Unholy Kingdom

Religion, oil, and war bent to the House of Saud’s will to dominate Saudi Arabia and the wider Middle East

In recent years the ruling family in Saudi Arabia, the House of Saud, has promoted the oil-rich kingdom as an open, liberalizing nation that has invested in culture, tourism, and social innovation to become a beacon for the region. International political manoeuvring, sports sponsorship, and the Horizon 2030 programme with its vast architectural planning declare a bold future. But the murder in October 2018 of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul reveals a darker reality: one of intensifying political and religious repression. This is within the tumultuous context of the war in Yemen, sectarian rivalry with Iran, the crisis in Gaza, and volatile relations with the United States.

Malise Ruthven, a leading commentator on Islamic affairs, reconstructs the nation’s history. He shows how the royal house co-opted Wahhabism to consolidate its power and enforce authoritarianism in collusion with Western businesses and governments. Unholy Kingdom looks to the nation’s future in the hands of Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, who touts the country’s liberalisation while aggressively imposing his will upon the region.

This essential book traces the shifting fault lines in the Middle East to determine Saudi Arabia’s place in our volatile times.Map

1. Murder in Istanbul
2. The Wahhabi Mission
3. Ibn Saud Founder of a Kingdom
4. Petroleum and Patriarchy
5. Managing the Ulama and Mismanaging the Hajj
6. Conflicting Currents
7. A Sectarian Outreach
8. Arms and Benefits
9. Family Values
10. Terraforming Arabia
Epilogue

Acknowledgements
Notes
Index"Ruthven’s unblushing polemic treats Jamal Khashoggi’s gruesome murder in Istanbul and its cover-up as representative of the Saudi kingdom’s recent policies rather than, as their defenders claim, a regrettable aberration"
—Jonathan Benthall, Books of the Year, Times Literary Supplement

"Ruthven is the leading British authority on modern Islam. His books are essential for understanding what is going on in the Middle East today"
—Robert Irwin, author of The Arabian Nightmare

"One of today's most perceptive observers and historians of religion"
—Guardian

"One of our most consistently sophisticated and stimulating writers on contemporary religion in general and Islam in particular. In a crowded field Ruthven remains way ahead of the pack."
—William Dalrymple, author of The AnarchyMalise Ruthven worked as an editor with the BBC Arabic Service and World Service in London before teaching Islamic studies and comparative religion at universities on both sides of the Atlantic. He is the author of several books on Islamic affairs as well as fundamentalism and religion in America. In 2004, London's Prospect Magazine ranked Ruthven among the 100 top public intellectuals in the UK. His blog on the New York Review of Books, Revolution by Latrine, won an award from the Overseas Press Club of America in 2011. He contributes regularly to the Guardian, Independent, The Financial Times, New York Review of Books, and the London Review of Books.