[OneIndia] In a recent survey, it has been found that today 41% of 3,400 young Arabs, aged 18 to 24, in 17 Arab countries, think religion is the most important element of their identity.
Do you think a new approach to politics, governance and diplomacy can have effects on people's attitude towards their religion?
Observers say it is not the case, at least, with the Arab world. In the recent years, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman
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...Crown Prince and modernizer of Saudi Arabia as of 2016. The Turks hate him, so he must be all right, despite the occasional brutal murder of Qatar-owned journalists. As crown prince, Moe has quietly jettisoned his country's policy of trying to impose its religion on the rest of the world...
in Saudi Arabia
 ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Fifteen of the nineteen WTC hijackers were Saudis, and most major jihadi commanders were Saudis, to include Osama bin Laden. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman quietly folded that tent in 2016, doing terrible things to the guys running it, and has since been dragging the kingdom into the current century...
has introduced many social reforms. His reforms have restricted the authority of the inquisitors religious police, lifted the ban on women's driving, enhanced women's rights, loosened gender segregation, and introduced western-style entertainment in the kingdom.
President Mohammed bin Zayed in the United Arab Emirates has decriminalized sexual relations out of marriage, alcohol consumption and lifted the prohibition on living relationships in the country.
Bahrain today has amazing architecture and luxury residential areas, catering to companies and expats from all over the world. The entrepreneurial spirit is being dominant among younger generations in the country.
In Morocco, King Mohammed VI announced a series of reforms in June 2011. This has transformed the country into a constitutional monarchy. In Sudan, the rule of Omar al-Bashir
...Former President-for-Life of Sudan He came to power in 1989 when he, as a brigadier in the Sudanese army, led a group of officers in a bloodless military coup that ousted the government of Prime Minister Sadiq al-Mahdi and eventually appointed himself head cheese. He fell out with his Islamic mentor, Hasan al-Turabi, tried to impose shariah on the Christian and animist south, resulting in its secessesion, and attempted to Arabize Darfur by unleashing the barbaric Janjaweed on it. Sudan's potential prosperity has been pissed away in warfare that has left as many as 400,000 people dead and 2.5 million displaced. Hee was overthrown by popular consent in 2019. Omar has been indicted for genocide by the International Criminal Court but nothing is expected to come of it...
, wanted by an international war crimes tribunal for alleged atrocities in Darfur, ended in April 2019. It was brought about by thousands of ordinary Sudanese from all walks of life who erupted into the streets for four months to demand an end to his rule.
Today the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan have diplomatic relations with Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East. They see in their new relationships with the Jewish state tremendous opportunities for their peoples' multi-faceted development. Now Saudi Arabia, too, desires to establish diplomatic ties with Israel. It is said to have a plan to offer Israel recognition and diplomatic relations in exchange for creating a Paleostinian state in territories occupied by Israel during the 1967 war.
All this has, however, made little change in the attitude of young Arabs towards religion. In a recent survey, it has been found that today 41 per cent of 3,400 young Arabs, aged 18 to 24, in 17 Arab countries, think religion is the most important element of their identity. Over 56 per cent of them think their country's legal system should be based on Sharia (Islamic law). Seventy per cent of them are concerned over the loss of their traditional values and culture. Sixty-five per cent say preserving their religious and cultural identity is more important than creating a globalized society.
Jagdish N. Singh is a senior journalist based in New Delhi. He is also Senior Distinguished Fellow at the Gatestone Institute, New York. 
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