Foreign Affairs: Corona threatens Saudi Arabia's ambitions and highlights its declining position in the Islamic world

The American Foreign Affairs magazine said that the Corona epidemic highlighted the decline of Saudi Arabia’s position in the Islamic world, and that the Kingdom’s policy of closure to curb the spread of the epidemic - which included the suspension of Umrah and may include canceling the Hajj this year - will cost it a heavy price both politically and economically.

An article by US writer Kritika Varagor in the magazine titled "Corona Virus Threatens the Global Ambitions of Saudi Arabia" that the Kingdom issued a sudden decision to stop all Umrah visas in late February as part of the precautionary measures to address the Corona virus, which later included closing the two holiest Islamic spots (Makkah and Madinah) In them are the Sacred House of God and the Prophet’s Mosque, may God bless him and grant him peace, from which the King of Saudi Arabia derives his nickname "The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques".

The author said that the Saudi authorities are heading towards canceling the Hajj season for this year and if they have not announced this officially yet, but indications point to this, as the Minister of Hajj in the Kingdom urged people to be patient in reserving trips related to the performance of the fifth Islamic duty, which indicates that the official announcement regarding Canceling the Hajj season is imminent.

Influence declined, 
according to the author, to suspend Umrah and cancel Hajj, despite the benefits of the two measures for public health, will cost the kingdom a heavy price on more than one level. As the Saudi economy will suffer greatly due to the absence of Hajj and Umrah revenues, which are estimated at billions of dollars annually, and its suffering will continue with the closure.

There is another loss that is less measurable but equally important - the author says - despite the decline in the image of the Kingdom during the past two decades, the pilgrimage remained one of the most important tools of soft power for Saudi Arabia, and the suspension of the pilgrimage due to Corona would reveal the decline of Saudi influence in the Islamic world.

The author suggested that the repercussions of the Corona outbreak and the kingdom's measures to address the virus would accelerate a historical shift that had begun, namely the end of Saudi Arabia's efforts to lead a unified Islamic world and the emergence of a multi-polar Islamic world.

Riyadh's ambition declined globally,
and the article indicated that the Kingdom's efforts to reshape the Islamic world - which began in 1960 through the pursuit of a foreign policy under the slogan of Islamic solidarity - witnessed a significant decline after the events of September 11, 2001.

The funding of advocacy activities carried out It has the Muslim World League, an international non-governmental organization based in Makkah Al-Mukarramah that supervises the invitation and carries out many activities, including distributing the Koran and building mosques in various parts of the world.

According to the author, funding for the Muslim World League’s branches and activities in Indonesia, Kosovo and Nigeria has decreased after 2001. It quoted Dr. Fadl Khuloud (the head of the Muslim League’s branch in Nigeria) saying that the association’s funding for his branch was cut off for a full decade as Saudi Arabia subjected its charities to an external investigation, which forced him to lay off Almost all branch employees and now run the branch alone.

The decline in oil revenues - in light of the collapse of oil prices - contributed to the decline in the global ambition of the Kingdom, according to the author of the article, compared to the rise of other Islamic countries such as Turkey, which is based on its Ottoman history, the countries of Central Asia and Iran.

Hajj diplomacy
The article in "Foreign Affairs" indicated that the Hajj remained a trump card in the pocket of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, even after the steady decline of its soft power.

For example, Saudi Arabia grants Indonesia (the highest Islamic intensity globally) the largest share of pilgrims, amounting to about 230,000 Hajj visas annually, and increasing that number is ambitious and a priority for Indonesian officials, as some of its citizens have to wait twenty years to obtain an opportunity to perform this duty.

Therefore, Jakarta rarely objects to Riyadh's religious efforts on its soil during the past decades, in order not to jeopardize its stake in the Hajj.

But Riyadh's involvement in regional conflicts led to the politicization of the Hajj. Imams in both Libya and Tunisia called for a boycott of the Hajj due to Saudi interference in the civil war in Yemen.

The author concluded that the implications of the possible cancellation of this year's pilgrimage - which comes in light of the aforementioned differences - may affect the resumption of the pilgrimage next year and perhaps in the years to come.