Saudi Arabia: Islam and Saudi Arabia’s counterterrorism strategy

Abstract

Saudi Arabia’s counter-terrorism strategy of the first decade on the twenty first century has been widely acclaimed as highly successful and presented as an example for other Muslim countries. The strategy was developed after the bomb attacks of AlQaida on the Arabian Peninsula in 2003. The program is however deeply religious and is based on the reconversion of terrorists from a Jihadi-Salafism to a quietist and law abiding version of Salafism. The chapter goes into the religious terminology Saudi counter-terrorism program by labelling terrorism as religious “deviation,” radicals as people who have been led by their “passions” and are no longer rational and have diverted form the “middle way”. The article also shows how prominent religious scholars have become deeply involved in the state counter-terrorism program of “intellectual security”.