Indeed, since taking control of Mecca, the Saudi government has used the city and the hajj as centerpieces in its efforts to place the kingdom at the center of the Muslim world and spread Wahhabi Islam. As soon as the Saudi royal family seized the city, the new rulers destroyed the Shia and Sufi shrines that might have undermined their sought-after monopoly over the ritual aspects of the pilgrimage.
事实上，控制麦加后，沙特政府利用这座城市和朝觐之旅力求使沙特王国成为穆斯林世界的核心并推广瓦哈比教。沙特王室控制这座城市后，新任统治者摧毁了可能威胁其对朝圣仪式垄断地位的什叶派和苏菲派圣地。