The Hindu | 17 July 2015
Thousands of Saudi documents shows how the government’s goal was not just to spread Sunni Islam but also to undermine its primary adversary: Shia Iran.
For decades, Saudi Arabia has poured billions of its oil dollars into sympathetic Islamic organisations around the world, quietly practicing chequebook diplomacy to advance its agenda.
But a trove of thousands of Saudi documents recently released by WikiLeaks reveals in surprising detail how the government’s goal in recent years was not just to spread its strict version of Sunni Islam — though that was a priority — but also to undermine its primary adversary: Shia Iran.
Monitoring Tehran
The documents from Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Ministry illustrate a near obsession with Iran, with diplomats in Africa, Asia and Europe monitoring Iranian activities in minute detail and top government agencies plotting moves to limit the spread of Shia Islam.
The documents indicate an extensive apparatus inside the Saudi government dedicated to missionary activity that brings in officials from the Foreign, Interior and Islamic Affairs Ministries; the intelligence service and the office of the King.
Recent initiatives have included putting foreign preachers on the Saudi payroll; building mosques, schools and study centres; and undermining foreign officials and news media deemed threatening to the kingdom’s agenda.
At times, the King got involved, ordering an Iranian television station off the air or granting $1 million to an Islamic association in India.
While the documents do not show any Saudi support for militant activity, critics argue that the kingdom’s campaign against Shia — and its promotion of a strict form of Islam — have eroded pluralism in the Muslim world and added to the tensions fuelling conflicts in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and elsewhere.
The Saudi government has made no secret of its international religious mission, nor of its enmity toward Iran. But it has found the leaks deeply embarrassing and has told its citizens that spreading them is a crime.
The trove mostly covers the period from 2010 to early 2015. The Foreign Ministry relayed funding requests to officials in Riyadh; the Interior Ministry and the intelligence agency sometimes vetted potential recipients; the Saudi-supported Muslim World League helped coordinate strategy; and Saudi diplomats across the globe oversaw projects. Together, these officials identified sympathetic Muslim leaders and associations abroad; distributed funds and religious literature produced in Saudi Arabia; trained preachers; and gave them salaries to work in their own countries.
Clear in many of the diplomatic messages are Saudi fears of Iranian influence and of the spread of Shia Islam.
— New York Times News Service
