SAUDI ARABIA, September 30, 2018 (World Tribune): Yoga studios are springing up in Saudi Arabia amid Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s call for an “open, moderate Islam.” Until recently, yoga was not officially permitted in Saudi Arabia as it was perceived to be a Hindu spiritual practice. Just a year ago, yoga practitioners in the kingdom could have been hit with criminal charges. Nouf Marwaai, head of the Arab Yoga Foundation, is leading the effort dispel the notion that yoga is incompatible with Islam. The foundation has trained hundreds of yoga instructors in the kingdom.
Crown Prince Mohammed appears to be upending the puritanical vision long associated with a fundamentalist strain of Wahhabi Islam. The kingdom in recent months has hosted officials linked to the Vatican and the prince also met a group of Roman Catholic and Jewish leaders in New York earlier this year, in a rare interfaith gesture.