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The Qur'anic Vision of Muhammad bin Salman: Conviction or Politics?

by Senior Analyst Talal Kapoor

Plans to build a large cube-shaped structure in the heart of Riyadh caused a stir when they were unveiled in February, with opinion divided over the building's significance and wider symbolism. The mega project, which is backed by the Kingdom's sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF), and part of the larger Vision 2030 strategy, coincided with the announcement of the launch of the New Murabba Development Company, whose stated aim is to develop "the world's largest modern downtown in Riyadh". But the redevelopment of the city's historic al-Murabba ("the Square") neighborhood provoked an outcry, with many citizens reacting angrily to the proposal.

The perception was that the enormous building of the "Muk'ab" (Cube) shared a too-close resemblance to the Ka'ba, Islam's most sacred site in the city of Makkah and focal point of the Hajj ritual. The more cynical feared it was symbolic of the country's race to embrace capitalism while casting off its religious traditions, effectively 'relocating' its core identity from the geographical Makkah to a financial hub in Riyadh - from the Ka'ba of Islam to a Ka'ba for the worship of Vision 2030, the brainchild of de facto ruler Muhammad bin Salman (MbS). The slick promotional campaign only added to the impression that entertainment and shallow spectacle were now the order of the day, confirming the worst fears of traditionalists.

Others, however, felt this was an overreaction - in fact, the building's cube-shaped design only mirrored the "Najdi" architectural style, common in the Najd region of the central Arabian peninsula, from which it took inspiration. Supporters also point out that, together with the futuristic smart city of NEOM, which will include a 170 kilometre-long megacity, The Line, the Murabba development forms part of a much larger vision to modernize the economy and be less reliant on oil. To anyone paying attention, the scale and shock value of the Muk'ab proposal was entirely consistent with the grandiose nature of this project.

The tensions on display are in fact a high-profile manifestation of fault lines opened up by the crown prince's ambition to fundamentally overhaul the Kingdom and uproot anything holding it back. The implications of the Muk'ab design's supposed similarity to the Makkah Ka'ba seemed to distill the ongoing upheaval as MbS continues to clash with the clerics and religious conservatives over the direction and very meaning of Islam, which has always served as an anchor for the nation's identity. The battle revolves in particular around an interpretation of the strict, austere brand of Islam practiced there, often referred to as 'Wahhabism', after the influential 18th-century cleric Muhammad Abd al-Wahhab, who allied with the first of the Al Saud amirs. While MbS insists that he is simply moving towards a more "moderate" form of Islam, some fear the actual result will be to reshape the Kingdom's character entirely, overturning a centuries-long connection with the Al al-Shaykh (the descendants of Abd al-Wahhab, who bestowed religious legitimacy on the Al Saud as they pursued the goal of uniting the peninsula's disparate tribes under one rule), and replace it with a new, economic and technocratic elite, whose Westernized, ideological bent will be at odds with the Kingdom's own traditions and heritage.

After the traumatic events of the 1979 Grand Mosque siege by extremists, religious hardliners were given free reign to impose their uncompromising vision on society. This in effect gave the clerics a veto on change, tying the hands of later kings such as Abdallah, who had little to show for his efforts at reform. MbS, however, with the backing of his father, Salman (who, crucially, enjoys the respect of the clerics), has managed to curb the powers of the religious police who once patrolled public spaces: they not only advised and admonished, but had the power to arrest transgressors as well.

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