IS in Saudi Arabia

The dreaded Islamic State appears to have found a footing in Saudi Arabia. The group has claimed responsibility for a deadly suicide bombing on Friday which killed at least 21 Shia worshippers at Friday prayers in the eastern province of Qatif. Saudi Arabia’s population comprises about 15 to 20 percent Shias. The Islamic State, which had previously targeted eight members of the Shia community in a shooting last November, aligns itself with groups which insist that Shias are not ‘real’ Muslims. The development is an alarming one for Riyadh and the world. It indicates that the IS is spreading through the region and taking hold of new territories. The US, a close ally of Saudi Arabia, is locked in air strikes directed against the group in Syria and Iraq. The claim made over social media is being seen as credible by experts, coming from a Twitter account previously used by the group and including a photograph of the bomber killed in the attack. Saudi Arabia’s Shia community has already protested against what they say is a campaign against them by hard-line clerics.
The attack also coincides with the Saudi-led war on Shia Houthi rebels who have taken control of large tracts of neighbouring Yemen, and adds to the increasingly communal stresses affecting Muslims across the world. This is a problem that needs to be dealt with. We ourselves have seen it unfold at home. Muslim nations need to come together to determine how to tackle the growing might of the IS and similar groups. The fact that it is now able to strike within Saudi Arabia is obviously a matter of acute concern. This attack on Saudi Shias has caused waves to ripple across the Islamic world. Groups at home have expressed alarm as well. We hope there will be increased security for Shias in Saudi Arabia – and other nations. But this alone is not enough to challenge the divides that have been carved out and the hatred that has been allowed to fester. The groups that lie at the heart of this nest of evil need now to be tackled head on. While this has been spoken about in many countries, perhaps they need to genuinely set aside their own differences of various kinds and devise a strategy that aims to save Muslims everywhere from the terrifying consequences of sectarian extremism. Such death is unholy; it is a tragedy that so many have taken place while worshippers are at prayer or in the process of observing other tenets of faith.