Talk:Religion in Saudi Arabia/Archive 1

Archive 1

Cited information in the first paragraph

The first paragraph of the article currently reads as follows:

Wahhabi Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia and its law requires that all citizens be Muslims. Saudi

An editor wishes to have the word "Wahhabi" removed and replaced by the word "Salafi". I have checked the citations to see which information in the first paragraph they support.

1. Saudi Arabia, International Religious Freedom Report 2004 says: "Islam is the official religion, and the law requires that all citizens be Muslims.... Muslims who do not adhere to the officially sanctioned Salafi (commonly called "Wahhabi") tradition can face severe repercussions at the hands of the Mutawwa'in (religious police)." "The Government follows the rigorously conservative and strict interpretation of the Salafi (often referred to as "Wahhabi") school of the Sunni branch of Islam and discriminates against other branches of Islam." "Tolerated Islamic practice generally is limited to a school of the Sunni branch of Islam as interpreted by Muhammad Ibn Abd Al-Wahhab, an 18th century Arab religious leader. (This branch of Islam is often referred to as "Wahhabi," a term that many adherents to this tradition do not use. The teachings of Abd Al-Wahhab are more often referred to by adherents as "Salafi" or "Muwahiddun," that is, following the forefathers of Islam, or unifiers of Islamic practice.)"
2. [Ministry of the Interior, Saudi Arabian Citizenship System. This document is not a dead link as stated. I could not find any clear statements that support the first paragraph of the article. The nearest I could find was the Executive Regulation of Saudi Citizenship System Article 14, which states "The conditions mentioned in Paragraph (b) of Article (8), and Paragraph (c) of Article (9) are proven by the following: 1. A certificate signed by the Imam of the Mosque at the applicant's area..."
3. Human Rights Watch World Report 2013: Saudi Arabia. This says "Saudi Arabia does not tolerate public worship by adherents of religions other than Islam". This citation does not appear to support the cited text.
4. Amnesty International, Annual Report 2013, Saudi Arabia is no longer available on that URL, though the 2015 report can be found on the site.

If we go back to the 06:47, 25 August 2014 version, the first paragraph reads:

Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia and its law requires that all citizens be Muslims. The government does not legally protect the freedom of religion. Any overseas national attempting to acquire Saudi nationality must convert to Islam. Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its implementation of Islamic law and its poor human rights record.

Curiously enough, this has the same citations for different text. I propose that we revert to the older version of the first paragraph, but with the deletion of the sentence: "Any overseas national attempting to acquire Saudi nationality must convert to Islam." The citation for that sentence does not provide clear support for it.

I do not object to the word Wahhabi being in the first paragraph. But if it is, it needs to be in a sentence that is clearly supported by a citation.-- Toddy1 (talk) 11:39, 26 July 2015 (UTC)