Saudi Petrodollars, Spiritual Capital, and the Islamic University of Medina: A Wahhabi Missionary Project in Transnational Perspective

Farquhar, Michael

Abstract

While the idea that Saudi Arabia has functioned as a beacon of ultraconservative religious influence since the 1970s oil boom is commonplace, the modalities of this influence have rarely been seriously interrogated. As a window onto this issue, this article considers the history of the Islamic University of Medina, an influential Wahhabi missionary project with global ambitions. It pays particular attention to the role played by non-Saudi staff, who for long periods made up a majority of the university's faculty. Previous accounts of migrants working in Saudi religious educational institutions have tended to focus on the contested question of their contribution to the rise of politically activist modes of Islamism within the kingdom. In contrast, the account offered here draws on the concept of spiritual capital to argue that they also played an important part in legitimizing the expansion of the Wahhabi mission to diverse Muslim communities around the world.

Citation

Farquhar, M. (2015). Saudi Petrodollars, Spiritual Capital, and the Islamic University of Medina: A Wahhabi Missionary Project in Transnational Perspective. International Journal of Middle East Studies, 47(4), 701-721. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002074381500094X

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2015
• Journal: International Journal of Middle East Studies
• Print ISSN: 0020-7438
• Electronic ISSN: 1471-6380
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 47
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 701-721
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002074381500094X
• Keywords: Salafism, Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia, religious economies, transnationalism