RIYADH – Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman, deputy premier and minister of defense, emphasized that the soul of Saudi Arabia lies on a set views and beliefs that are based on Islam as well as on the Kingdom's tribal and Arab culture. "Our country is founded on this and if we get rid of it, that means the country would collapse," he said in an extensive interview with the leading American magazine "The Atlantic." The Crown Prince said that Saudi Arabia is not disparaging any of its beliefs as they constitute its soul. "The Holy Mosques are in Saudi Arabia and no one can remove it, and we have a responsibility towards the Holy Mosques forever and we want to put our country on the right path for the sake of our Saudi people, for the sake of the region, and for the sake of the whole world based on our belief in peace and coexistence and the need for us to add value to the rest of the world," he said. The Crown Prince reaffirmed that the Kingdom is going back to the real teachings of Islam, the way that the Prophet and the four Rightly Guided caliphs lived, which was open and peaceful societies. They had Christians and Jews living under their rule. They taught us to respect all cultures, all religions, regardless. These teachings of the Prophet and the four Caliphs – they were perfect.. We are going back to the root, to the real thing. What happened was that the extremists hijacked and changed our religion into something new for their own interests. They're trying to make people view Islam their way. And the problem was that there was no one arguing with them, and no one fighting against them seriously. So they had the chance to spread all these extremist views, which led to the creation of the most extreme terrorist groups, both in the Sunni and Shiite worlds. Replying a question about Saudi Arabia is promoting moderate Islam, the Crown Prince said that he was not using the term "moderate Islam," because this term would make the extremists and terrorists happy. It's good news for them if we use that term. If we say "moderate Islam," the suggestion is that we in Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries are changing Islam into something new, which is not true. Muslim Brotherhood's role huge in creating extremism The Crown Prince noted that Muslim Brotherhood, the Ikhwan, played a huge role in creating all of this extremism as they were the bridge that took others to extremism. "When you talk to them, they will not seem to be extremists, but they lead you to extremism. Osama bin Laden, was a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; al-Zawahiri, used to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood; the leader of ISIS, used to be a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. So the Brotherhood is a pathway. It has been a strong element in the creation of extremist groups in the past decades. But it's not all the Muslim Brotherhood. It's a mix of, many things and many events, not only from the Muslim world, even also from America, for example the invasion of Iraq, that gave a chance for extremists to propagate their massage and rally followers. It is also true that some extremists in Saudi Arabia, not Muslim Brotherhood extremists, played a role in this area, especially after 1979 revolution in Iran, and the hijacking of the Grand Mosque in Makkah.
