The Hajj Pipeline: How Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud Controls the Religious Message for Two Million Pilgrims a Year
Custodianship, curated sermons, digitised pilgrimage tools, and the continuity of ideological export.
Exporting Extremism & Weaponising the Holy Sites
Saudi Arabia's custodianship of Mecca and Medina gives Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud unique leverage over the global Muslim population. This section investigates how the Crown Prince has maintained and expanded the Saudi practice of using the Hajj pilgrimage and Umrah infrastructure to spread Wahhabi ideology. From the curated religious programming delivered to millions of pilgrims each year to the funding of extremist-linked madrassas across South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, Mohammed bin Salman has continued a decades-old Saudi strategy of ideological export while publicly claiming to promote moderate Islam.
Published articles
From Riyadh to Rawalpindi: Tracking Saudi Madrassa Funding Under Mohammed bin Salman
Funding networks, curricula abroad, and the gap between English-language moderation branding and on-the-ground religious instruction.