Editing Saudi Arabia (section)

=== Religion in society ===
Religion is a core aspect of everyday life in Saudi Arabia; it plays a dominant role in the country's governance and legal system, and deeply influences culture and daily life, although the power of the religious establishment has been significantly eroded in the 2010s.<ref name=":3">{{Cite news |last=Dadouch |first=Sarah |date=3 August 2021 |title=Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed seeks to reduce influential clerics' power |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-clerics-crown-prince-mohammed/2021/08/02/9ae796a0-e3ed-11eb-88c5-4fd6382c47cb_story.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210803102359/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/saudi-clerics-crown-prince-mohammed/2021/08/02/9ae796a0-e3ed-11eb-88c5-4fd6382c47cb_story.html |archive-date=3 August 2021 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}</ref> The [[Hejaz]] region, where the [[holiest sites in Islam|Islamic holy cities]] of Mecca and Medina are located, is the destination of the [[Hajj|Ḥajj]] pilgrimage, and often deemed to be the cradle of Islam.<ref name="Arabia: the Cradle of Islam">[http://www.muhammadanism.org/Zwemer/arabia/arabia_cradle_islam.pdf Arabia: the Cradle of Islam], 1900, S.M.Zwemmer</ref>{{efn|A number of Muslims, using justifications from the Quran,<ref>{{qref|2|7-286|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|3|96|b=y}}</ref><ref>{{qref|22|25-37|b=y}}</ref> insist that Islam did not begin with [[Muhammad in Islam|Muhammad]], but that it represents even previous [[Prophet]]s such as [[Abraham in Islam|Abraham]],<ref name="Esposito1998">{{cite book |last=Esposito |first=John |title=Islam: The Straight Path (3rd ed.) |year=1998 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-511234-4 |pages=9, 12}}</ref><ref name="Esposito2002b">Esposito (2002b), pp. 4–5.</ref><ref name="Peters2003">{{cite book |last=Peters |first=F.E. |title=Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians |year=2003 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-11553-5 |page=[https://archive.org/details/islamguideforjew00fepe/page/9 9] |url=https://archive.org/details/islamguideforjew00fepe/page/9 }}</ref><ref name="Alli2013">{{cite book |last=Alli |first=Irfan |title=25 Prophets of Islam |publisher=eBookIt.com |isbn=978-1-4566-1307-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5nRJK9sLjLsC |date=26 February 2013}}</ref> who is credited with having established the sanctuary of Mecca.<ref name="Michigan C 1986">{{cite book |author=Michigan Consortium for Medieval and Early Modern Studies |editor1=Goss, V.P. |editor2=Bornstein, C.V. |title=The Meeting of Two Worlds: Cultural Exchange Between East and West During the Period of the Crusades |publisher=Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University |volume=21 |page=208 |isbn=978-0-918720-58-0 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p44kAQAAMAAJ |year=1986}}</ref><ref name="Abu Sway 2011">{{cite news |author=Mustafa Abu Sway |title=The Holy Land, Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the Qur'an, Sunnah and other Islamic Literary Source |publisher=[[Central Conference of American Rabbis]] |url=http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Abusway_0.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110728001911/http://www.wcfia.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/Abusway_0.pdf |archive-date=28 July 2011 }}</ref><ref name="Dyrness2013">{{cite book |author=Dyrness, W.A. |title=Senses of Devotion: Interfaith Aesthetics in Buddhist and Muslim Communities |publisher=[[Wipf and Stock]] Publishers |volume=7 |page=25 |isbn=978-1-62032-136-2 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=inJNAwAAQBAJ |year=2013}}</ref>}}

Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. There is no law that requires all citizens to be Muslim, but non-Muslims and many foreign and Saudi Muslims whose beliefs are deemed not to conform with the government's interpretation of Islam must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination, harassment, detention, and, for foreigners, deportation.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Saudi Arabia|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2013/nea/222311.htm|access-date=2021-11-03|website=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> Neither Saudi citizens nor guest workers have the right of [[freedom of religion]].<ref name=depstate>{{cite web|title=International Religious Freedom Report 2004|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/irf/2004/35507.htm|publisher=US Department of State|access-date=22 September 2012}}</ref> The dominant form of Islam in the kingdom—Wahhabism—arose in the central region of Najd, in the 18th century. Proponents call the movement "[[Salafism]]",<ref name="The Daily Star" /> and believe that its teachings purify the practice of Islam of innovations or practices that deviate from the seventh-century teachings of Muhammad and [[Sahaba|his companions]].<ref>[https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/RS21695.pdf 'The Islamic Traditions of Wahhabism and Salafiyya'], US Congressional Research Service Report, 2008, by Christopher M. Blanchard available from the Federation of American Scientists website</ref> The Saudi government has often been viewed as an active oppressor of [[Shia Islam|Shia Muslims]] because of the funding of the Wahhabi ideology which denounces the Shia faith.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/alastair-crooke/isis-wahhabism-saudi-arabia_b_5717157.html|title=You Can't Understand ISIS If You Don't Know the History of Wahhabism in Saudi Arabia|website=[[HuffPost]]|date=27 August 2014}}</ref><ref name=syedjaffar>{{cite web|last=syedjaffar|title=The Persecution of Shia Muslims in Saudi Arabia|url=http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1015700|work=4 August 2013|publisher=CNN Report|access-date=1 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123095434/http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1015700|archive-date=23 January 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> Prince [[Bandar bin Sultan]], Saudi ambassador to the United States, stated: "The time is not far off in the Middle East when it will be literally 'God help the Shia'. More than a billion Sunnis have simply had enough of them."<ref>"[https://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/iraq-crisis-how-saudi-arabia-helped-isis-take-over-the-north-of-the-country-9602312.html Iraq crisis: How Saudi Arabia helped Isis take over the north of the country]," ''[[The Independent]],'' 13 July 2014.</ref>

[[File:Supplicating Pilgrim at Masjid Al Haram. Mecca, Saudi Arabia.jpg|thumb|left|Supplicating [[Pilgrimage#Islam|pilgrim]] at ''[[Great Mosque of Mecca|Al-Masjid Al-Ḥarām]]'' (The Sacred Mosque) in [[Mecca]]. The [[Kaaba]] (the holiest site of Islam) is the cubic building in front of the pilgrim.]]

Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries that have "[[Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)|religious police]]" (known as ''Haia'' or ''Mutaween''), who patrol the streets "[[enjoining good and forbidding wrong]]" by enforcing [[Clothing laws by country|dress codes]], strict [[sex segregation|separation of men and women]], attendance at prayer (''[[salat]]'') five times each day, the ban on alcohol, and other aspects of ''Sharia.'' However, since 2016 the power of religious police was curbed, which barred them from pursuing, questioning, requesting identification or arresting suspects.<ref name="france24.com">{{Cite web |date=2022-01-14 |title=Changing times for Saudi's once feared morality police |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220114-changing-times-for-saudi-s-once-feared-morality-police |access-date=2022-07-17 |website=France 24 |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":4" /> In the privacy of homes, behaviour can be far looser, and reports from [[WikiLeaks]] indicate that low ranked members of the ruling Saudi Royal family indulge in parties with alcohol, drugs, and prostitutes.<ref>[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/dec/07/wikileaks-cables-saudi-princes-parties WikiLeaks cables: Saudi princes throw parties boasting drink, drugs and sex]. ''The Guardian'' (7 December 2010). Retrieved on 9 May 2012. "Royals flout puritanical laws to throw parties for young elite while religious police are forced to turn a blind eye."</ref>