as well as gradual moderation within the judiciary; however, if King Abdullah does not institutionalize his reforms, they will remain only as effective as his successor.
The form of the Grand Ulema Commission – the ultimate religious authority in the nation, which also issues religious edicts – has also been changed; for the first time, it will represent a far more diverse range of Sunni sects, instead of solely the conservative Hanbali group that has controlled it to date. This is an important step in diluting the influence of hard-liners and will allow Saudi Arabia to engage the problems in the Middle East in a far more conciliatory and diplomatic way, even as national leaders are still able to derive all-important moral and spiritual legitimacy from the Commission.
Lastly, a woman was appointed as Deputy Minister for girls education - the highest rank a women has ever held in the state. As a recent Freedom House special report elaborated upon in detailed, women’s rights are not supported in any way, shape, or form in the kingdom and so they are unduly affected by every socioeconomic ill, from rampant rural poverty to the sub-par education system.
Relations between the monarchy and the religious establishment have never been entirely calm. As the House of Saud derives a great deal of its legitimacy by claiming to safeguard Sunni Islam – in 1986 Fahd bin Abdul Aziz took the title ‘Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques,’ effectively clarifying his personal view of his mission – the support of the clerics is vital to the regime’s continued rule. Yet this has not stopped previous clashes of interests. For example, in December 1992 King Fahd ousted seven senior clerics because two months previously they had not denounced religious figures who opposed the continued stationing of US military personnel on Saudi soil.
However, the new shake-up appears to have a very different purpose. It does not merely seek to replace a few clerics who have frustrated the monarch; rather, it seeks to revise the basic power distribution between the various factions of the Sunni majority. This has occurred in tandem with efforts to review the kingdom’s official relationship with other religions and perhaps even start a new era of inter-faith and inter-denominational collaboration.
For instance, in November 2007 King Abdullah visited the Pope in the Vatican to promote dialogue, a key issue as Saudi Arabia’s 1.5m Christians are not permitted to worship openly. In June 2008, a three day Sunni-Shia conference was held in Mecca with the goal of improving relations between the two sects. King Abdullah brought former Iranian president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as his guest of honour. The two wanted to present a Sunni kingdom that could look favourably upon its moderate Shia subjects, and the following month the monarch co-chaired an interfaith dialogue conference in Madrid that brought together representatives of many major religions to reinforce the common values shared by their respective faiths.
The significance of these measures is very much debatable. They can be dismissed as superfluous since apart from a few personnel, little has changed, and the religious conferences were more symbolic than politically significant. Powerful conservatives certainly seem inclined to view things in this light. Nevertheless, King Abdullah may well be trying to reinvigorate his reputation as a reformist, which has taken a hit due to his cautiousness since ascending the throne. If all goes well, this could even be the beginning of a more moderately Islamic state that is capable of collaboration with, among others, its Shia counterparts. The reshuffle has given King Abdullah room to manoeuvre, but whether he intends or is able to use it to begin to truly modernise Saudi Arabia will not become apparent for some while. In the meantime, there is little the outside world can do but sit and watch.
Photo Credit: Flickr user Shabbir Siraj
