[1][2][3] The movement's core doctrines were shaped by the fundamentalist tenets of Qutbism; such as theological denunciations of democracy and the belief that contemporary governments of the Muslim World have apostatised.
[5] The Sahwa-inspired ulema have been a key influence in major government decisions, for example the imposition of the oil embargo in 1973 and the invitation to foreign troops to Saudi Arabia in 1990.
[8] The movement came to an end after the appointment of Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman in 2017 who declared a return to “moderate Islam”,[9][10] but the Sahwa's ideas and activists, though persecuted,[11] continue to be popular.
The Sahwa movement's calls to forcibly expel American troops from the Islamic World would inspire numerous pan-Islamist militant networks; most noticeably Al-Qaeda.
Sahwa leaders demand a bigger role for clergy in governing, curbs on the royal family's privileges, greater transparency for public funds, and a more Islamically conservative society as a defense against Western cultural influences.