Land and wealth giant of the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is one of the main players of the Arab world. The size of this country is so huge that you would be able to fit France and Germany in it, twice! Its oil exports are one of the greatest in the world giving it so much economic independence. It has the pilgrimage to Mecca each year, where millions of Muslims from all over the world participate. 

But, apart from knowing about the surface details of universally known facts about this country, what exactly is going on within The Prophet’s home?

Against its fame for being excessively strict with women’s laws, the country has progressed to allow its women to attain some simple human rights and even equal voting. They have been allowed driving licenses. It also has also granted the first ever artificial intelligence citizenship, a huge leap towards progress. It stands out for its severe punishments for crimes, including public beheadings, and its restriction on women originates from there, following Sunni Islam.

The present King, King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud came to power after his half-brother passed away, in January 2015. The country has seen quite a number of changes ever since. One of the same being his making his son, Mohammed bin Salman, first in line to the throne in June 2017 – giving him the power to control matters related to the government, like a de-facto ruler. It is under his liberal views that the ban on women driving was lifted off. 

Mohammed bin Salman is the face of the project “Vision 2030” which aims at finding ways in which Saudi Arabia can reach independence economically without having to rely on oil. It also aims to answer the question on whether the state-run oil company Aramco can be privatized or not. Lastly, it aims to find other sources of revenue and subsequently jobs for the people of the country.

However, he is not all sunshine and progress. A German newspaper, Die Zeit, once called him “extremely corrupt, greedy and arrogant”. These feelings of hostilities arose from his active role in fuelling the feuds between Iran and Saudi Arabia. These two countries have has bad blood between them for a considerable amount of time. In June 2017, Saudi Arabia had even led to a diplomatic crisis when it blocked air, land and sea routes by Arab countries so that Qatar would cut off its alleged connections with the terrorism and distance itself from Iran - a country which beliefs in the presence of Bashar al-Assad’s dictating Syria, and whom Saudi Arabia would be glad to see gone. 

Saudi Arabia still has a long way to go, especially to battle its problem of unemployment owing to only oil reserves being their primary source of income. A rich country on the surface does not guarantee rich people.