4 - Saudi ‘Guardianship’ of the Umma

Summary

Chapter 4 demonstrates how the umma in Saudi Arabia follows a similar path as the Shi'a in the previous chapter. The Saudi state’s evolution is tied to a Sunni-Wahhabist ideology underpinning the interconnected political and religious establishments. Control of the Holy Places of Mecca and Medina and of the annual pilgrimage — one of the core pillars of the faith — have inflated the regime’s claim to speak for universal Islam, but the hostility of the religious authorities to the Shi‘a and ‘unbelievers’ has diminished its credibility to do so. The institutions that have been developed and supported ostensibly to encourage umma-wide solidarity have seemed more adept at advancing Saudi interests than pan-Islamic ones. Islamic sentiment from below, stimulated, for example, by the Palestinian, Afghan, Iraqi, and Syrian conflicts, has influenced Saudi policy positions. Yet, both the promotion of Wahhabi ideas — although not univocal or unchanging — and the competition with Iran, and even Sunni Egypt and Turkey, have constrained the realisation of the Kingdom’s sense of umma entitlement.