In ‘The Kingdom,' Darkness Deepens

By YOUSSEF IBRAHIM
October 5, 2007

A new movie is playing in theaters, and I recommend you see it. It's called "The Kingdom," and it reminds us of the scale of terror visited upon the world by Saudi Arabia's Islamist priesthood, its ruling family, its army, and many of its citizens.

Although it is an action picture, "The Kingdom," remarkably well-directed by Peter Berg, goes far beyond the usual fare and delves into the deep dysfunctions of Saudi society. Based on actual events surrounding the June 1996 terror bombings that left 19 American servicemen dead and seriously injured 372 other expatriates at a residential complex near Dhahran, the film captures the shocking degree of jihadist penetration into Saudi life — particularly into the Saudi National Guard, an army branch personally commanded by the country's current monarch, King Abdullah.

But in addition to the "The Kingdom," we got another glimpse into Saudi society this week — and an insight into how one step toward reform in that country is almost always accompanied by two steps back — when the grand mufti, Sheik Abdul-Aziz bin Abdullah bin Muhammad al-Sheik, issued a fatwa decreeing that Saudi Muslims should not fight in other people's wars — unless, of course, they are in "defense of Islam."

Given the fact that for two decades, Saudis have been fighting — and killing — in various countries, including Afghanistan, Chechnya, Bosnia, Lebanon, and Iraq, the grand mufti's effete decree left even residents of the kingdom wondering whether he lives on the planet Earth.

"Oh, grand sheik, what took you so long?" a pundit in a Saudi daily, Asharq al-Awsat, sarcastically exclaimed.

Another special moment was Monday's grandiose unveiling of Abdullah's much-anticipated judicial reform program. It dramatically expands the size and number of tribunals and courts in Saudi Arabia, adds judges, and opens new avenues for justice in civil and business matters.

There is just one hiccup: The reform failed to tackle the reason for all the current problems; namely, that Saudi judges are not lawyers nor even students of civil law, but religious priests who must be graduates of Islamic theological schools. In other words, the same folks who gave you broken justice can now expand it into new areas such as business and women's rights.

The move leaves the keys to modernization — in one of the richest countries, one sitting on nearly half the world's oil and natural gas reserves, and that has a thriving business community and a rapidly growing population of about 25 million men and women — firmly in the hands of bearded, sandaled men whose only knowledge consists of arcane interpretations of the Koran.

Elsewhere in the Arab world's steady march backward, Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood, which represents the Islamists' most significant political opposition force, finally published its first detailed political program. The manifesto sent Arab progressives into deep shock.

Among its highlights:

• The revision of "every article" of Egypt's constitution in order to replace civil laws with Islamic sharia laws in "material, spiritual, financial, economic, psychological, and societal matters."

• The restriction of the government's top posts, including the presidency, the premiership, top army and police commands, and judicial posts to Muslim men.

Should the program be adopted, it would dispossess the 9 million Egyptians who are Christians (the largest such minority in the Arab world today) as well as nearly 40 million women, who are half the population.

But what really takes the cake in the Brotherhood's program, however, is its definition of who will arbitrate all laws and legislation: only "a committee of religious scholars as elders and guides" are qualified, the manifesto insists. And those "elders" are to be selected — as you might have guessed — by the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood (which itself is to be elected or chosen by none other than itself). There is no need to delve further into the entire 108-page document. If you've read Adolph Hitler's "Mein Kämpf," you have the idea.

ymibrahim@gmail.com

In ‘The Kingdom,' Darkness Deepens

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