There has been widespread support for the incisive statement from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah, in which he has sought to restore calm and bring peace and stability to Egypt.
The king rightly called on all Arabs, not just the Egyptians themselves, to be united in their resistance to those who are seeking to undermine the most populous country in the region.
In this cause, he pledged the support of the Kingdom, its people and government for our brothers in Egypt, in their stand against “terrorism, deviation and sedition.”
In his address, delivered on Saudi television, King Abdullah reached out to all decent people in his appeal for peace.
In no uncertain terms, King Abdullah denounced the evils of terrorism and the wicked violence that it has brought about in Egypt. He made no secret of his own deep concerns and the way that he and the Saudi people had been following closely, the terrible developments in “our brotherly nation of Egypt.”
It was clear that he believed that the torment felt by all decent Arabs and Muslims, at the agony of the people of Egypt, was matched only by the joy with which the terrorists and men of violence will have greeted the terrible events of the past few days.
What had happened, he said, was deeply painful to all who wished to see stability and unity prevailing in Egypt. Those who had chosen to interfere in Egypt's affairs needed to understand that they were stoking the fires of sedition. Even if they claimed that they were in fact fighting terrorism, the reality of their actions was that they were actually aiding and abetting this great evil of our modern times.
King Abdullah said that he only hoped that sooner, rather than later, they would return to their senses and abandon their wicked path.
He stressed the Islamic and Arab character of Egypt, where some of the most eminent Islamic scholars in history have lived and worked.
He warned that “somebody's utterances” could not change this historic reality. Yet the king said that he was convinced that Egypt has the strength and the potential to return to a safe shore. When that day came, the country's enemies, currently ranged against it would realize how wrong they had been.
He said that he and the rest of the Kingdom fully backed the considerable efforts of Egypt's interim government and its armed forces, to contain and defuse an extremely difficult and challenging situation. But most of all, he said, his thoughts, and the thoughts of all Saudis, were with the Egyptian people at their time of great trial.
Editorial: Interference in Egypt stokes fires of sedition
