James M. Dorsey — Whither Wahhabism

We will be hearing a lot of women's right and suppression of women in Iran, but women are much free there under the combination of liberal democracy and Shi'ite theocracy and the society is also more open then in Sunni-dominated countries like Saudi Arabia that follow the tenets of Wahhabism.

This posts examines how Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman al-Saud may change that. The conclusion is probably not all that much, although any change in a rigid culture like that stands out owing to the sharp contrast.

Conversely, in Iran women are "repressed" because they must dress and behave decently in public and wear the hijab (head scarf covering the hair). The contrast with Saudi Arabi could not be greater. Let's get some perspective here.

Lobelog
Whither Wahhabism

James M. Dorsey | senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, co-director of the University of Würzburg’s Institute for Fan Culture, and co-host of the New Books in Middle Eastern Studies podcast