between the mid-1970s and 2002 saudi arabia expended over $70 billion in "overseas development aid". however, there is evidence that the vast majority was, in fact, spent on propagating and extending the influence of wahhabism at the expense of other forms of islam. there has been an intense debate over whether saudi aid and wahhabism has fomented extremism in recipient countries. the two main allegations are that, by its nature, wahhabism encourages intolerance and promotes terrorism. counting only the non-muslim-majority countries, saudi arabia has paid for the construction of 1359 mosques, 210 islamic centres, 202 colleges and 2000 schools.