Auteur: Aïssa BOUKANOUN
Executive summary: Since 2016, Saudi Arabia has undergone a profound transformation of its relationship to the religious, led by reforms under the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Officially presented as a “return to moderate Islam”, these developments have been interpreted either as religious liberalization or as a communication strategy without structural transformation. This article proposes to go beyond this alternative by mobilizing the concept of reconfiguration of the religious. He argues that the reforms observed are less secular than a recentralisation of the normative and symbolic authority to the benefit of the State. The analysis focuses on institutional recompositions, the redefinition of the role of the Hadiths, the reform of religious education and the development of the entertainment sector as a new place to state the norm. Based on a corpus of academic sources and Arab and Western journalistic analyses, the article highlights the internal tensions of this project, selective social openness, enhanced political control, differentiated generational adherence, especially among women, and discusses its regional and international implications for religious soft power and centralized governance.
Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salmane, State Islam, Religious Reform, Vision 2030, Political Power, Religious Soft Power, Women and Religion, Central Governance.
Abstract: Since 2016, Saudi Arabia has undergone a profound transformation in its relationship to religion, driven by reforms initiated under the authority of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Officially framed as a “return to moderate Islam,” these changes have often been interpreted either as religious liberalization or as political rebranding without structural transformation. This article moves beyond that dichotomy by conceptualizing the process as a reconfiguration of religion under state control. It argues that the reforms reflect not secularization, but a recentralization of normative and symbolic authority in the hands of the state. The analysis examines institutional restructuring, the redefinition of the role of hadiths, reforms in religious education, and the expansion of the entertainment sector as new sites of norm production. Drawing on academic literature as well as Arabic and Western journalistic sources, the article highlights internal tensions – selective social openness, strengthened political control, and differentiated generational support, particularly among women – and assesses the regional and international implications of this reconfigured model in terms of religious soft power and centralized governance.
Keywords: Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, State Islam, Religious reform, Vision 2030, Political authority, Religious soft power, Women and reform, Centralized governance.