Saudi Arabia. Added link. Sorry!

[Strong Atheist]

<snip>

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia weakened the hold of Islamic hard-liners Saturday by appointing the first woman to a ministerial post and dismissing a leading fundamentalist cleric and the head of the nation's powerful religious police.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-saudi-shuffle15-2009feb15,0,4473844.story


Edited for : link. Sorry!
:blush:

[hlthe2b]

1. Forgot the link, I think?..... interesting.

[Strong Atheist]

2. Damn! will get. nt.

[hlthe2b]

3. thanks

;) this new stance is encouraging...

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. This is a VERY interesting development

because the Saudis have outlawed practices by some of the progressive sects of Islam, most notably Sufis. Last year, when a Sufi leader (Murshid) died, one of the royal family went to the funeral, which was noted with surprise at the time. So the Saudi royal family appears to be slowly trying to loosen the stranglehold of Wahhabism and reduce the power of Wahhabist leaders.

[Silent3]

5. I don't think supporting the Wahhabis has ever been...

...much more than a marriage of convenience, one that hasn't always been very convenient after all.

The Middle East is a big challenge to my personal ideals of democracy. The often-corrupt leaders are still, nevertheless, often more open-minded and secular than their own citizenry. The first thing many citizens would do given the power to vote would be to vote away that power and turn everything over to the clerics. Democracy would likely be a short-lived tyranny of the majority followed by theocracy.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. I agree with your observations

about the royals being more liberal than the general public. But I think the reason that the public, if given a chance to vote for leadership, would choose Wahhabist clerics is BECAUSE the royal family has quashed dissent. As suggested in a recent Smithsonian magazine, the US should pay heed to supporting moderate/progressive Muslim sects such as the various Sufi orders. I have yet to hear of any Sufi Pir or Murshid (titles for leaders) who says it is right for their order to get politically involved. In fact, they say the opposite. Sufi Order International has strict guidelines on the matter, and I have heard Sharif Baba, a Rafai shaykh, said, "Don't worry about politics. Worry about your soul."