“I will return Saudi Arabia to moderate Islam”, says Saudi crown prince.
Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has vowed to return the country to “moderate Islam” and asked for global support to transform the hardline kingdom into an open society that empowers citizens and lures investors.
In an interview with the Guardian, the powerful heir to the Saudi throne said the ultra-conservative state had been “not normal” for the past 30 years, blaming rigid doctrines that have governed society in a reaction to the Iranian revolution, which successive leaders “didn’t know how to deal with”. (Source: The Guardian)
Comment:
The call for reform is not new in Saudi Arabia. It is being cautiously but steadily promoted in the recent years by some of the Saud family, especially the ones who are loyal to the US and its interest.
It was therefore not a coincidence that against all odds and controversy, King Salman put Prince Mohammed bin Nayef aside and appointed his son and Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this year as the new crown prince to follow him up. Both, father and son are known for their inclination and loyalty to the US.
Only this year alone the father, King Salman has proven his loyalty by receiving President Trump to the Murabba Palace in order to award him with the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud and an astonishing 350 billion dollar weapon deal. And not to forget, his hostile and aggressive stance against Qatar, by one snap of the finger of the Trump administration.
The son Mohammed bin Salman, started in 2015, in his capacity as Minister of Defense a brutal attack against Yemen on the instructions of Washington and deployed immediately without any hesitation 100 warplanes and 150,000 soldiers to the military operation. While he stood idle in the onslaught of the Muslims in Syria by the Assad regime, and his so-called arch enemy the Shiite Iran and kafir Russia, because he was not instructed by Washington to move.
Besides this he was the chairman of the Council of Economic and Development Affairs and spearheaded the “Vision 2030” which is a profound project of the National Transformation Plan for drastic economic reforms in S.A. Parallel to this envisioned Capitalistic economic reform the objective is to create a “modern Islamic state model” with “moderate open Islam” and produce “moderate Muslim.”
At a global conference in Riyadh, he said: “What happened in the region in the last 30 years is not the Middle East. After the Iranian revolution in 1979, people wanted to copy this model in different countries, one of them is Saudi Arabia.” And pleaded that the country should go back to “what we were before”. And “We want to go back to what we were, the moderate Islam that’s open to all religions. We want to live a normal life …. coexist and contribute to the world,”
Whether this is an indication that the US will grant Iran more influence in the region due to their strategic partnership in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, or not, time will tell. But one thing is clear. Even though Saudi Arabia presents this so-called change in order to meet the growing demand and dissatisfaction of its people, in realty however, it is designed in Washington and promoted by its agents like Mohammed bin Salman, to meet the demands and interests of America in the region, not the people.
Also, his statements are so dubious and conflicting. It would be laughable if it were not a grave matter. First of all, the 1979 Iranian Revolution is a misleading and spurious argument as if Saudi Arabia was totally different before and after the Iranian revolution.
And secondly, really, which ‘moderate Islam’ that is open to all religions is he talking about? I can’t recall any serious conflict of Saudi Arabia with other religions in the first place, even with the ones who declared open enmity against Islam. However, what I definitely can recollect is that, since the creation of the modern Saudi Arabia, the Muslims were the only and main target. Just ask yourself these 10 questions.
Wasn’t it the Saudi State that fought the Ottoman Khilafah State and rebelled against it?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state that declared the Muslims, Kafir and killed them?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state that collaborated with the colonial power Britain and stabbed the Muslim Ummah in the back?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state that preferred the ruling with kingship over ruling with Khilafah?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state that usurped the oil, which is common possession of the Ummah?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state who welcomed US and other western countries to invade Iraq and other Muslim countries?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state who gave the American Muslim butchers awards?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state who bulldozed Islamic heritages of the Ummah and build sky high hotels and banks?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state who mislead the Ummah for years by presenting itself as an Islamic State?
Wasn’t it the Saudi state who gave the false fatwa to be silence against oppression of the corrupt rulers and Kufr systems, and commended the Muslims to even obey them?
If one should put all these on one end of the balance scale and put the argument that the Saudi state hosted students and educated some Islamic knowledge on the other end of the scale in order to compensate its atrocities. Then that would be as shallow as the one who thinks that the women have gained some rights in Saudi Arabia because they are allowed to drive a car.
Saudi Arabia has never been ‘Islamic’ so it can’t return to even “moderate Islam” or whatever you want to call it. Only with the return of the second Khilafah system (Caliphate), the Arabian Peninsula will once again be Islamic.
Okay Pala
Media Representative of Hizb ut Tahrir in the Netherlands