King Salman’s policies

Ever since Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman ascended the throne on Jan. 23, 2015, Saudi Arabia has taken a series of strategic and bold steps to deal with challenges at the national, regional and international levels.

The king has announced a series of measures to strengthen the Kingdom’s security and stability. Last week while addressing a group of officials involved in fighting corruption, he said nobody is above the law, even the king.

“In some countries the kings and heads of state have immunity from prosecution. But here any citizen can file lawsuits against the king, crown prince or other members of the royal family,” King Salman told the gathering at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah.

King Salman took another bold step to stop Iran’s plan to expand its influence in the region by launching Operation Decisive Storm. He also took courageous steps against those western officials who attacked Islam.

Many western leaders and countries abuse Islam and its Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the name of freedom expression. But we see such freedom of expression used only against Islam and its Prophet.

Saudi Arabia has taken a number of diplomatic and economic steps in response to the anti-Islam tirade of Czech President Milos Zeman after an explosion at a Jewish temple in Brussels. The Kingdom canceled a planned trade meeting between the two countries in Prague. Many Czech officials and businessmen said the Saudi move would have a negative impact on their country’s economy.

Previously when Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom interfered in the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia, King Salman took a similar action. Wallstrom criticized a Shariah court verdict against a Saudi man who attacked the Shariah, sentencing him to 10 years in jail and 1,000 lashes.

Wallstrom spoke in the name of human rights. But we don’t see western leaders taking any effective steps to prevent the killing of Muslims in Burma, Afghanistan and Libya. Saudi Arabia prevented Wallstrom from giving a speech at an Arab League meeting in Cairo.

Many analysts have considered the absence of King Salman at US-GCC summit talks at Camp David as an expression of indignation on the unfair US policies toward the Arab region. King Salman’s exceptional policies have been widely applauded by people in the Arab and Islamic world.

— By Sami Saeed Habib

No end in sight

The Syrian crisis is now devoid of politics. The Geneva conference ended with different groups negotiating to realize their vested interests. We don’t know who is fighting whom in the country. Daesh, the terrorist organization, is fighting everybody in order to protect Assad’s regime. Daesh is operating like a mercenary army.

Who are Syria’s allies today? The answer will be almost zero. Russia uses the international legitimacy to support Bashar while US uses the same to oust him from power. Both powers are trying to manage the crisis rather than resolving it. The Russian Foreign Ministry opposes American efforts to unseat the regime but we don’t see any progress in US endeavors.

Both Washington and Moscow follow Daesh’s crimes in Syria with surprise but they do nothing to stop the bloodbath in the country. As a result we cannot foresee an immediate end to the crisis.

There was a big surprise. The picture of Daesh caliph speaking at Umayyad mosque in Damascus and then a White House spokesman said: “This was what we have been warning.”

There is no politics in Syria now. Washington and Moscow have spoiled many chances to resolve the crisis. Do you think Iran can solve the problem? Tehran’s intention is to destroy Syria and not to solve the crisis because any move to end the crisis will weaken Hezbollah. The present situation will be good for Iran so that it can take part in the fighting and keep its forces in the bedroom of Assad.

Syria presents the worst crises in modern history. We hope and pray for a speedy end to the crisis in order to save the lives of innocent people in that Arab country.

— By Mutlaq bin Saud Al-Mutairy

Muslim unity

The Muslim Ummah is going through a difficult phase because of infighting and bloodbath between some of its groups. This has further weakened the Ummah, creating a kind of fear and anxiety among Muslims.

Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), had said: “A day will come when the killer will not know why he killed (him or her) and the killed will not know why he/she was killed.” He added that in such cases the killer and the killed would be in Hell.”

We have seen people going for fighting without any knowledge or proper guidance. We wonder how Muslims kill their Muslim brethren praying at a mosque. These Muslims have pronounced the Shahada that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet. On the basis of which religious teaching, they committed this crime?

Islam is a religion of peace. The greeting in Islam is “salam” that also means peace. Islam calls for high moral and religious values and promote the values of peace, tolerance and cooperation. We have good examples from the life of Prophet how nicely he treated non-Muslims including Jews.

How can we present Islam to the world when some of us promote hatred and vengeance in the community? We have to stand united under the leadership to overcome the present situation. The cohesion and unity of the various groups of society is essential to strengthen the Kingdom’s security and stability and defeat its enemies.

— By Ali Al-Khabty

Fighting hatred

The reason for most conflicts around the world is racial and religious hatred. There are people and groups that ignite such hatred in order to achieve their vested interests. All these conflicts begin from individuals who then take them to their groups to get support.

These conflicts then spread to the country and all over the world, as people want to express their anger and take revenge. We, in the Middle East, are witnessing similar hatred among various ethnic and religious groups. It started in Iraq and now spreading in Syria while its people were dreaming about democracy and an elected government.

The Syrian people wanted to put an end to an autocratic government that was suppressing their rights. But removing Bashar Assad’s regime from power was not an easy job especially after the latter was backed by Russia and China. This situation gave an opportunity to extremist groups to abuse the country. Now innocent Syrians are being killed in the name of fight against terrorism.

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation recently organized a meeting in Jeddah with the participation of 90 experts in politics, human rights and minorities. It was to set out an executive plan for preventing racial hatred and faith-based violence on the basis of a resolution passed by the US Human Rights Council.

It is high time to declare those who promote racial and religious hatred and violence as criminals and take stiff punitive action against them. Many people misuse the social media to spread hatred between the Sunnis and Shiites, a crime denounced by human rights organizations.

The attacks on worshippers at mosques in the Kingdom’s eastern cities were aimed at fanning religious hatred and create divisions among the Saudi society.

— By Yousuf Al-Muhaimeed

IMF and unemployment

The International Monetary Fund’s annual report on Saudi economy has indicated some of the challenges facing the Kingdom, especially after the sharp decline in oil prices. The fall in oil prices may not affect the Kingdom’s economy in the short term because of huge government spending that would maintain growth at 3.5 percent like 2014.

However, IMF has highlighted unemployment among the Saudis as a major challenge facing the country. The presence of millions of expat workers results in the transfer of billions of dollars to their home countries every year in foreign remittances.

The IMF has indicated that the government should create more jobs for its citizens in order to have a balanced economy. Employment of Saudis in the private sector is important and the Saudi manpower should be trained to compete with their foreign counterparts. In order to realize this objective, there should be greater coordination between the private sector and education and training authorities.

The Saudi labor market creates thousands of jobs every year but Saudis find it difficult to get suitable employment. Our educational and training institutions should target the employment of a large number of its graduates and design their programs accordingly. They should also establish partnership with private companies for this purpose.

— By Salah bin Fahd Al-Shalhoub

Charitable societies

Charitable organizations in the Kingdom compete with one another during Ramadan highlighting their activities, as if they work only during the holy month. Unfortunately we have not seen any effective steps taken by these organizations to fight poverty in the country.

The minister of social affairs recently honored the chairman of Al-Bir Charitable Society in Makkah without knowing what has been revealed in a television talk show that the chairman and his officials used to prevent deserving women from receiving financial assistance.

The ministry is in the process of drafting a new law for charitable societies. I believe the ministry should listen to the complaints of beneficiaries in order to know the inefficiency and shortcomings of these organizations.

Most members of the board of directors of these charities are either elderly Islamic scholars or businessmen. Young Saudis and those having managerial skills rarely find a place on the board. As a result, most of them conduct routine activities such as distribution of foodstuffs and paying electricity bills.

Poor people have different needs. Some may need financial assistance to renovate their homes and some others medical assistance or financial aid. The ministry should conduct a detailed study on the present status and operation of charitable organizations in the Kingdom. Charities on the other hand should take immediate steps to address the complaints of beneficiaries.

— By Abdu Al-Asmary