Saudis to retrain 40,000 clerics
[...] Saudi clerics have long been accused of encouraging Saudi youth to join global jihad and of inciting hatred of non-Muslims.
Nearly 1,000 imams have already been sacked over the past few years.
The Saudi royal family has come under increasing pressure - mainly from Washington - to change religious textbooks and to rein in militant clerics.
But critics are sceptical about whether such initiatives would work as long as the powerful, and ultraconservative, religious establishment in Saudi Arabia continues to exert enormous influence over society.
Only last week, a prominent cleric called for the beheading of two liberal writers who had questioned the orthodox view that Muslims can not change their religion.
4 comments:
I think that some of this is an act of self-preservation, as I discussed here last August.
Although Salafis would argue with you (and have argued with me) that bin Laden's agenda isn't really Islam but a Muslim version of "Liberation Theology," the Saudis are feeling the blowback from their extreme position, which is being taken by many in directions they neither wanted nor anticipated.
Hi Don,
I think you're right on: The house of Saud (sa3uud) made a bad deal wehn they lined themselves up with Ibn Abd al Wahab and his people. And now it is coming back to get them. They fed the dragon of Wahabi Islam (or Salafi Islam) and it ended up being too powerful and hungry to keep chained up.
I doubt that this sort of measure is strong enough to make much of an affect.
I read the article you linked to and liked it. Thanks.
bin laden is the real muslim according to islam theology
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