Alwaght | News & Analysis Website

Alwaght- After the Islamic Revolution of Iran, Saudi Shiites mostly living in the eastern oil-rich regions of Saudi Arabia, were inspired by the Islamic revolution and conducted extensive campaigns against the House of Saud. In the 1980s, their relationship with the ruling regime was based on conflict and confrontation. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the Saudis began a dialogue with the Shiites which finally came to fruition in 1993. During the talks and negotiations between the leaders of the reforming movement and government representatives, on August 10th 1993 a concise Royal Decree was submitted to Saudi embassies around the world. The decree stated: "Hereby, we inform you that royal gracious decrees have been issued to the Minister of the Interior so that a general amnesty is declared for all Shiite groups who have committed any act of opposition, and those who are abroad would be granted permission to return home, if they wish to."
Since then the kingdom's Shiites pursued their social and political demands through none- violent instruments, and adopted peaceful approaches. With the introduction of the national dialogue by King Abdullah, Sheikh Hassan al-Saffar, a Shiite cleric together with hardline Salafists attended the talks. Moreover, Jafar al-Shayeb, a well-known Shiite activists entered Qatif Municipal Council in 2005. From a symbolic point of view, perhaps the most important point is the fact that in recent years Saudi Shiites have been able to commemorate Ashura publicly. Such public mourning had been banned for decades, and they are particularly annoying for extremist Salafists.  
In different periods, Saudi Shiite have adopted different approaches towards the attitude and measures of the government and Wahhabis. Before the new round of political activities in Saudi Arabia in the fight against al-Qaeda, which resulted in many statements by various political movements seeking political reform, Shiite and Ismaili minorities made efforts to improve their status as a religious minority. A decade after the accord between the Shiites and the government (1993), with the act of writing petitions that some people referred to as Riyadh Spring, the Shiites found the chance to put forward their demands. In such a situation, the Shiites also began to write petitions and pursue their civil demands. This made the Shiites gradually abandon their former religious attitudes, which insisted on specific religious and regional demands of the Shiites. In the new era, the Shiites joined the global reformist discourse.
In this era, the Saudi government gave the green light to the Shiite activists including Jafar al-Shayeb, Hassan al-Saffar, Tawfiq al-Seif and Najib al-Khenziri to do social and political activities. As a result, the Shiites gradually entered dialogues, and authored some articles about religious tolerance and national unity. However, the main problem of the Shiites has always been the negative and repulsive attitudes of Wahhabism towards the Shiites. Shiites were the first group that were rejected as heretic and infidels by the Wahhabism. Despite extensive developments in relations between the government and the Wahhabis, such an attitude towards the Shiites, makes trouble for relationship between the Shiites and the Saudi government. Even the rise of the Shiites in Iraq, despite the expectations raised in Saudi Arabia, did not change negative views of the Wahhabis about Saudi Shiites, as Fatwas considering the Shiites as infidels were advocated by Safar al-Hawali, Abdul Rahman al-Barrak, etc.  
In this era, the presence of Shiites in the public space significantly increased, for instance they were allowed to perform their religious rituals in places specially provided for them. On the one hand, the government mounted violent crackdown against all those who made ​​some demands or sought concessions from the government. On the other hand, radical Wahhabi clerics strongly oppose the Shiite. After initial conflicts between the Shiites and the government, the Shiite eventually came to the conclusion that they have no choice but gradual improvement of their status in their interaction with the existing political regime. In fact, the political regime, in the same way that responded to the political and social demands of non- Shiites, managed to soften their demands without realizing the serious demands of Shiites.
In general, in the study of Saudi regime’s approach towards religious minorities, the attitude of Wahhabism towards these minorities is a completely effective variable, and in some cases it is the only main and effective variable. In other words, although the political regime in some periods called for easing pressure against minorities and letting them participate in social and public activities. However, radical Wahhabi scholars often issued Ftawas against the minorities and called them infidels and warned against their influence in the community, and this way they prevented any significant changes in the social and political statues of the Shiites. Although confrontation of the government with new Wahhabi movements, has given way to more open talks in Saudi Arabia; and minorities, particularly small minorities, seized the opportunity for demonstrating their capabilities, however, we cannot expect a fundamental change in the status of the minorities.
Considering the Shiites, in addition to the negative and Wahhabi inspired attitudes towards them, the Islamic Republic of Iran has also been very effective. In a way that when the relations between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia have improved, the Saudi regime has had better interaction with Shiites in Saudi Arabia, and has been much more attentive to their demands. In contrast, when relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been tense, the situation has had a devastating impact on the status of Saudi Shiites. In addition, the Saudi regime always benefits the presence of the Shia, and the threats the Wahhabis feel in the land of two holy Mosques have been in line with engaging in dialogue with Iran and calling treacherous the Shiites who oppose the policies of the government.