Editing Saudi Arabia (section)

=== Al ash-Sheikh and role of the ulema ===
[[File:Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh Senate of Poland 02.JPG|thumb|[[Abdullah ibn Muhammad Al ash-Sheikh]] with [[Bogdan Borusewicz]] in the [[Polish Senate]], 26 May 2014]]

Saudi Arabia is unique in giving the [[Ulama|ulema]] (the body of Islamic religious leaders and jurists) a direct role in government.<ref name= Goldstein118>{{cite book |title=Religion and the State |url=https://archive.org/details/religionstate0000gold |url-access=registration |first=Natalie |last=Goldstein |year=2010 |isbn=978-0-8160-8090-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/religionstate0000gold/page/118 118]|publisher=Facts On File }}</ref> The preferred ulema are of the [[Salafi movement]]. The ulema have been a key influence in major government decisions, for example the imposition of the [[1973 oil crisis|oil embargo in 1973]] and the [[Gulf War|invitation to foreign troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990]].<ref name="meforum.org">{{cite journal |first=Nawaf E. |last=Obaid |date=September 1999 |title=The Power of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Leaders |journal=Middle East Quarterly |volume=VI |issue=3 |pages=51–58 |url=http://www.meforum.org/482/the-power-of-saudi-arabias-islamic-leaders |access-date=8 December 2010 |archive-date=6 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110806023223/http://www.meforum.org/482/the-power-of-saudi-arabias-islamic-leaders |url-status=live }}</ref> In addition, they have had a major role in the judicial and education systems<ref>{{cite book |title=Modernity and tradition: the Saudi equation |first=Fouad |last=Farsy |year=1992 |isbn=978-1-874132-03-5 |page=29|publisher=Knight Communications }}</ref> and a monopoly of authority in religious and social morals.<ref name= Hassner>{{cite book|title=War on sacred grounds |author=Ron Eduard Hassner |year=2009 |isbn=978-0-8014-4806-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/waronsacredgroun00hass/page/143 143] |url=https://archive.org/details/waronsacredgroun00hass/page/143 |publisher= Cornell University Press }}</ref>

By the 1970s, as a result of oil wealth and the modernization initiated by King Faisal, important changes to Saudi society were underway, and the power of the ulema was in decline.<ref>[[#Abir1987|Abir (1987)]], p. 30</ref> However, this changed following the [[Grand Mosque seizure|seizure of the Grand Mosque]] in Mecca in 1979 by Islamist radicals.{{sfn|Abir|1993|p=21}} The government's response to the crisis included strengthening the ulema's powers and increasing their financial support:<ref name= Hegghammer24 /> in particular, they were given greater control over the education system{{sfn|Abir|1993|p=21}} and allowed to enforce the stricter observance of Wahhabi rules of moral and social behaviour.<ref name= Hegghammer24 /> After his accession to the throne in 2005, King Abdullah took steps to reduce the powers of the ulema, for instance transferring control over girls' education to the Ministry of Education.<ref name="NYT Abdullah">{{cite news |title=Abdullah, King of Saudi Arabia |url=http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/a/abdullah_bin_abdul_aziz_alsaud/index.html |newspaper=The New York Times |date=29 November 2010 |first=Nada |last=Bakri |author-link=Nada Bakri |access-date=29 June 2011 |archive-date=27 July 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130727045836/http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/a/abdullah_bin_abdul_aziz_alsaud/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

The ulema have historically been led by the [[Al ash-Sheikh]],<ref>[[#Abir1987|Abir (1987)]], p. 4</ref> the country's leading religious family.<ref name= Hassner /> The Al ash-Sheikh are the descendants of [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], the 18th-century founder of the Wahhabi form of Sunni Islam which is today dominant in Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{cite book |title=Saudi Arabia: the coming storm |author=Wilson, Peter W. |author2=Graham, Douglas |year=1994 |isbn=978-1-56324-394-3 |page=16|publisher=M.E. Sharpe }}</ref> The family is second in prestige only to the Al Saud (the royal family)<ref name= Long11>[[#Long|Long]], p. 11</ref> with whom they formed a "mutual support pact"<ref name="IBP">{{cite book |title=Saudi Arabia King Fahd Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud Handbook |publisher=International Business Publications |year=2011 |isbn=978-0-7397-2740-9}}</ref> and power-sharing arrangement nearly 300 years ago.<ref name="meforum.org" /> The pact, which persists to this day,<ref name=IBP /> is based on the Al Saud maintaining the Al ash-Sheikh's authority in religious matters and upholding and propagating Wahhabi doctrine. In return, the Al ash-Sheikh support the Al Saud's political authority<ref>{{cite book |title=Area Handbook for the Persian Gulf States |first=Richard F.|last=Nyrop|year=2008 |isbn=978-1-4344-6210-7 |page=50|publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref> thereby using its religious-[[moral authority]] to legitimize the royal family's rule.<ref>{{cite journal |author=Bligh, Alexander |year=1985 |title=The Saudi religious elite (Ulama) as participant in the political system of the kingdom |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=17 |pages=37–50 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800028750|s2cid=154565116 }}</ref> Although the Al ash-Sheikh's domination of the ulema has diminished in recent decades,<ref name= Mattar>{{cite book |title=Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East & North Africa: Vol. 1 A–C |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo00phil_0 |url-access=registration |first=Philip|last=Mattar|year=2004 |isbn=978-0-02-865770-7 |page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofmo00phil_0/page/101 101]|publisher=Macmillan Reference USA }}</ref> they still hold the most important religious posts and are closely linked to the Al Saud by a high degree of intermarriage.<ref name= Hassner/>