Saudi Arabia and Iran: Divided by politics, united by religious rhetoric

Saudi Arabia and Iran are at loggerheads. The manifestation of the tension between the two nations was on show when Saudi Arabia's execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was followed by the burning down of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran by Iranian protesters.

This led to a diplomatic stand-off between the two countries. However, differences between Saudi Arabia and Iran are not recent.

While Saudi Arabia is considered to be a Sunni regime dominated by the Salafi/Wahhabi ideology, Iran upholds the Shiite brand of Islam. Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have simultaneously tried to increase their influence in the region of West Asia which is also, at times, referred to as the Muslim world.

Such a description of West Asia is flawed because of two reasons.

Firstly, majority of the Muslims of the world reside in countries which are outside of West Asia. Indonesia has the highest number of Muslims in the world. It is followed by South Asian countries like Pakistan, India and Bangladesh.

By solely referring to Muslim majority nations in West Asia as the Muslim world, one invariably derecognises the presence of Muslims in other parts of the world who are as much integral to the Muslim ummah or community, as Arab Muslims.

Secondly, usage of terms like Muslim world or Islamic land also tends to ignore the religious heterogeneity in West Asia. The Arab world is home to several religious communities. How can one in the cultural context only recognise these countries as Muslim or Islamic?

However, that would open up a larger debate concerning theological states and the role of religious minorities in such countries.

Let us come back to the Saudi Arabia-Iran divide. Here, it is important to point out that two videos have emerged in the last few days which show that Saudi Arabia and Iran do have similarities despite the differences which we have witnessed recently.

They are similar when it comes to the insane rhetoric of their religious leaders.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, January 27, 2016, Iran's Supreme leader Ali Khamenei released a Holocaust denial video. "No one in European countries dares to speak of the Holocaust, while it is not clear whether the core of this matter is reality or not. Even if it is reality, it is not clear how it happened," says Khamenei in the three-minute video.

The anti-Jewish claims of the Iranian Supreme Leader are not surprising. In the past, former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had labelled 9/11 an inside job. Haven't you heard the ridiculous conspiracy theory which claimed that Jews didn't go to work on September 11?

If Khamenei seriously doubts the veracity of the Holocaust, he should undertake a study tour to Germany and visit the gas chambers where the Jews were brutalised in a systematic fashion. He should meet Jewish families from different backgrounds who will narrate to him the painful stories of their grandparents and parents. It will become clear to him as to "how it happened."

Khamenei sounds empathetic towards Palestinian families in the video which has photographs of injured Palestinian children but it's ironical that at the same time he manages to sound so very insensitive while speaking of the Holocaust.

A political leader releasing an anti-Jewish video on a day which seeks to commemorate the sacrifices of Jews is nothing but plain bigotry. It is bigotry and political opportunism when religious leaders like Khamenei raise their voice against the injustice done to Palestinians while completely denying the existence of any kind of historical injustice meted out to the Jews.

Another video which gained traction online was of prominent Saudi Arabian cleric Adel Kalbani. In the video, Kalbani can be heard pointing out the ideological similarity between the terrorist group Islamic State and Saudi Arabia.

"They (ISIS) draw their principles from what is written in our books, from our principles. Who criticises them the most does not criticise their thought, but their actions. We do not criticise the thought on which it is based, such as the concept of apostasy," Kalbani said in the video. 

He added that "we follow the same thought but we apply it in a refined way."

One must commend Kalbani's honesty which gives us an insight into his fanatic mindset. He thinks it is appropriate if ISIS or Saudi Arabia executes a Muslim if he/she renounces Islam and takes up another faith. The only question is in relation to the manner of execution. "If we execute them in a way that does not show us in bad light, then that's fine," feels Kalbani.

Why stop merely at apostasy? How can ISIS and Saudi Arabia spare places of worship of other communities? That's why ISIS had previously burnt down an 800-year-old church in Mosul, Iraq and bombed another 80-year-old church in Hassaka, Syria.

Now that's such a bad thing to do and portrays ISIS in bad light. However, Saudi Arabia has found a cure to this problem. They don't allow their religious minorities to build their places of worship. So there is no need to burn or bomb them in the first place.

It's such a shame when a cleric appears on television as an apologist for a terrorist group. The extremist thought which propels ISIS to behead Egyptian Christians and rape Yazidi women has to criticized and puked on.

The thought on which ISIS is premised and their inhumane actions, both are to be objected to. Adel Kalbani can't fool the world by praising radical Islam as a thought and only question the manner in which ISIS is implementing it.

Unfortunately, the voices coming out of Saudi Arabia and Iran, that of religious clerics Adel Kalbani and Ali Khamenei are worrying. But we must continue to search for allies in the Arab world. There are certainly many commoners, everyday Iranians and Saudi Arabians who recognise the Holocaust and consider ISIS to be a curse on Islam.