Published March 27th, 2006 by Future Atlas
Islamic intensification in Saudi Arabia?
The Washington Post reports on popular Islamic activism in Saudi Arabia.
Spurred in part by the Danish cartoon controversy, people are joining grass-roots groups, signing petitions, promoting boycotts, and raising money for pro-Islamic ads to be shown in Europe.
An activist argues that this could reduce support for violence and terrorist groups such as al Qaeda, instead giving “people opportunities to take matters into their own hands and do something positive for their religion.”
It is not clear from the article that this is more than a short-term response to the cartoon flare up.
It is even less clear that this represents a new and constructive direction for Saudi Arabia. It appears more to be an intensification of fervor, and is partially manifested as hostility to the outside world (the boycotts) and a desire to control: activist lawyers “are studying ways to make insulting Islam and its prophet illegal.”
A writer attributes the new activism to “anger” — and anger can contribute to support for violence, whether by terrorists or the state.