Shortly after Prince Mohammed bin Salman rose to power, the top cleric in Saudi Arabia was asked what he thought about the kingdom’s plan to lift the ban on public entertainment.
“We know that music concerts and cinema are harmful and corrupting,” the grand mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Alsheikh, said in one of his regular live call-in shows in 2017, warning that such forms of entertainment were “promiscuous” and would damage Muslim culture and values.
But Prince Mohammed paid little heed, lifting the restrictions soon after, sidelining the traditionalist cleric — who died last week — and vowing to destroy “extremist ideas”. “We want to live a normal life, a life that translates our tolerant religion and our good values and norms,” he said at the time.