The Saudi-ruled kingdom is heading for turbulent times. It faces challenges on both external and internal fronts. No, there is no imminent threat of a military invasion from abroad. It is the invasion of ideas that is scaring the living daylights out of members of the House of Saud.
Although not given much publicity in the Western media, Saudi Arabia has been brutally suppressing political dissidents. The monarchy does not allow any form of criticism and has instituted harsh measures to silence any critical voices. As a result of this many human rights activists, bloggers, reformists, academics and religious leaders have been detained by Saudi security forces.
His majesty, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, aka Khadim al-Haramayn (Servant of the Two Holy Places but his sycophants insist on calling him “Custodian”) is not well. In fact, so unwell that he had to be taken in wheelchair to a fully equipped luxury-fitted 747 Jumbo Jet before being flown to the US on November 22.
As Crescent was about to go to press, WikiLeaks released some 250,000 secret cables between US diplomats and the State Department up to the year 2009. Among them was one dealing with a plea to Washington from Saudi king Abdullah, currently undergoing medical treatment in the US, to attack Iran.
The city of Istanbul is among the world’s most popular destinations among Muslims, largely because of the legacy of the Ottoman period and the numerous mosques and other monuments that survive there, through which Muslims can relate to a golden period of Islamic culture.
Notwithstanding the Christian Arabians, the presence of Islam is what rendered the Arab-Israeli a truly horrifying nightmare to the Zionist mind...
If it were another government it would have caved in by now, but the heavenward Islamic government in the world has survived. The Islamic Republic of Iran, whatever one’s view of it, has weathered political pandemonium, economic earthquakes, and media twisters the likes of which we have not witnessed. This is a government and leadership with a people and population extending beyond its geographical frontiers.
There has always been something rotten about the manner in which the House of Saud conducts its affairs. Deeply secretive, its palace intrigues often seep into the public domain because there are so many competing interests vying for power and influence.
முஸ்லிம்கள் இன்று ஏறத்தாழ எல்லா முனைகளிலும் தாக்குதலுக்கு ஆளாகிவருகின்றனர் —இராணுவம், கலாச்சாரம் மற்றும் இடைப்பட்ட சகல முனைகளிலும் தாக்கப்படுகின்றனர். ஈராக், ஆஃப்கானிஸ்தான், பாலஸ்தீன், செச்சன்யா போன்ற நாடுகளில் அந்நியப் படைகளால் அவர்கள் ஆயிரக்கணக்கில் பலிகொடுக்கப்படுவது மட்டுமின்றி, முஸ்லிம் நாடுகள் பலவற்றின் சொந்த இராணுவங்களே கூட முஸ்லிம்களைத் தாக்கி வருகின்றன —எடுத்துக் காட்டு: பாகிஸ்தான், எகிப்து, அல்ஜீரியா, துனீஷியா, மொராக்கோ. இந்த இராணுவத் தாக்குதல்கள் போதாதென்று மேற்குலகின் கலாச்சாரத் தாக்குதல்கள் வேறு. எனினும், சவூதிகள் புனித மக்கா-மதீனா நகரங்களில் —முஸ்லிம்கள் இவையிரண்டையும் சேர்த்து ஹரமைன் என்றழைக்கும் அந்நகரங்களில்— எடுக்கும் நடவடிக்கையோடு ஒப்பிடும்போது, மேற்கண்ட கொடூரமான யதார்த்தம் கூட முக்கியத்துவமற்றதாகத் தெரிகிறது. பேராசையும் வஹாபிஸ ஆர்வ வெறியும் நச்சுக்கலவையாக சேர்ந்துகொண்டு இஸ்லாமிய நினைவுச் சின்னங்களின் அழிப்புக்கு வழிவகுத்துள்ளது. இவை, துவக்ககால இஸ்லாத்தின் செழிப்பான வரலாற்றுப் பாரம்பரியத்தை இன்னும் சில வருடங்களில் நிரந்தரமாகத் துடைத்தழித்துவிடும் எனத் தெரிகிறது.
The United States of America, the sole superpower in the world, or the so-called “hyper-power”, the one with the most advanced armed forces, with satellites in the air and spies everywhere, is getting its nose bloodied in Afghanistan and suffering military defeat in Iraq. And who is inflicting these humiliations? Mujahideen armed with little more than iron determination to expel the occupiers from their homelands.
While Muslims everywhere are concerned with the attacks on Islam and Muslims by our external enemies, particularly the US and its allies, far less attention is paid to the fact that Islamic history and culture are under attack from those who claim to be their guardians. ZAFAR BANGASH, the Director of the Institute of Contemporary Islamic Thought (ICIT), discusses the Saudi authorities’ destruction of historical sites in the Hijaz.
1Egyptian politicians and intellectuals often claim that other Arabs borrow their ideas or attitudes from Egypt. It would not, therefore, be surprising if they claim that the Saudi rulers are copying president Husni Mubarak in their recent overtures to France, in an apparent attempt to distance themselves from the US, which has become very unpopular in the Muslim world.
When Saudi king Fahd died on August 1, the kingdom made a fine show of an orderly succession. Nonetheless, his successor, Abdullah, faces enormous challenges and uncertainties. NASR SALEM reports.
The Saudis' subservience to the US, and the fact that they exploit their position as rulers of the Holy Lands of Islam, is well established...
The Saudi ‘royal’ family rarely commits the error of publicly expressing anxiety or doubt about the durability of the House of Saud, or of openly criticising its US protectors’ backing for Israel.
Any Muslim considers Hajj to be a journey in repentance and submission, and hopes to return home cleansed of all sins, like a new-born baby. Hajj is an arduous undertaking beginning with the hijra (migration) of the Muslim from his or her place of abode to Makkah in preparation for the performance of various rites.
There was a time, not long ago, when Aal-e Saud were at the forefront of the West’s drive to subvert Islam and the Muslim Ummah. During the 1970s, the Saudi monarchs distributed petro-dollars to mosques and Islamic centres all over the world, usually through international front-organizations...
This book challenges the legitimacy of the Saudi monarchy as well as attempts to draw attention to the unjust activities of the regime...
Let us first get a simple point out of the way: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was declared in 1932. The Al-e Saud’s rise to power did not begin until their alliance with the British in the first world war.
Hajj reflects the state of the Ummah at any particular time in history. If Hajj is performed in a mechanical way by the vast majority of Muslims, it is because its true meaning and import have been deliberately obfuscated from them. Hajj, like all other aspects of Islam, has been largely shorn of its true meaning.
