Saudi Clerics and Shi'a Islam

The execution of Shaykh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr on New Year’s Day in 2016 and the ongoing suppression of civil rights demands and republicanism in the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia, not least in the town of [Awamiyyah has brought the ‘Shi[i problem’ of the Kingdom into the light of international scrutiny, albeit still much dampened through the state’s manipulation of international media. Within the context of the ongoing rivalry and proxy war with Iran in the region and the sectarian hysteria over the ‘Shi[i crescent’ in the region alongside the suspicion that state sponsored Wahhabi ideology is an important factor in regional violence, Ismail’s work is rather timely and ought to be read with other publications on the Shi[ah in Saudi Arabia by Hamza al-Hasan, [Ali al-Dairi and Toby Matthiessen as well as the growing more sophisticated analyses of Saudi culture and politics produced in recent years by Toby Jones, Thomas Hegghammer, Madawi al-Rasheed and others. It is a pity that she did not take into consideration some works on the functions of the Wahhabi religious establishment such as Mouline. Farquhar’s book is too recent to.....