HOW TO OVERTURN God's law? Or, rather, how to change what you had previously said was God's law? This is the question facing Muhammad bin Salman as he loosens social restrictions. His conclusion? Blame it all on Iran. The crown prince says his country took a wrong turn in 1979. That was the year when Shia Islamists overthrew the Shah of Iran, Sunni extremists opposed to the Saudi monarchy stormed the Grand Mosque in Mecca and the Soviet army marched into Afghanistan.
Before that, so the story goes, Saudis could enjoy cinemas and concerts. Even in the time of Abdel Aziz Al Saud, the founder of the modern Saudi state, women worked in the fields and rode camels alone. But after 1979 Saudi kings, who call themselves custodians of the two holy mosques, resolved to outdo their foes, both Shia and Sunni, in Islamic piety.
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