SAUDI ARABIA and Islam

The government of Saudi Arabia is caught between fundamentalist Islam and the US. It has clamped down on anti-US mosques, as this Reuters report (17/4/03) tells us: "Saudi Arabia, seeking to control anti-US sentiment, has dismissed several mosque preachers and asked the rest not to discuss politics during sermons. The Saudi-owned Asharq al-Awsat daily on Wednesday quoted Islamic affairs minister Sheikh Saleh bin Abdul-Aziz al-Sheikh as saying some clerics had stepped down voluntarily while others were asked to leave their posts under a review of the role of mosques in the Gulf state, the birthplace of Islam. "Preachers and clerics in Saudi Arabia should consult senior scholars about what subjects are to be discussed in their sermons. Sermons are not for personal endeavors," he said. The conservative kingdom is trying to control growing anti-US sentiment over the war in Iraq, US support for Israel, and what many perceive as a smear campaign against their country and Islam following the September 11 terrorist attacks on the United States. Fifteen of the 19 suicide hijackers that crashed airliners into US landmarks were Saudi nationals. Saudi clerics have mentioned the US-led war in Iraq but authorities have made sure that there have been no calls for jihad (holy war) at main mosques. Calls for jihad against invading forces in Iraq have emerged in other Arab states. Before the Iraq war, an audiotape purportedly made by Osama bin Laden exhorted Muslims to fight US forces. Saudi officials have repeatedly asked clerics to tone down their sermons and educators to steer Saudis away from militancy. In February the kingdom's top religious scholars issued an edict forbidding physical attacks on non- Muslims. The kingdom has come under Western pressure to reform its education system, seen by critics as a breeding ground for Islamic militancy. Saudi Arabia denies the accusations".

Ronald Hilton - 4/18/03