Gulf | Saudi Arabia
Islamists call on Saudi leaders to act against 'dangerous' liberal ideology
List of demands includes curbs on media campaigns 'which promote vice and evil'.
- By Mariam Al Hakeem, Correspondent
- Published: 23:49 September 8, 2008
Riyadh: A number of Saudi Islamists have appealed to the Grand Mufti Shaikh Abdul Aziz Al Shaikh to counter what they refer to as the "Westernisation phenomenon in Saudi society".
The appeal was made in a memorandum presented to the Grand Mufti by the Islamists who gathered in front of his house.
In their memorandum, they expressed their dissatisfaction with the steps taken to curb the phenomenon, which they claim contradicts Islamic teachings.
Speaking to Gulf News, Saudi writers and thinkers said their call comes after moves of some Saudi liberals to push society in a 'dangerous' direction.
The Grand Mufti welcomed the group of Islamists and listened to their demands. He promised to look carefully at their demands, included in the petition, and to forward them to King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz as requested by them. However, he advised them to be rational in dealing with such controversial issues.
Included in the memorandum is a list of demands. Among these, they request a halt to media campaigns that "promote vice and evil." They also asked the government to not accept visiting female delegations. Finally, they asked that the government not yield to the liberalising pressure from influential people in the government.
Meanwhile, Saudi liberals told Gulf News that the movement of the Islamists against them would not force them to give up their attempts to make the Saudi people accept the views of others.
No movement
The prominent Saudi thinker Turkiya Al Hamad denied the existence of an organised liberal movement within Saudi society.
"There is no true liberal tide in Saudi Arabia, but there are a few people who hold liberal ideology," he said. "But the problem is that some Islamists in Saudi society believe that anybody who does not belong to them falls under the umbrella of liberal ideology."
Muneef Al Qah'tani, a Saudi academic, said that the step taken by the Islamists will prompt the liberals in Saudi Arabia to be more active.
Saudi poet Abdullah Al Shamri stressed that the so-called liberals in Saudi Arabia consider themselves as Muslims in all respects.
"The Saudi society knows that liberals in Saudi Arabia are Muslims who perform their religious rituals and who do not act against Islamic teachings as some Islamists claim," he said.
"Liberalism in Saudi Arabia is an enlightenment movement aimed at correcting the wrong ideas in the society," he added.
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