Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the Power Struggle over ‘Muslimness’: Reification, Securitization, and Identification

Abstract

AbstractThis paper questions the apparent hostility between Iran and Saudi Arabia and highlights its discursive construction. It explores the centrality of ‘Muslimness’ in both countries’ discourses and how it both shapes and is shaped by their opposition. At the same time, it seeks to uncover how these discourses construct a specific regional and ‘Muslim’ dynamic. To do so, the paper draws on theories from both security and nationalism studies. The application of the theoretical framework was carried out over the 2010-2020 period through a discourse analysis of both primary and secondary sources. It is highlighted that Saudi Arabia resorts to a sectarian perspective, merging the ‘Muslim’ category with a ‘Sunni’ one, while Iran eludes the sectarian dimension and centers on the struggle against oppression and ‘arrogant powers.’ The paper concludes that, in the struggle over the definition of ‘Muslimness,’ both parties invest this label with different, but not opposing, attributes. While Saudi speeches express a closed and exclusive ‘identity’ defined by their understanding of religion and in direct opposition to Shias, Iranian speeches express an inclusive ‘identity’ based on ‘Muslimness,’ which is largely defined by the struggle against oppression.Key Words: IdentificationIranMuslimnessSaudi ArabiaSecuritization Disclosure StatementThe authors declare there is no Complete of Interest at this study.AcknowledgementsThe author would like to thank Elena Aoun, Thierry Balzacq and Christophe Wasinski for their comments and suggestions on previous versions of this article.Notes1 See Paul Vallely (Citation2014) The Vicious Schism between Sunni and Shia Has Been Poisoning Islam for 1,400 years - and it's Getting Worse, The Independent (February 19). 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Ahmed (Citation2010) The Paradoxes of Ahmadiyya Identity: Legal Appropriation of Muslim-ness and the Construction of Ahmadiyya Difference, in Navida Khan (ed) Beyond Crisis: Re-evaluating Pakistan (Abingdon: Routledge), pp. 273–314; Mohamed Sulaiman (Citation2020) Muslimness as a Political Formation: An Inquiry into Muslim Presence, Social Identities, 26(1), pp. 31–7.4 Ibid.5 Ibid.6 Shahram Chubin & Charles Tripp (Citation2004) Iran–Saudi Arabia Relations and Regional Order (Abingdon: Routledge); Simon Mabon (Citation2015) Saudi Arabia and Iran: Power and Rivalry in the Middle East (London: I.B. Tauris); Fatiha Dazi-Héni (Citation2016) L’Arabie saoudite dans le contexte du retour en grâce de l’Iran [Saudi Arabia in the context of Iran’s return to favor], Confluences Méditérranée, 97(2), pp. 53–62; Banafsheh Keynoush (Citation2016) Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends or Foes? 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