Christian Science Monitor runs an interesting commentary on Saudi Arabia and its efforts to reform. The piece is pretty good, but is flawed, I believe, in some of its statements of fact. That, surprisingly enough, doesn’t change the generally accurate conclusion.

It should not come as a surprise, as it does to the writers, that King Abdullah is on the side of reform. His behavior now is ‘unlikely’, only to those who weren’t paying attention to his behavior during his time as regent, when he also moved a reformist agenda. His efforts then were limited by the fact that as de facto ruler, he lacked the full powers of a de jure ruler which he now has.

The piece errs in trying to put Abdullah in opposition to the religious establishment. This is wrong in part because Saudi society itself is profoundly conservative. The King is not about to move too far ahead of the majority of his citizenry. The example of Iran’s revolution more than amply demonstrated the folly of that. Further, Abdullah does not see himself opposed to the ulema. He, too, is pious and conservative. He knows, though, that piety is not a sufficient answer to the problems Saudi Arabia is facing today. He is also aware of the problems of excess piety, particularly when it demonizes another segment of Saudi society, the Shi’a of both the Eastern Province and Jizan. He has taken public steps to integrate the Shi’ite populations into the body politic, though there is still much to be done in that regard.

The piece is on target, though, when it notes that the Saudi government is making use of international trade agreements to serve as a wedge to break up customary practices that served some to the detriment of many. Opening up the economy, in as many ways as possible, is the only reasonable way to create the jobs needed, for both men and women in a massively expanding population.

A tipping point in Saudi Arabia
By favoring merchants over clerics, Abdullah is making crucial reforms
Dana Moss and Zvika Krieger

When Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud was crown prince of Saudi Arabia, one of his most infamous decisions was banning the use of camera phones in 2004 – a demand from the country’s Wahhabi clergy who claimed the devices were “spreading obscenity.”

But the decision was quickly reversed when King Abdullah faced pressure from his government ministers and, allegedly, from a cadre of foreign businessmen who threatened to pull their companies from Saudi Arabia. “Abdullah was presented with a choice between the Wahhabis and good business,” says one Riyadh-based businessman. “His decision [for the latter] was clear.”

It is a decision that Abdullah has made time and again over the course of his reign as king, which hit its two-year mark this month. By sidelining the traditional clergy in favor of the merchant classes and more progressive religious voices, Abdullah has been challenging the “great bargain” of the Saudi state – namely the empowerment of the Wahhabi ulema (hard-line Islamic scholars) in exchange for their sanction of the House of Saud.

This unlikely reformer, who has unofficially led the kingdom since King Fahd’s stroke in 1995, has propelled the country through a radical transformation. From accession to the World Trade Organization to the billion-dollar overhaul of the educational system to increased criticism of the religious “police” who enforce a strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law, the closed kingdom is beginning to crack open.
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