Juhayman and the King: Saudi Arabia’s Support for the Afghan Mujahidin  Following the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure

This paper examines how the Saudi state responded to the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by co-opting Islamist discourse, rather than opposing Islamism in its totality. By applying securitization theory with critical discourse analysis, this paper explores how the Saudi state securitized Islamism in the midst of a serious legitimacy crisis in the aftermath of the Grand Mosque Seizure and rhetorical attacks from revolutionary Iran. Using declassified documents, media reports and government sources, this paper argues that the Saudi royal family chose to divert domestic Islamist enthusiasm into transnational jihad in order to placate domestic actors – namely the ‘ulema – through its support for the Afghan Mujahidin. Through the use of securitization theory in this case study, this paper contributes a novel perspective to existing literature on Saudi foreign and domestic politics and policy. It concludes that the Saudi state did not necessarily oppose...Show moreThis paper examines how the Saudi state responded to the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan by co-opting Islamist discourse, rather than opposing Islamism in its totality. By applying securitization theory with critical discourse analysis, this paper explores how the Saudi state securitized Islamism in the midst of a serious legitimacy crisis in the aftermath of the Grand Mosque Seizure and rhetorical attacks from revolutionary Iran. Using declassified documents, media reports and government sources, this paper argues that the Saudi royal family chose to divert domestic Islamist enthusiasm into transnational jihad in order to placate domestic actors – namely the ‘ulema – through its support for the Afghan Mujahidin. Through the use of securitization theory in this case study, this paper contributes a novel perspective to existing literature on Saudi foreign and domestic politics and policy. It concludes that the Saudi state did not necessarily oppose Islamism as-a-whole, but rather competing versions of Islamism that threatened royal authority. This paper will term ‘royalist Wahhabism’ as the state-endorsed and propagated version of Islam and argues that this form of Islam was promoted as both a domestic control mechanism and a foreign policy instrument.Show less

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Juhayman and the King: Saudi Arabia’s Support for the Afghan Mujahidin Following the 1979 Grand Mosque Seizure