Saudi Arabia is to retrain its 40,000 prayer leaders - also known as imams - in an effort to counter militant Islam. Details of the plan were revealed in the influential Saudi newspaper Al- Sharq al-Awsat.| As long as 'retrain' means 'fire' or 'deport' or 'silence', the plan just might work ... |
There is growing awareness in Saudi society that security measures alone are not enough to counter the threat of Islamic militancy.
Saudi clerics have long been accused of encouraging Saudi youth to join global jihad and of inciting hatred of non-Muslims.
| Only as a matter of state policy ... |
The Saudi royal family has come under increasing pressure - mainly from Washington - to change religious textbooks and to rein in militant clerics.
But critics are sceptical about whether such initiatives would work as long as the powerful, and ultraconservative, religious establishment in Saudi Arabia continues to exert enormous influence over society. Only last week, a prominent cleric called for the beheading of two liberal writers who had questioned the orthodox view that Muslims can not change their religion.
| How 'bout beheading the prominent cleric instead? That would change things real fast ... |
