 | This articlemay need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia'squality standards.You can help. Thetalk page may contain suggestions.(January 2025) |
| Part ofa series on: Salafi movement |
|---|
 |
 Islam portal |
Sahwa movement (Arabic:الصحوة,romanized: al-Ṣaḥwa) oral-Sahwa al-Islamiyya (Islamic awakening) was a movement inSaudi Arabia from 1960–1980 which advocated for an increased reliance onWahhabi principles in Saudi society by adoptingQutbism. The most noticeable effects of the movement were significant restrictions onwomen's rights,religious freedom, and personal liberties.[1][2][3] The movement's core doctrines were shaped by thefundamentalist tenets ofQutbism; such as theological denunciations ofdemocracy and the belief that contemporary governments of theMuslim World haveapostatised.[4]
Sahwa is a Saudi term that refers to all political Islam movements whose major umbrella is theQutbiMuslim Brotherhood. Saudi Arabia is almost unique in giving theulema (the body of Islamic religious leaders and jurists) a direct role in government.[5] The Sahwa-inspired ulema have been a key influence in major government decisions, for example the imposition of theoil embargo in 1973 and theinvitation to foreign troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990.[6] In addition, they have had a major role in the judicial and education systems[7] and a monopoly of authority in the sphere of religious and social morals.[8]
The movement came to an end after the appointment ofCrown PrinceMohammad bin Salman in 2017 who declared a return to “moderate Islam”,[9][10] but the Sahwa's ideas and activists, though persecuted,[11] continue to be popular.[3]
Safar al-Hawali,Muhammad Qutb,Muhammad Surur andSalman al-Ouda are the main scholarly representatives of this movement. The Sahwa movement's calls to forcibly expel American troops from the Islamic World would inspire numerouspan-Islamist militant networks; most noticeablyAl-Qaeda.Osama Bin Laden'santi-Americanism was shaped by the major intellectual figures of the Sahwa; who popularised Sayyid Qutb's works and ideas. Saudi suppression of Sahwa trends would lead Bin Laden toexcommunicate the government and publicly call to overthrow the Saudi authorities during the early 1990s.[12][13][14]
Muslim Brotherhood members arrived in Saudi Arabia in the 1950s and 1960s seeking refuge from persecution by the Egyptiansocialist regime. They always had disputes withWahhabism. Wahhabism and the Brotherhood influenced each other and thiscross-pollination resulted in the birth of a hybrid movement of religious-political dissent known as the Sahwa movement. It reached a peak in the 1990s before being repressed by the Saudi establishment.[15]
Since theIranian Revolution, however, the idea of clerical rule has become more attractive within Sunni circles. For example, in the Palestinian territories during the early 1980s some Muslim Brothers were unable to find Sunni justifications for active resistance to theIsraelis and, therefore, turned toKhomeinist teachings.[16]
Sahwa members write public petitions and circulate sermons on audio cassettes. Sahwa leaders demand a bigger role for clergy in governing, curbs on the royal family's privileges, greater transparency for public funds, and a more Islamically conservative society as a defense against Western cultural influences.[15]
They oppose the presence of US troops on the Muslim land. In 1991, al-Hawali delivered a sermon stating: "What is happening in the Gulf is part of a larger Western design to dominate the whole Arab and Muslim world."[17]
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: publisher location (link){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location (link)