Saudi Arabia: More Room for Wahhabism Lite?

Abstract

The Saudi government was surprisingly quick to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic. One of the decisive measures it took was closing the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, something which had not happened since Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798. Notably, the closure did not evoke any protest from its religious circles. Quite the opposite, the government managed to mobilize the religious establishment, which apparently also had realized the severity of the coronavirus threat.