Figure 1.--Here we see the state of Saudi Arabia after a millennium and a half of Islam--one of the poorest places on earth. The photo was taken in Baydayn village, Makkah Province (April 1946). A group of boys is paraded around the village prior to their circumcision. The photo depicts interesting elements. The village is composed of straw huts.
The boys who have to be circumcised, on the camels, wear their best clothing. The other boys, instead, wear only a cloth wrapped around the waist. Both are barefoot, but really everybody in the photo is barefoot. The photo is also interesting because we see a group of women and teenage girls in public, who rarely we see in the photos taken in Saudi Arabia at the time. They cover the whole body. Among them we also see a younger girl wearing only a cloth wrapped around her body. Oil of course has changed the outward appearance of Saudi Arabia. But the Islamic belieds such as
Wahhabism that created this level of poverty had not changed the country fundamnentally. Only the oil revenue has proivided the Saudis to enjoy Western consumerism, but not to create a modern society or producctive economy.
Islam was morn in the harsh deserts of Arabia. And from Arabia came to dominate the Middle East, North, Africa and Central Asia. This led to the Islamic Golden Age, but notably most of the cultural achievements of Islam occurred outside of Arabia, especial in Mesopotamia, Persia, and India--all great centers of civilization long before Islam. Arabia was not a center of civilization despite the brief spark of military brilliance returned to cultural irrelevance, largely because of its largely total reliance on religion on the part of the Arabian tribes. Religion has continued in modern to be a very important aspect of Saudi life. To legitimize itself, the Saudi royal family has essentially connected itself to the Wahhabi religious establishment in Saudi Arabia It influences almost every aspect of social life and in the Islamic tradition is deeply involved in politics. Wahhabism has been Saudi Arabia's dominant Islamic tradition for more than two centuries. Wahhabism is an austere Islamic tradition that demands a literal interpretation of the Koran. Wahhabis are convinced believe that all those who don't practice their form of Islam are heathens and as a result enemies. This includes other Muslim traditions. Muslim critics of Wahhabism charge that medieval rigidity has meant a misinterpretation and distortion of Islam, leading to the rise of extremists such as Osama bin Laden, ISIS and the Taliban. There are fundamental issues with Islam which is why Muslim countries since the Renaissance have been unable to participate fully in the creation of the modern world. Wahhabism is just the extreme manifestation of the worse of Islam. Wahhabism's tragic growth outside Saudi Arabia began in the 1970s with the huge increases in oil prices and thus Saudi oil revenue (1970s). Saudi charities started funding Wahhabi schools (madrassas) and mosques throughout the Muslim world and even some in the West. The oil revenue has changed the outward face of Saudi Arabia with shining cities, Western consumerism, comfortable homes, air conditioning, cars., and much more. But outside these outward appearances, very little has changed. As a result, political activity, free expression, education, and women's rights are severely restricted by a religious police state. Notice that while Saudis consume like people in the West, there is no real release of creative genius like the West. There is no abolitionist movement, no generation of technology, no scientific papers, no Nobel prizes, no medical advances, no inventions, no works of art, no music, no literary achievements, no new industries--only oil funded consumerism based on Western technology. Saudi Arabia is failing despite the oil revenue for essentially the same reason that Spain failed despite all the gold and silver from the Americas -- religious fanaticism (16th century). In the case of Spain was the Holy Office of the Inquisition and the expulsion of the Jews and Moors. In Saudi Arabia it is Wahhabism and the jihad against Jews. Notice that major problems modern Saudi Arabia faces are 1) the lack of free thought, 2) aquifer depletion and 3) an economy dependent almost entirely on petroleum. None of these problems the Saudis have been able to address, largely because of Wahhabism.
