Muslim World Collapsing: Saudi Arabia Shelves its Role

Dr. Abdul Ruff

Saudi Arabia is not really worried about the uprising in Mideast because the trend has not created any problem for the Saudi rulers. Kuwait, Dubai and UAE are also unaffected by the western liquor democracy craze taht rocked Egypt and in Libya. Is it because these Arabs and the US-UK secret agents hiding inside their embassies in these countries are not sure about democracy? Maybe Saudi and its close allies have been assured of a "no war" by CIA?

Saudi rulers like other Arab leaders busy in promoting their ill-gotten capitalist wealth and in prostrating before their US-UK masters for protecting the dynasty regimes as if God  has made them the sole beneficiaries of nation's developments, do not recognize the poverty and poor in their  country and never try to redistribute the resources to help the downtrodden and less privileged to cover up and attain some minimum economic capacity and human dignity. But hundreds of Saudi men in white robes performed a traditional sword dance at Riyadh airport as the king Abdullah's plane touched down. He disembarked and queues of people waited to personally greet him as the King returned from USA via Morocco after a period of convalescence at his New York home. Every Muslim ruler has got homes in western cities and accounts in major global towns even as the prices of essential items are skyrocketing thanks to antipathy from the regimes. The streets of Riyadh city have projected a holiday mood as it had already been decorated with welcome banners and national flags.

King Abdullah's health has been the subject of intense speculation, especially since the men tipped to succeed him are also elderly. His half-brother Crown Prince Sultan - who is in his eighties and has been in poor health - has been in charge in his absence. The 86-year-old left for New York on 22 November and had two serious operations in New York to repair spinal vertebrae and a herniated disc. The Saudi king flew to Morocco on 22 January and had been recuperating there since. Saudi television reported that Bahrain's King Hamad was also flying into Riyadh on Wednesday. The monarch's imminent return was welcomed by the Saudi media too saying that the king is the only pillar of stability in the region and heis the assurance of orderly progress in the Arab world as a whole.

My friend King Abdullah has been away from the country for three months, during which time mass protests have changed the political landscape of the Middle East. By that time, Tunisia's president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali had become the first leader in the region to be ousted after weeks of mass protests - and he had fled to Saudi Arabia. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak was the next to go. There have been few demonstrations in Saudi Arabia too, but fully controllable. Abdullah had been posted with all new developments in the region as "breaking news" by the intelligence wings. The small state Bahrain on Saudi Arabia's eastern border has seen more than a week of protests and the Bahraini authorities were criticized internationally for their initial crackdown on demonstrators. The West would not destabilize Saudi kingdom for the time being  for tactical reasons as they need Arab support for murdering Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The Al Saud dynasty holds a monopoly of power; political parties are banned and the opposition is organized from abroad; militant Islamists have launched several deadly attacks. Saudi Arabia is the world's dominant oil producer and owner of the largest hydrocarbon reserves; rapidly growing unemployment is a major challenge. One of the most devout and insular countries in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has emerged from being an underdeveloped desert kingdom to become one of the wealthiest nations in the region thanks to vast oil resources. But its rulers face the delicate task of responding to pressure for reform while combating a growing problem of extremist violence.

Any regime devoid of popular concerns and active people programs is not entitled to rule at all. Saudi rulers cannot claim any exemption from this rule just by citing their historic  legacy. Named after the ruling Al Saud family, which came to power in the 18th century, the country includes the Hijaz region - the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and the cradle of Islam. This fact, combined with the Al Sauds' espousal of a strict interpretation of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, has led it to develop a strongly religious self-identity. Saudi Arabia was established in 1932 by King Abd-al-Aziz - known as the Lion of Najd - who took over Hijaz from the Hashemite family and united the country under his family's rule. Since his death in 1953, he has been succeeded by various sons.

Arab rulers love capitalism and all its negative  qualities, including bribery and liquor. As the global capitalism, colonialism and imperialism control the world, the Al Saud dynasty's monopoly of power meant that during the 20th century successive kings were able to concentrate on modernization and on developing the country's role as a regional power. It has always been in the ruling family's interests to preserve stability in the region and to clamp down on extremist elements. To this end, it supported NATO aggressions in Kuwait and Iraq and also welcomed the stationing of US troops in the country after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. But the leadership's refusal to tolerate any kind of opposition may have encouraged West to push through their own agendas. The growth of dissident groups such as CIA agent Osama Bin Laden's al-Qaeda said to have benefited from popular resentment against the role of the US in the Middle East.

Arab world forgot about Islamic life and law in favor of capitalism and voluntarily played into the dirty hands of anti-Islamic western forces for protecting their private wealth abroad. . After the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington of 11 September 2001 - carried out mainly by subversive elements of the Cold war period in USA and Israel but the blame had been placed on Saudi nationals in order to weaken the capitalist Arab world and swindle their resources. The Saudi authorities were further torn between their natural instincts to step up internal security and pressure to allow a greater degree of democracy to woo and bribe the western agents. In 2003 suicide bombers suspected of having links with al-Qaeda killed 35 people - including a number of foreigners - in the capital Riyadh. Some Saudis referred to the attacks as their own 9/11. Since then, demands for political reform have increased, as has the frequency of militant attacks, some of them targeted at foreign workers. The security forces have made thousands of arrests.

For all anti-Islamic nations democracy means elections and Islam means anti-democracy. They find fault with energy rich Arab world because they have shortage of democracy as per GST standards in occupied Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. . Saudi regime does seem to believe in bogus polls being conducted across the weld  by the power of money, media and muscle and controls every thing in its own ways, limiting the scope for private  exploitation. Municipal elections in 2005 were a first, limited exercise in poll democracy. But political parties are banned - the opposition is organized from outside the country - and activists who publicly broach the subject of reform risk being jailed. The West always insists the Saudi rulers imbibed western culture and virtues for more progress and prosperity, more freedom and more corruption and crime.

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Saudi Arabia is rich nation that can take care of every single Muslim in the country. The kingdom is one of the main players in the Arab and Muslim worlds; its stature is built on its geographic size, its prestige as the custodian of the birthplace of Islam and status as major oil producer. Saudi Arabia sits on more than 25% of the world's known oil reserves. It is capable of producing more than 10 million barrels per day; that figure is set to rise.

Possibly as a precautionary measure not to ignite demonstrations in the country, Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah has,  on his arrival, quickly announced increased benefits for his citizens, as he returned from USA after months abroad getting medical treatment. There will be extra funds for housing, studying abroad and social security, according to state television. Arabs do not believe in what they say they believe and what they preach and they make concessions only when they are freighted by the western masters through domestic agents. Why did  not Abdullah do the same before  his departure for operations in US in NY where the WTC was damaged  by the terror attack in 2001?

As the sole custodian of Two Holy Mosques, Saudi Arabia must always work toward uplifting the might of Muslims not only in the Saudi Kingdom and Arab world, but entire world. It is not enough the Arab finance the building of mosques in other countries, but they must also recognize pathetic conditions of poor Muslims in both Muslim and non-Muslim nations. The situation is extremely pathetic in  anti-Islamic nations you can name.

However, unfortunately, the Saudi led Arab world is engaged in anti-Islamic campaigns by targeting Iran as part of Euro-US-Israeli gang, gives an impression of joint anti-Islamic operations even by Islamic nations as well. This almost looks like a Hollywood movie portraying Muslims as terrorists or the top leader or chief police officer in the finale emerging out as the top criminal regulating all criminal and underworld operations. Yes, Muslims can be best assistants to top criminals. Courting the enemy of Islam for selfish purposes and betraying the real cause of Islam has earned the Arab world the name of traitors of Islam. Several Muslim nations like Pakistan, Iraq and Afghanistan, being the US puppet regimes, just follow the pro-west Arab dirty foot steps, even as blood continues to flow in Islamic world, both occupied the NATO terror syndicate and the disquiet Arab nations where the West has engineered upheavals.

Saudi Arabia, Dubai and allies are directly responsible for all deformations that have crept into Islamic life and faith over years. It is not enough Abdullah has made a few periphery concessions to people; he has to take up the issue of discrepancies and inequalities in Saudi Arabia, Arab nations and Islamic world at large and undertake steps in consultation with other leaders to remedy the situation so that true Islam is revived and it gets back its respectability as the true religion with a message.  A high power commission needs to be put in place to review the Islamic law that must be implemented in all Muslim nations with a positive outlook in a gradual manner.

Obviously, Saudi Arabia and other Arab nations would help the common people only if there is struggle, but any struggle without Islamic concerns and urge for being true Muslims to live according to Sarii'a is waste. Instead of showing the right path of Islam to the Arabs and the rest of the Muslim nations the Saudi Arabia and its close Sunni allies have made a mockery of Islam. How long can the Arabs and other Muslims misrule by playing with divisions in Islam?