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Saudi prince's definition of moderate Islam

Saturday, 28 October 2017 10:43 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 28 October 2017 10:45 AM ]

The handout picture, provided by the Saudi Royal Palace on August 23, 2017, shows Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the holy city of Mecca. (Via AFP)

These are the headlines we are tracking for you in this episode of On the News Line:

Saudi Prince's definition of moderate Islam

In an interview with the Guardian, the Saudi crown prince has pledged to return the kingdom to moderate Islam. Prince Mohammed’s use of the term ‘moderate Islam’ implies that the Saudi royals’ Wahhabi ideology is an extreme and untrue version of the religion. And for decades Saudi officials have been spending their petrodollars on propagating Wahhabism by funding madrassas, schools and mosques that teach a strict, Salafist version of Islam in other parts of the world including Southeast Asia. Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have in recent years been witnessing a surge in the number of Daesh sympathizers. Elsewhere in the interview, Prince Mohammed said Saudi Arabia had been not normal for the past 30 years. He blamed the situation on rigid doctrines that have governed society in a reaction to the Iranian revolution, which the crown prince said successive leaders didn’t know how to deal with.

Niger crisis widens

The mysterious deaths of four American soldiers in Niger in early October caused many to ask why American troops are operating in such a small West African nation. With details of the event coming out, it has become clear that up to 1,000 US troops are currently in Niger. In fact, this poor country is the hub for US military operation in Western Africa. With different accounts of the event, and a long delay between the deaths of the soldiers and President Trump's acknowledgment, the US government has come under suspicion of covering up a scandal. Many speculate that this could be worse than the 2012 attack on US diplomatic facilities in Benghazi, Libya. The deaths of the soldiers have turned from a military tragedy to a political controversy because of Trump’s dispute with the widow of one of the fallen soldiers.

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