It is unexpected, this fatwa issued by the Council of Senior Ulema, Saudi Arabia’s top religious leadership, which condemns violence being waged by terrorist groups and the underground network that finances it [“A Saudi Fatwa for Moderation,” Washington Post, June 13, 2010].
That the most senior religious body in the kingdom is making this call is significant in many ways, one of which is that rival fatwas from a lesser religious authority will not be able to challenge it. Terrorist groups already see it as a threat and are expressing negative reactions online. It is being hailed as representing a new voice of moderation coming from no less than the Muslim clerical establishment itself.
Hopefully, this convulsion will lead to a deeper crack in the system that will pave the way for more religious freedom and liberty of conscience. It happened within the Catholic Church around the fourteenth century when both ecclesiastic powers and political powers were vested in the papacy.
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