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xiii Introduction Con­temporary Saudi Arabia is truly a country of stark contrasts. It is one of the youn­ gest modern states, but its territory had some of the oldest ­ human settlements. It has some of the fastest-­growing economies yet some of the most traditional socie­ties. It has some of the vast deserts in the world and some of its tallest buildings. It invests the greatest share of its bud­get in education, yet it prosecutes any display of ­free thinking. Understanding this country’s contrasts is necessary to understand its unique charac- ter and its special place in the history of humankind. In Western imagination, Saudi Arabia is usually associated with a set of static images—­its oil wealth, its controversial royals, and the abuses of ­ women’s and ­ human rights. Even the Arabic-­speaking media rarely goes beyond the familiar depictions of Saudi Arabia’s opulence as the biggest economy of the ­Middle East, the infamous ­ fatwas, the country’s aggressive foreign policy, and the video coverage of the annual Hajj. In real­ity, Saudi Arabia is a country of ­ great nuances, contradictions, and cultural complexities. It is changing now at a rate similar to the time when oil was discovered on the Arabian Peninsula 80 years ago. In contrast to popu­lar beliefs, Saudi Arabia’s population and culture show a ­great deal of regional diversity. The Saudi interpreta- tion of Islam is far from representing its “pure” form but is a complex hybrid of Mus- lim and tribal customs and cultural codes. Fi­nally, ­there is a power­ful and rapidly growing internal sociocultural movement that challenges its conservative establish- ment and demands for greater ­ women’s rights and the freedom of speech. This book aims to illustrate some of the cultural, historical, and po­liti­cal nuances of Saudi Ara- bia, inviting the reader to explore the unknown aspects of this country. During the past ­ century, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has experienced an extraor- dinary transformation, accompanied by a clash between tradition and modernization to a much greater degree than most other countries. ­Until the turn of the 20th ­ century, the po­liti­cal and geo­graph­i­cal center of con­temporary Saudi Arabia, Najd, had one of the most isolated socie­ties on earth, situated in one of the harshest environments known to humanity. Unified in 1932 ­ under the banner of Ibn Saud, Saudi Arabia is the only country in the world that carries the name of its royal ­family. The discovery of oil and the subsequent rapid development of the oil industry have forever changed the fate of the Arabian Peninsula and its ­ people. In this pro­cess of transformation, the constant confrontation between the traditional and the modern remained a central