Durham E-Theses THE POLITICS OF TRUTH MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF WAHHABISM IN SAUDI ARABIA SHAHI, AFSHIN How to cite: SHAHI, AFSHIN (2012) THE POLITICS OF TRUTH MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF WAHHABISM IN SAUDI ARABIA, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/5910/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT This study is about the management of ‘truth’ in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. It aims to investigate the ways in which the official ‘truth’ is constructed and institutionalised in the country. It attempts to critically analyse some of the ways in which the official ‘truth’ is tailored to rationalise the prevailing model of the distribution of power in Saudi Arabia. This study argues that truth is not born in a power vacuum and often its construction and institutionalisation signify domination in one way or another. Hence, what the management of truth means is, in principle, the management of power, and the quest for truth is the quest for power. The main focus of this study is Wahhabism, which functions as the official ‘truth’ of the state in Saudi Arabia. Wahhabism, which is the product of an eighteenth century revivalist movement, is portrayed as the most ‘authentic’ reading of Islam, which provides the raison d'être for the prevailing political mechanism in the country. This thesis puts forward an argument that there are two interrelated notions which articulate the ways in which ‘truth’ is conceptualised in Islam. One, at macro level, constitutes the trans-historical foundational principles of the religion, a set of engrained beliefs, which establish the ‘finality’, and ‘oneness’ of Islam in relation to other competing narratives, and the other at the micro level takes place internally to find ‘truth’ within the ‘truth’. Unlike Islamic truth at the macro level, which is entrenched, the Islamic truth at the micro level refers to the various attempts by different agencies to claim to have found the ‘truth’ within the ‘truth’. Wahhabism is introduced as an example of truth management at the micro level. This study underlines four factors of narrative construction, leadership, socialisation and violence, which are instrumental in the management of truth in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. THE POLITICS OF TRUTH MANAGEMENT: THE CASE OF WAHHABISM IN SAUDI ARABIA Afshin Shahi A thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Durham University The School of Government and International Affairs 2012 ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 Focus of the Thesis ............................................................................................... 3 Methodology and Structure .................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1 .................................................................................................... 13 Conceptual Framework .......................................................................................... 13 Social Constructionism ....................................................................................... 14 Truth Management .............................................................................................. 20 Islamic Truth at the Macro Level ....................................................................... 24 Truth Management at the Micro Level ............................................................... 29 Leadership ........................................................................................................... 32 Narrative Construction ........................................................................................ 35 Socialisation ........................................................................................................ 36 Violence .............................................................................................................. 38 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 44 Chapter 2 .................................................................................................... 47 Narrative construction and Leadership ............................................................... 47 The Genealogy of Wahhabism ........................................................................... 48 Embryonic Construction of Wahhabi Narratives ............................................... 56 Socio-Political Conditions in Najd before Wahhabism ..................................... 64 The Saudi Leadership and the Expansion of Wahhabism .................................. 69 Towards Formation of the Modern Saudi State ................................................. 74 Conclusion ........................................................................................................... 79 Chapter 3 .................................................................................................... 82 Towards Socialisation ............................................................................................. 82 Introduction ......................................................................................................... 82 Trans-Tribal Saudi-Wahhabi Order: Towards Construction of the Nation-State85 Towards Institution-Building .............................................................................. 93 Oil: A Determining Factor for Institution-Building ........................................... 97 Dar Al-Ifta ........................................................................................................... 99 The Ministry of Islamic Affairs: An Agent of Religious Clientelism ............. 106 Symbolic Capital: The Guardianship of the Holy Sites ................................... 113 Ulama ................................................................................................................ 118 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 121 Chapter 4 .................................................................................................. 125 Education ............................................................................................................... 125 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 125 On Education ..................................................................................................... 127 Education in Saudi Arabia: An Overview ........................................................ 135 Religious Studies: The Wheel of Truth Management in the Education System149 Rewriting History: Contextualising the ‘Truth’ .............................................. 163 Higher Education: the Continuation of Wahhabisation ................................... 174 Paradoxes of Reform and Dilemmas of the ‘New’ Educational Direction ..... 178 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 185 Chapter 5 .................................................................................................. 188 iii On Violence ............................................................................................................ 188 Introduction ....................................................................................................... 188 State and Violence: An overview ..................................................................... 191 The Use of Violence and the Saudi-Wahhabi Alliance ................................... 194 Violence: The Historic Foundation of the Modern Saudi State ....................... 198 Mutawwi‘in: The Violent Guardians of Morality ............................................ 213 Sexual Segregation ............................................................................................ 221 Violence and Political Control .......................................................................... 229 Conclusion ......................................................................................................... 233 Conclusion ................................................................................................ 235 Appendix 1: Map of Saudi Arabia .................................................................... 240 Appendix 2: Map of Najd ................................................................................. 241 REFERENCES ................................................................................................. 243 iv LIST OF TABLES & FIGURES Table 1: Education Budget .................................................................................................