RIYADH, 28 August — The ongoing media onslaught on Islam and charitable organizations and multitrillion dollar lawsuits against Saudi citizens and institutions have inspired the launch of a legal society for the defense of Islam and Islamic causes.
The society has been formed by a group of Saudi lawyers and businessmen who will pool their resources to counter the onslaught. The smear campaign has also driven the Ibn Baz Foundation, named after the former grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, to take up an ambitious project for the production of a one-hour documentary in English and French for release in 10 countries.
At another level, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs has set up an Islamic studies and research center to counter the malicious attacks on Islam. Websites on Islam have also been set up by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth and Muslim World League as part of a concerted move in the same direction.
The legal society, founded by Saudi lawyer Dr. Saleh Bakr Al-Tayar, founder of the newspaper Al-Watan, would respond to authorities that assail Islamic states and causes. The other mandates of the society, to be based in Paris, include taking up the cause of the oppressed, war victims, illegal detainees such as those languishing in the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
"It will also react to American lawyers who have filed suits seeking financial compensation for families of victims of the Sept. 11 attacks," Dr. Al-Tayar said. Saudi lawyers and charitable organizations have already declared their resolve to sue the US administration for causing physical and mental harm to Saudi nationals by implicating them in the terrorist attacks on the basis of mistaken identity or false charges. Scores of Saudis have been detained in Guantanamo on grounds of their alleged association with Al-Qaeda.
According to Ahmed Ibn Baz, director-general of the Ibn Baz Foundation, it will be their first documentary for promoting a better understanding between Islam and the West. The documentary will be distributed through Saudi diplomatic missions abroad.
The documentary treats the subject of human rights in Islam covering both legal and minority rights. It also discusses women’s rights and how Islam safeguards their honor and dignity.
"This film shows clearly a relationship between Islam and the West in recent times. It highlights the interaction between the two that increased during the Crusades and the subsequent waves of colonialism leading to the disintegration of the Othman Caliphate.
Rafiq Ahmed, who works in the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, told Arab News that the ministry’s Islamic studies and research center has been active in rebutting charges against Islam. "We have a website in English for responding to such attacks. Jihad is now being waged mainly on the intellectual and ideological fronts to protect Islam and its foundations," he added.
