Saudi King: Spreading Shiism Won't Work

KUWAIT CITY -- Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah said in an interview published Saturday that attempts to convert Muslim Sunnis to the Shiite branch of Islam will not succeed, and that Sunnis would always make up the majority of the world Muslims.

Although Abdullah did not mention Iran by name, his comments _ rare for the Sunni monarch _ appeared aimed at easing Arab concerns over the Persian Shiite nation's growing influence in the Middle East.

Arab media have claimed that Iran seeks to spread Shiism among the region's predominantly Sunni Arab countries as a way of increasing Tehran's political power.

"We are following up on this matter and we are aware of the dimensions of spreading Shiism and where it has reached," Abdullah told the Kuwaiti Al-Siyassah daily.

"However, we believe that this process will not achieve its goal because the majority of Sunni Muslims will never change their faith," he added. Ultimately, "the majority of Muslims seem immune to any attempts by other sects to penetrate it (Sunnism) or diminish its historical power."

Abdullah does not frequently give interviews or speak of religious strife. His comments in Al-Siyassah, in response to a reporter's question, were the first on the issue of Sunnis converting to Shiism.

While there have been no specific examples of Iranians trying to convert Sunnis, Arabs fear such conversions would accompany Iran's growing powers.

Saudi Arabia, a U.S. ally and Arab political heavyweight, is a bastion of Sunni Islam and home to Islam's holiest shrines. Earlier this month, two senior Saudi clerics declared that Shiites were infidels and heretics, describing them as "the most vicious enemy of Muslims."

Arabs also fear that Iran, locked in a dispute with the international community over its defiance to pursue a nuclear program, is using Shiite populations in Iraq and Lebanon for political leverage.

Iran wields considerable influence with Iraq's Shiite politicians and militias, and the latest turmoil in Lebanon, which has pitted the government there against the pro-Iranian Hezbollah, has been seen by many as a sign of Iran's meddling.

"Iran is active in spreading Shiism even in the countries which don't have a Shiite minority ... to revive the dreams of the Safavid," wrote Osama Saraya, editor-in-chief of Egypt's leading pro-government newspaper, Al-Ahram.

He was referring to the Persian dynasty that ruled Iran from the late 1400s to the 1720s, and converted the country from the Sunni to Shiite Muslim sect.

"Iranian intentions are no longer hidden to anybody," Saraya said in his daily column on Friday. "It is not acceptable anymore to defend them or justify them."