In 2013, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's military coup toppled the Muslim Brotherhood's favorite son – Egypt's democratically elected president – the late Mohamed Morsi. In becoming the country's sixth president, Sisi's motivations were twofold: power, and concerns over Egypt's increasing Islamic extremism under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood/Morsi team.
Sisi arrested that trend by brutally reining in Islamism. While Sisi's ultimate goal was good, his process for attaining it was not, leaving the West reluctant to embrace his efforts to rid Islamism of its "ism." A similar cleansing now in progress in Saudi Arabia under the tutelage of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS) also appears to be encountering Western misgivings.
MBS's efforts come with the heavy baggage of the October 2018 assassination of Saudi dissident and Washington Post reporter Jamal Ahmad Khashoggi. Saudi agents, at their consulate in Turkey, killed Khashoggi and dismembered his body. While Khashoggi was an Islamist in sheep's clothing who mourned his friend Osama bin Laden's death, killing him was abhorrent and placed MBS in an international negative spotlight.
Even before Khashoggi's death, U.S.-Saudi relations had deteriorated under President Barack Obama, who had naively asked Saudi Arabia and Iran to "share the neighborhood" in the Middle East – at Saudi Arabia's expense. Upon taking office in 2017, President Donald Trump sought to repair this damage until the Khashoggi incident occurred and stalled his efforts. Pro-Obama congressional critics launched a campaign to demonize MBS by temporarily derailing a massive $110 billion arms sale to the Saudis, whom they accused of killing scores of Yemeni civilians in their battle against the Iranian-supported Houthi rebels.
Today, the Khashoggi incident continues to cast a dark shadow over every Saudi positive initiative. This is undoubtedly why Riyadh's publication of "The Charter of Makkah" in May received so little coverage in the West. That is unfortunate. The document is groundbreaking in the same way as was Martin Luther's nailing of his "95 Theses" on the door of a Catholic church in Germany over half a millennium ago, an act that marked the beginning of the Protestant Reformation. That 1517 document condemned the Catholic Church for its excesses, corruption and abandoning its true religious foundations.
The Charter of Makkah (meaning "Mecca") was the result of the Muslim World League (MWL) Conference on Moderation held in that holy city. In attendance were more than 1,200 Muslim leaders, scholars, academics and religious leaders who represented 139 countries and 27 Islamic sects. On May 28, 2019, attendees unanimously approved the Charter, seeking to provide Muslims all around the world with guidance concerning the nature and principles of Islam. The important thing to note is that, unlike President Sisi's effort to separate Islam from Islamism on a national level, the Charter seeks to separate the two on a global level.
The Charter's approval and publication represent a major reversal in Muslim versus non-Muslim human rights.
To fully understand this, we must go back to the UN's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The UDHR opens with an unequivocal declaration: "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. ..." But in 1990, at Iran's urging, the 57 Muslim member states of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) distanced themselves from the UDHR by supporting the more limited definition of human rights as defined in the Cairo Declaration. Undermining the UDHR, the Cairo Declaration recognized human equality among and for Muslims alone.
But the Charter's groundbreaking opening sentence now makes a declaration not dissimilar to that of the UDHR. It states, "(1) All people, regardless of their different ethnicities, races and nationalities, are equal under God."
Also included in the Charter is a declaration that goes against 1,400 years of violent Islamic history. The Crusades, the concept of the caliphate, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11 all share a thread of belief that Islam is superior to all other religions and, therefore, must be imposed across the world. Yet the Charter puts all religions on equal footing with declarations such as:
(2) We reject religious and ethnic claims of "preference."
(3) Differences among people in their beliefs, cultures and natures are part of God's will and wisdom.
(4) Religious and cultural diversity never justifies conflict. Humanity needs positive, civilized partnerships and effective interaction. Diversity must be a bridge to dialogue, understanding and cooperation for the benefit of all humanity.
The Charter contains a total of 30 such reasonable declarations, each providing a "kinder, gentler" tone to Islam, thus removing the teeth from the Islamist's bite.
Signs in Saudi Arabia foretold of the Charter's evolution when MBS made headlines with various statements and actions last year. He shocked Muslims and non-Muslims alike by stating Israel had every right to its land – the same as does every other country. His efforts to level the playing field for women – also in the Charter – got off to a start when he proclaimed women had the right to drive. Subsequent to publication of the Charter, MBS has allowed them to travel abroad alone – without a male guardian's permission. Retirement age for women has been increased from 55 to 60, enhancing further employment opportunities for them. Slowly, MBS has been chipping away at an entrenched Islamist mindset.
Despite the Charter, many remain skeptical about MBS's actions and intentions. The Israelis are not included in those ranks. Israel's relationship with Saudi Arabia has only improved because of threats to each of them from an aggressive and possibly nuclear-armed Iran. It is believed that secret agreements are already in place between the two countries that will permit Israel to use Saudi airbases should direct military action against Tehran become necessary. A precursor to such cooperation may have already occurred when Israel conducted airstrikes against Iranian targets in Iraq.
The Charter of Makkah represents a game-changing opportunity for Middle East and global stability. Decades of funding extremist Islam in the region and elsewhere has created a Herculean task for Saudi Arabia as it acts now to implement the Charter's principles – putting the radical Wahhabi genie back in a bottle.
Hope dictates that MBS be given the chance to become Saudi Arabia's Martin Luther by cleansing Islamism of its "ism."