According to Reuters, Saudi Arabia celebrated for the first time “the founding day”, the day on which Mohamed bin Saud, founder of the Saudi state took over the Emirate of Diriyah in 1727; 300 years ago.
Christine Diwan, a senior researcher at the Institute for Arab Gulf States Studies in Washington, said “By declaring February 22 as the date of the kingdom's founding, Mohammed bin Abdul Wahhab was erased from Saudi history. With this new Saudi nationalism, people are directly linked to the ruling family, and the role of the religion in establishing the state was played down.”
Observers believe that the royal declaration on February 22 of each year is a dangerous development that paves the way for the establishment of serious laws and legislation.
It is worth noting that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia celebrates the National Day on September 23 of each year, with a royal decree issued by the founding King Abdulaziz bin Saud in 1932, in which he decided to change the name of the state from the Kingdom of Hejaz, Najd and its annexes to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
According to observers, this new decision bears serious implications, not only to the history of the Kingdom, but also to its future. Over four days, Saudi Arabia has witnessed a number of decisions showing that it is a prelude to a new ideologization of the kingdom, in which it disavows the history of its ancestors.
In 2012, King Salman stated that “the historical and intellectual foundations of the Saudi state were based on an agreement between Mohamed bin Abdul Wahhab and Mohamed bin Saud, which is the launch of the founding of the first Saudi state.
In 2018, in his interview with Bloomberg, MBS confirmed that the year 1744 was the date of the founding of the Saudi state. This date was set to remove any links to Mohamed Abdul Wahhab and any Islamic roots. It also aims at starting the Westernisation project, including changing educational curricula, arresting scholars and preachers, spreading corruption, holding parties, and exchanging Arab and Islamic values and morals with foreign ones, and most importantly, it will pave the way for the establishment of new laws and legislations, allowing alcohol and couples living together without marriage, or normalizing with Israel.
