WASHINGTON – Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has confessedthat Riyadh spread Wahabism ideology in the region at the request of theWest.
A few years back, Wahabism was identified by the European Parliament as themain source of global terrorism and has become increasingly influential,partly because of Saudi money and partly because of Saudi Arabia’s centralinfluence as protector of Makkah.
As analysts view Wahabism as the main source of Takfiri ideology of someterrorist groups like ISIS, the Saudi crown prince has admitted that hiscountry is spreading Wahabism at the request of its Western allies.
“Investments in mosques and madrassas overseas were rooted in the Cold War,when allies asked Saudi Arabia to use its resources to prevent inroads inMuslim countries by the Soviet Union,” he was quoted as saying in aninterview with Washington Post.
Successive Saudi governments lost track of the effort, he said, and now “wehave to get it all back.” He went on to say funding now comes largely fromSaudi-based “foundations”, rather than from the government. During theinterview, he also touched on Islam and his interpretation of the religion.“I believe Islam is sensible, Islam is simple, and people are trying tohijack it,” he said.
Bin Salman said lengthy discussions with clerics have been positive and are“why we have more allies in the religious establishment, day by day.”
On his reform efforts at home, including giving women the right to driveand have more rights outside the home, the crown prince said he has workedhard to convince conservative religious leaders such restrictions are notpart of Islamic doctrine.
Elsewhere in the interview, the Saudi crown prince said it would be “reallyinsane” for him to trade classified information with presidentialson-in-law and White House adviser Jared Kushner, or to try to use Kushnerto promote Saudi aims within the Trump administration.
Bin Salman denied US media reports that he had claimed Kushner was “in hispocket,” or that, when the two met in Riyadh in October, he had sought orreceived a green light from Kushner for massive arrests of allegedlycorrupt members of the royal family and Saudi businessmen that took placein the kingdom shortly afterward, Washington Post wrote.
He also said Saudi Arabia link>ownsabout five percent of world’s uranium reserves adding “if we don’t use it,it’s like telling us don’t use oil.”