[Trumpinator]

Saudi Arabia opening a television system led to the takeover of the Kaaba mosque and the declaration that the apocalypse was near in 1979. They Sunnis declared this guy to be the Mahdi. I think there is a story of French mercenaries being hired paid a fortune to convert to Islam and leading the assault on the Mosque. The mercenary general later on became an African adventurer - even taking over a few African countries.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Mosque_seizure

This spooked the Saudis and they doubled down on Islamism.

[Fred Nerks]

thanks for the link:

...Saudi King Khaled however, did not react to the upheaval by cracking down on religious puritans in general, but by giving the ulama and religious conservatives more power over the next decade. He is thought to have believed that "the solution to the religious upheaval was simple -- more religion."[43] First, photographs of women in newspapers were banned, then women on television. Cinemas and music shops were shut down. School curriculum was changed to provide many more hours of religious studies, eliminating classes on subjects like non-Islamic history. Gender segregation was extended "to the humblest coffee shop". The religious police became more assertive...

They should have stopped after they beheaded the ringleaders.