RIYADH: King Abdullah's removal of two hardline clerics, amid a broader cabinet reshuffle, signals a drive to speed up the sometimes glacial pace of reform in Saudi Arabia and clip the wings of a powerful religious establishment.

In a striking break with Saudi tradition, a woman became deputy education minister in the changes announced on Saturday – the first big shake-up since the king took over in 2005.

Revisions to the 21-man Council of Religious Scholars shattered the monopoly of an austere Islamic school of thought identified with the kingdom's dominant Wahabi clerics, bringing in representatives from three more moderate Sunni schools – but none from the Shia minority.

“The objective is very clear: to reduce the influence of the religious establishment over the legal and educational systems,” said Mustafa Alani, at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Centre.

“It is to implement a reform vision that couldn't be implemented with the old guard, especially in the religious institutions,” he added. “We are witnessing a mini-revolution.”

King Abdullah's earlier innovations include setting up an allegiance council to decide the royal succession and launching an inter-faith dialogue with Christian and Jewish leaders.

But the religious elite, which helped the Al Saud family to found a kingdom with the Quran as its constitution in the 1930s, had held back efforts at judicial and educational reform – seen as vital to catch up with modernity and combat militancy.

The king, 84, has now replaced the chief of the intimidating and often abusive religious police, Sheikh Ibrahim Al Ghaith, with Abdul-Aziz bin Humain, who has promised greater tolerance.

Also dismissed was Sheikh Saleh Al Luhaidan, the head of the Supreme Court, who shocked many Saudis in September with a fatwa that upheld in principle executing satellite television executives for broadcasting “indecent” material.

“The judicial sector had begun to embarrass the government, especially in the outside world,” said Fahd Al Shaafi, a Saudi political analyst. “It was hard to deal with because religious doctrine and political legitimacy are so intertwined here.”

The UN Human Rights Council turned an unwelcome spotlight on Saudi Arabia in Geneva this month, with Western nations urging it to halt floggings and amputations, allow religious freedom and abolish a male guardianship system for women.

Alarm bells

“The quizzing of Saudis in Geneva has rung alarm bells with the establishment on the scale of problems they may confront when the new US administration takes a closer look at how it can deal with Saudi Arabia,” said a Western diplomat.

However, the timing of the king's move, midway between the Haj pilgrimage season in December and a three-month summer break for state institutions, seems more linked to Saudi rhythms than to the advent of US President Barack Obama.

Saudi reformists have hailed the changes, which promote some relatively young officials, as an overdue symbol of seriousness.

“The king's men have taken charge of reform. Many of them are the ones who wrote the blueprints for it in the last five years,” said Jamal Khashoggi, editor of Al Watan newspaper.

King Abdullah was stamping his imprint on education and the judiciary with changes that would shape his legacy, he said, dismissing the prospects of a backlash from hardline clerics.

“They have a sharp, alarming voice, but their strength is exaggerated. We should challenge them. They have no answer to modern-day problems – what matters to people is the economy.”

Saudi Arabia's veteran central bank governor was replaced, but the oil and finance ministers kept their jobs.

Among the kingdom's main challenges is how to provide jobs, housing and opportunities for an expanding young population inadequately served by the religiously inspired teaching system.

“What has been done so far in terms of building new universities does not solve the great inadequacies between the curricula and job market needs,” said the Western diplomat. “We still have to see a draft of the planned education reform.”While naming Noura Al Fayez a deputy education minister, the highest post ever held by a woman in Saudi Arabia, the king put the ministry in charge of his nephew and son-in-law, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah, previously deputy intelligence chief.

“He has no credentials in education, but maybe they need someone strong like him to deal with the religious establishment,” said Saudi political analyst Khaled Al Dakhil.

King Abdullah, who was effective ruler long before his ailing predecessor died in 2005, has in the past moved cautiously, despite his reputation as reform-minded.

While there are few constitutional limits on his power – an appointed shura council has only advisory functions – he must consider the wishes of the extended royal family and the clerical establishment, as well as public opinion.

“The king will introduce more reform gradually,” said Alani, the Dubai-based analyst. “He is now well-established. There is no opposition within the family and he has legitimacy with the people. Those who lost power had already lost credibility.”—Reuters