Photo caption: Recently held Riyadh Festival saw Saudi youths in Western dress kissing and hugging each other openly much to the chagrin of conservatives in West Asia
A big change is sweeping across Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, in recent years. The social change initiated by Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman is changing the face of Saudi Arabia, which is becoming more friendlier to tourists and business. The conservative kingdom has seen many transformative reforms, including the removal of the ban on women driving, the opening of cinemas, the curtailment of the role of the religious police, reducing the quantum of Islamic content from the curriculum, inclusion of the Mahabharata and Ramayan in the school textbooks and granting permission for Yoga, etc.
Recently held (October and December) ‘Riyadh Seasons 2021’ witnessed a huge turnout of Saudi men and women who danced to the tune of Western music, much to the chagrin of Islamists who ran a social media campaign against the crown prince. The pictures showed Saudi men and women in Western dress hugging and kissing in public, contrary to Saudi custom. One video showed men kissing, which triggered claims that the festival promoted “openness towards homosexuality.”
Atheism, which used to attract death penalty, is growing in the Islamic country. About 30 lakh copies of Richard Dawkins’s bible of atheism were downloaded in the kingdom. A Saudi journalist on condition of anonymity said though it is very difficult to get an exact number of atheists, “one can easily say that it is growing leap and bounds”. A 2012 poll by an international agency found that 5 percent of its citizens described themselves as “convinced atheist” and about 19 percent self-identified themselves as “non-religious”.
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