BURAYDAH, Saudi Arabia — The sermon poured from the mosque in this sleepy oasis of farms and factories, carrying over the rooftops and palm trees a plea for brotherhood -- and an exhortation to help the ruling family restore the peace.
"Destruction will fall upon this nation if the faithful kill the faithful for no reason," the imam intoned from the Al Rajkhi mosque. "We must all help uphold security for this great country. Don't let rivers of blood flow on the holy ground in the land of the prophet."
In a town famous for conservative Islam, fiery political preaching and jihad fervor, the sermon was a sign of dangerous times -- and a threatened theocracy.
The rulers of the House of Saud don't like to say so, but Saudi Arabia is at war with itself. Two attacks have slaughtered scores of people in the capital, Riyadh, and a handful of plots to strike other Saudi towns, including the sacred city of Mecca, have been narrowly foiled in recent months.
The Nov. 8 suicide bombing that killed 20 people in Riyadh was a watershed for this rattled kingdom not only because it appeared to target Arabs and Muslims but because it destroyed any illusion that the menace is under control. Saudis and foreign diplomats now talk about fighting "ghosts."
"People are confused. Until now they were able to categorize what this is about and put it into a box. They can't do that anymore," a Western official here said. "I think -- I hope -- what we've been saying to them is starting to come home: There really has been a permissive environment for people like this to operate."
On the dusty, marble steps of the Buraydah mosque, a young man named Abdellah undercut the sermon. "We are governed by religion, nothing else is governing us. Even those in power who think they can govern us, they cannot," the 21-year-old theology student said.
Stroking his wispy beard, Abdellah spoke about why he might "pack the car with explosives."
"They say there's freedom of speech -- as long as it doesn't shake the throne," he said. "I want the West to understand that all Muslims have a bond with those who have done this ugly act. We won't betray them or throw them to the wolves."
Some Saudis say they were too slow to recognize extremism fermenting among the people. No more. Radicals will meet the "rifle and sword," the interior minister pledged after the deadly strike.
