Saudi Arabia appears to be on a warpath with Ulama whose ideologies are perceived to be a threat to the Kingdom’s fragile status quo.

Cii News has been made aware of numerous high profile deportations or expulsion orders served to Ulama residing in the Kingdom over the past few years.

The witch hunt has purportedly gained extraordinary momentum in the current year, with reports emerging of several high profile Ulama having already being forced to leave the Kingdom against their will.

Some of these prominent scholars are originally from the Indian Subcontinent and have been resident in the Kingdom for prolonged periods of time.

Among those who have already being forced from Saudi shores is Maulana Abdur Rahman Kawthar Madani, son of the illustrious Mufti ‘Ashiq Ilahi al-Bulandshehri RA, a prominent Mureed of Hazrat Shaykh Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhlawi RA who was resident in Madinah Munawarrah for almost a quarter of a century.

The renowned Muhaddith Sheikh Mohammed Awaamah, who hails from Syria, along with his son Shaykh Muhyyudeen are reportedly also facing a similar predicament.

Saudi authorities rarely ever comment on such occurrences, and when they ever do, ostensibly proffer the rationale that such deportations(or deportation notices) are being served on individuals who lack the necessary Iqama(residence permit) requirements.

Whilst this may be technically true of many of the individuals involved due to strict Saudi Iqama regulations, many doubt this being the primary reason, speculating instead that such moves are motivated by ideological or political reasons.

A case in point is that of the Eritrean born Sheikh Tawfique as Saigh who was Imam of the Lami Mosque of Jeddah. A popular figure, who recited the Quraan most beautifully, As Saigh was hounded by Saudi authorities ever since he delivered an outspoken Khutbah in 2013 criticizing the (Saudi funded) Egyptian regime and its cold blooded massacre of hundreds of Muslims at the Rabaa square(Some reports suggest he was even being harassed by the regime for his outspokenness already prior to this event).

The Sheikh was initially stripped of the Imam’s post due to his sentiments, and earlier this year was deported after his residency papers were revoked.

Sheikh Tawfique as Saigh says his final farewells to the Ka'bah

A similar story of deportation from the Kingdom played itself out with Shaykh Ahmed, son of Shaykh Mohammed Ali Sabouni, the high ranking Mufassir from Syria, who has now settled in Turkey.

While none of these figures are known to be associated with the Muslim Brotherhood(which the regime has outlawed), the Kingdom’s heavy-handed approach can be seen to be symptomatic of the the paranoia permeating Saudi officialdom since the Uprising in Egypt that catapulted the Brotherhood to prominence.

Saudi Arabia has declared the Ikhwan to be a terrorist organisation and has become very wary of any individuals or organisations that it perceives to have the potential to upset the Kingdom’s current authoritarian political order. As Juan Cole writes, whilst the regime categorises itself as Wahabist, the Saudi state likes “order and stability” more than it likes political Islam. The Saudis have therefore taken the approach of backing secular leaders in the region, as an antidote to keep the masses quiet and avoid a spillage of any such agitation for freedom into the Kingdom.

So dangerous are Muslim Brotherhood ideals deemed, that Saudi authorities banned dozens of books from being showcased at the Riyadh International Book Fair in March designating the a “threat to intellectual security.”

This uneasiness took a ever more drastic turn in the past month, when it was reported that the regime had incarcerated popular Saudi Sheikh Mohammed al Arifi, purportedly for opinions he had expressed on Twitter.

The Middle East Eye reports that rumours have swirled on Twitter in recent weeks about Arefe’s supposed arrest, with his family reportedly having told local media on 14 October he had been summoned by the public prosecutor and detained.

It was last Monday, however, when Twitter exploded after another prominent Aalim appeared to confirm the arrest.

Sheikh Salman al-Awda, who was previously incarcerated by the regime called for Arifi to be released using a hashtag that has since gone viral.

Several Arabic language news sites have reported Arifi was detained because of a tweet on 4 October in which he criticised a train linking the Hajj sites in Saudi Arabia as “the worst in the world”.

It is not the first time Arifi has drawn the ire of authorities and been detained. Arifi has been perpetually under the regime radar since making statements urging Saudis to join the Jihad in Syria against the Assad regime. He was also previously summoned to the Department of Security in Riyadh to explain his fundraising initiatives for the Syrian people. At that stage, following an interrogation of two hours, Arifi was forced to sign a paper promising to no longer collect donations for Syrian Muslims.

Human rights activists say the government is wary of his huge following(Arifi has almost ten million followers on Twitter, making his account 94th most popular in the world) and are keen to manage his activities from time to time.

“The real worry for Saudi authorities is if he were to begin advocating for electoral politics – as Salman al-Awda now does – that would be of real concern for them given his widespread appeal in the kingdom,” said Andrew Hammond, senior fellow for the European Council on Foreign Relations Middle East and North Africa programme to the Middle East Eye.

Recently Sheikh al Awda is reported to have told the New York Times that the Gulf governments were fighting Arab democracy because they feared it will come to Saudi Arabia. “If it continues on this path it will lose its own people and invite disaster,” he said.

Reports say Saudi Arabia has over 40 000 so called security detainees languishing in its dungeons. Many among them are Ulama, some having been held without trial for over a decade due to their outspoken views on the ruling regime in Saudi Arabia and the United States.

Dissenting Ulama are perceived to be most dangerous by the royals, due to the authority scholars hold in the Saudi society and the fact that the religious establishment is, by default, expected to serve as exponents of the regime.

In an article titled ‘How long will the Saudis escape the Spring?’, Fahad Ansari of Cage UK explains how the monarchy has established numerous complex patronage networks that include leading religious “scholars” who legitimise Al Saud’s family rule. These scholars have promoted the family as “defenders of Islam” through their efforts in constructing masjids worldwide, publishing copies of the Qur’an and hosting pilgrims at the Holy Sanctuaries. As a result, even when sections of the public criticize certain policies of Al Saud, these scholars invoke fatwas to deflect dissent.

With its campaign of vicious intimidation of Ulama, ideologically driven deportations and the propping up of dictatorships across the region, the Saudi royals may appear to have won the battle. But in the bigger scheme of events, most see a regime on an expressway to losing the war: An aging regime resorting to ever more despotic tactics to ward off its imminent downfall.

As Ansari observes, it seems the fear factor in the Kingdom is rapidly dissipating and with endorsement from Ulama scholars steadily spreading, the tide may begin to turn against the illegitimate rule of a single family.

“It may take years but the process has definitely started. As Saudi society accesses international opinion regarding the monarchy through social media, Al Saud will find the pillars of its rule eventually challenged that would lead to weakening and, finally its collapse. Until then, Muslims throughout the world must raise their voices to expose the crimes of the ruling family against the people in the Arabian Peninsula. The terrible harm being inflicted by the oppressive regime on innocent civilians demanding no more than their fundamental rights must be exposed and every effort made to consign it to the dustbin of history.”