The House of Saud, fundamentalists and hijackers of peaceful religion.

Submitted by P R Goodfellow (United Kingdom), Feb 27, 2008 at 08:11

There is much ignorance about the House of Saud, the ruling monarchic family in Saudi Arabia. There is a notion that the House of Saud is somehow a fair minded monarchy that resists islamo-fascism.

The truth is that Ibn Saud, the founder of the monarchy in Saudi Arabia did so under the umbrella of Wahabism in the late 19th century. Aldul Wahab was a 'Salafi' Muslim preacher who believed and preached a return to the classical roots of Islam. This was known as purification and getting rid of the influence of cultural history that had shaped Islam and made it more moderate in its 14 hundred year history. The absolute monarchy created by the House of Saud preaches Wahabism and have funded organisations throughout the world that inspired a very traditional and jihadi brand of Islam.

Since the Iranian revolution of 1979, the media had chosen to brand this type of Islam 'fundamentalism'. Many of the organisations funded by the House of Saud had taken on increasingly radical outlooks over the last twenty years and some even turned to terrorism. All that the House of Saud stands for is its perpetual domination of the lands of Saudi Arabia. It has benefitted from the oil wealth and has had to put down structures that would maintain the present power structure when oil runs out.

The treatment of women by the Saudi royal family is appaling. Hundreds of wives and concubines litter the vast palaces and when abroad the six star hotel suits become effective brothels with the highest priced escorts. The treat of immigrant worker within Saudi Arabia is appaling too. Thousand of poor workers from third world muslim countries are treated like slaves. Unions are not tolerated and the workers even have their passports confiscated. The concept of human rights had not even entered the minds of the royalists and any political dissent is ruthlessly put out and later blamed as another brand of Islamo-fascism.

The essentially tribal nature of Arabia, despite the modern urbanisation had remained put. So family loyalties, particularly within the royalist families would make an immediate change impossible. Islam sees all muslims as equals. Over the centuries leaders and movements from different geographical areas have used and interpreted Islam to suit their own political needs. The Taliban regime of Afganistan, the Iranian regime and the monarchic regimes of the Arab countires have all participated in the continuation of that ethos.

The West might see the House of Saud as its friend allowing it to share the oil wealth and keeping the insurgents at bay, however, they have little of the spirit of Islam in them, and there is little responsibility for the good of the people in their hearts of minds. This political and deeply nepotism based Islam is not what attracted thousands to the words and personality of prophet Muhammad. The essence of Islam is peaceful existence for the individual so that he or she can lead a peaceful life. The basic tenet is that if each individual achieves inner peace, so would the world.

The House of Saud with its corrupt ways is no more a true Muslim than Osama bin laden, the Madrid and London bombers of this century. They all have only one purpose in life, that is to create a social and political structure that would be lead and dominated by them or their own followers. Islam is used as a weapon as a cloak against the tide of secularisation and the masses are told to swallow it.

Unfortunately, there are millions in the East and the West who are either lured into the charisma of such movements in the guise of fake spirituality, financial or political gains. I have a dream. I have a dream that one day man and woman, Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Atheists and all the religions under the sun, would wake up from this servitude created by religious intollerance and pray in unison to each of their Gods for each other and for the benefit of humanity. That there would a realisation that black, white or brown, we all bleed the same way from bullets and shrapnel, and that the only way to achieve the true potential of mankind is to respect all creations and be in peace with each other. Strangely, looking at the early history of each religion, it seems that those are the basic aims of each of them.

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