Mohammed bin Salman says Saudia will move to moderate Islam, to destroy extremist ideas
Saudi Arabia’s powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pledged to promote moderate Islam in order to remove the extremist ideas in the region.
Mohammed bin Salman spoke that Saudi Arabia is breaking ultra-conservative clerics for portraying a positive image catering to foreign investors and Saudi youth.
While speaking to the economic forum in Riyadh, Saudi Crown Prince said we will not spend the next 30 years of our lives dealing with destructive ideas.
He further said we want to live a normal life in which our religion translates to tolerance and our tradition of kindness, we will destroy destructive minds today and will end extremism very soon.
The Crown Prince’s statement is the most direct attack by a top official on the Gulf country’s influential conservative religious establishment after his appointment.
He is widely regarded as being the force behind King Salman’s decision last month to lift a long-standing ban on women driving and slowly reinforced the conservative policies to moderate Islam.
While the Saudi government continues to draw criticism from international rights groups, the crown prince has pushed ahead with reforms.
Several global monitors, including Amnesty International, say Saudi Arabia has in parallel stepped up its repression of peaceful rights activists.
Saudi authorities last month arrested more than 20 activists, including two popular Muslim preachers, without disclosing any charges against them.
However, Prince Mohammed bin Salman has vied to modernise certain sectors in Saudi Kingdom, hinting that long-banned cinemas would soon be permitted as part of ambitious reforms for a post-oil era that could shake up the austere kingdom’s cultural scenes.
At the conference Prince bin Salman also announced the creation of a new $500 billion city to be built on the border with Jordan and Egypt and the new economic zone of of the Red Sea coast in a tourist area that has already been earmarked as a liberal hub.