From CDHR
September 11, 2007
Sending the Wrong Message
By Ali Alyami
Saudi Arabia plays a significant role in the lives of the 1.2 billion Muslims throughout the world. The country is the birthplace of Islam, the home to its two holiest shrines in Mecca and Medina and the source of incredible wealth due to its oil reserves. Consequently, most Muslims look to Saudi Arabia for religious guidance, political weight and financial aid. These realities put the Saudi government in an exceedingly powerful position, which it could use constructively to mitigate tension, friction and misunderstanding between Muslims and non-Muslims.
Until now, Saudi government policies and practices have not done much to ease religious animosity toward non-Muslims. On the contrary, the Saudi government’s paid religious clerics and institutions keep inciting millions of oppressed Muslims against non-Muslims. The Saudi religious fatwas that encourage Muslims to fight infidels in Iraq and Afghanistan have an impact that reaches far beyond these two countries. When King Abdullah announced that Iraq was under “illegal occupation,” in March of 2007 at an Arab summit conference in Saudi Arabia, many young Saudi males interpreted the statement to mean “go fight and kill infidel occupiers.” When the Saudi airlines announced on its website that non-Muslims are forbidden to carry their religious items onboard their airplanes, Muslims in general, but especially extremists were given credence to their belief that non-Muslims are indeed inferior, and that their lives are expendable.
It should not matter if someone carries his or her religious book, cross, Star of David, pound of pork or religious text on the Saudi airlines. No one stops Saudis from carrying their Qurán, prayer rugs and other religious materials on other airlines. The Saudi government and its institutions should start teaching its people that in the age of globalization, economic interdependence, and tense relations between Muslims and non-Muslims, changing their condescending treatment of non-Muslims will be in their best interest. If they do not act quickly, the Saudi people will find themselves isolated by the international community. As a visionary and courageous Saudi reporter said recently, “When human rights organizations criticize us, we get offended and immediately go on the defensive. What we should do is listen to what they are saying and accept that something may be wrong and that we need to solve the problem instead of denying its existence.” The Saudis should pay less attention to the messenger and more to the message.