The world is turning and reinventing itself to confront new destructive ideologies. Saudi Arabia is turning with it and reinventing itself. The country that once powered the most rigid streams of global Islam, born out of the teachings of Muhammed Ibn Abdulwahhab, is now rewriting its story and turning back on its less than glorious past. This is not a small shift. It is a seismic shock to old assumptions. It is a lesson to places that refuse to change. It is a mirror that the Muslim North of Nigeria, in particular, must look into. For decades, the House of Saud exported fundamentalist Islamic teachings. It funded preachers who travelled across continents. It supported schools that taught extremist readings of faith. It pushed an ideology that rejected co-existence. This ideology travelled far. It entered communities that were fragile. It shaped minds that were unprepared. It created networks that produced violence.
Nigeria’s Muslim North embraced Saudi’s Wahhabism. The Sahel courted it. Africa surrendered to it. Asia absorbed it. Europe endured it. Many terrorist groups drew from the doctrines spread by Saudi-sponsored clerics, mullahs and institutions. Al Qaeda drew from it in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Lashkar-e-Taiba drew from it in South Asia. Al Shabaab drew from it in Somalia. Boko Haram soaked it up in Maiduguri and around Lake Chad. The export of extremist ideas created fires that burned across continents. These groups attacked cities. They destroyed markets. They bombed schools. They killed travellers. They forced millions to flee. They fractured countries. The list of countries incinerated by this influence is long. Afghanistan suffered. Pakistan suffered. Nigeria suffered. Somalia suffered. Syria suffered. Iraq suffered. Yemen suffered. Mali suffered. Libya suffered. Great Britain suffered.
The world took notice on 9/11 and began to confront the destructive Wahhabism exported by the House of Saud. Then, the world changed dramatically. The House of Saud saw the cost. It saw how extremism threatened its own stability. It saw how violence bred enemies. It saw how young Saudis were being lost to militancy. It saw that oil could no longer protect it. It realised that modern life demands a new direction. Saudi Arabia changed. So it began to reform. It opened its doors to tourists. It expanded entertainment. It permitted music concerts. It encouraged foreign investment. It promoted sports. It reduced the influence of the religious police. It curbed extremist clerics. It restructured its economy. It rebranded its cities. It invited the world in. Saudi Arabia is becoming the Arabian Riviera. The country is building mega-resorts. It is constructing futuristic cities. It is creating zones for leisure. It is attracting technology companies. It is inviting cultural festivals. It is promoting film. It is hosting international fashion and sports’ fiestas. It is encouraging a vibrant youth culture. It is becoming a playground for the global middle class.
The religious ideological shift is clear. The country that once exported rigidity is now importing modernity. The country that once funded extremist teachings is now funding entertainment. The country that once sponsored puritanical ideas is now selling luxury. The House of Saud has decided that development is better than doctrines and dogma. It has decided that openness is better than isolation. It has decided that the future is better than nostalgia. This is the lesson for the Muslim North of Nigeria.
The Muslim North is rich in culture. It is rich in history. It is rich in scholarship. It is rich in faith. But it is also weighed down by an attraction to fanatical ideas that do not lead to progress. It is pulled by romantic dreams of impossible purity. It is pulled by preachers who offer anger instead of knowledge. It is pulled by movements that hide failure under the cloak of piety. It is pulled by habits that reward backwardness. The result is clear. Poverty is deep. Illiteracy is widespread. Insecurity is severe. Children are out of school. Jobs are scarce. Communities are fractured. Camps for displaced people grow by the year. Markets close early. Farmers cannot reach their farms. Roads are dangerous. Dreams are shrinking. It is waging two wars within itself: war over identity and belonging, and a war that cuts even deeper into its soul. The North is not moving forward. It is moving in circles – a sort of circumlocution. It is moving in the direction of places that have collapsed. It is moving towards the idea of Afghanistan. It is moving towards the idea of Somalia. It is moving towards the idea of Pakistan. These places are not destinations for anyone who seeks progress. They are symbols of chaos. They are metaphors for radical self-destruction. They represent everything that any serious society must avoid.
The Muslim North must disembark from that train. It must step away from the politics of regression. It must reject the cult of extremism disguised as faith. It must refuse to remain trapped in cycles of violence. It must look at Saudi Arabia and understand the message. This is the message: a community cannot cling to the past and expect to prosper. A people cannot glorify stagnation and hope for growth. A region cannot worship rigidity and still attract investment. A society cannot reject modern life and still compete in the world. The Muslim North must choose change. It must choose education. It must choose economic reform. It must choose modern leadership. It must choose openness. It must choose creativity. It must choose peace. It must choose progress as a civic duty. It must choose knowledge as its anchor.
Saudi Arabia is not perfect. No country is. But it understands the danger of refusing to evolve. It understands that survival requires reinvention. It understands that the world does not wait for those who hold on to old certainties. It understands that a better future is built, not prayed into existence. It understands that faith and modernity can coexist.
The Muslim North of Nigeria must understand this too.
It must look at the Arabian Riviera rising from the desert. It must look at the cities being built. It must look at the young Saudis shaping their future. It must look at how the guardians of global Wahhabism have abandoned the rigidity they once exported. It must look at itself. It must ask the hard questions. It must make the hard choices. It must decide whether it wants to grow or decay.
The future is calling.
The Muslim North must answer with courage. It must answer with reason. It must answer with humility. It must answer with ambition. Even the House of Saud is reinventing itself. The Muslim North must do the same. There is no shame in doing so. There is only shame in standing still while the world moves ahead.
The Muslim North must recognise that renewal is not betrayal. Renewal is strength. Renewal is faith acting with intelligence. Renewal is the ability to protect what is sacred without sacrificing what is necessary. No society thrives on memory alone. No community prospers by clinging to wounds. Growth demands honesty. It demands that it confronts its failures and step out of the shadows it created for itself. The world is watching. Investors are watching. Young people are watching. They want a region that pursues opportunity. They want a society that opens its doors. They want schools that teach science. They want clerics who preach peace. They want leaders who understand that piety is not a substitute for policy. They want the Muslim North that can compete with the best. They want the Muslim North that carries faith with dignity and development with pride. The Muslim North must rise to this moment. It must choose the path of knowledge. It must build strong schools. It must empower girls. It must invest in technology. It must encourage honest enterprise. It must reject the language of fear. It must silence those who preach resentment. It must give its children a future that is larger than the dreams of old men. It must build cities that invite growth. It must build institutions that protect justice.
Change is no longer optional. Change is the condition for survival. Saudi Arabia understands this truth. It understands that the world punishes rigidity. It understands that prosperity comes from openness. It understands that progress requires a new imagination. The Muslim North must understand what Saudi Arabia has already embraced. It must understand that the road to greatness begins with one courageous step away from stagnation. The lesson is clear. Reinvention is not weakness. Reinvention is destiny. Reinvention is how nations rise from the ruins of old convictions. Even the House of Saud, long seen as the guardian of strict orthodoxy, has chosen reinvention over decline. A leading scholar of the region, Madawi Al Rasheed, saw these shifts coming. She warned that Saudi Arabia would one day reach the limits of its old order. That prediction has come to pass. The Muslim North must read the signs and act before time leaves it behind. And it must ask itself the hard question: where are the voices of its own Madawi Al Rasheed?
