Religious Freedom in Saudi Arabia – Saleh Al-Husein

“There has been much misinformation about the people of Saudi Arabia in Western media some may be due to Islamophobia, but some come from the difficulty in getting an accurate picture of the Kingdom’s diversity from the outside. Saudi woman was no exception. This books demonstrates the achievements been made by Saudi woman despite the difficulties facing them. It highlights the roles being played by educated Saudi women and the government efforts to change negative attitudes towards women.

While reflecting the emerging role of Saudi women who have been marginalized by rigid traditions and restricted misinterpretation of Islamic law, the book stresses that the active roles of Saudi woman, at both domestic and international levels, has dispelled long-held stereotypes of these women as being uneducated and dull.

The discourse in this book addresses elite western politicians, intellectuals and thinkers. It discusses the most important issues related to the political system of Saudi Arabia from an Islamic perspective and through the state’s laws like the Basic Law of Governance.

Among the issues discussed by the book, for instance, the imama leadership, the rights and duties of the Muslim leader, the nature of relation between citizens and the King, the concept of Shoura in Islam and the impact of the implementation of this Shoura in Saudi Arabia compared with democracy, the concept of bay’ah pay of allegiance, the formation of political parties and the so-called opposition, the freedom of opinion, as well as other issues raised in the Western media and political circles about the political system of Saudi Arabia.

Allah Almighty ordered all his servants to enter Islam and adhering to it and warned them of disobeying Him. Also he sent His messenger to call to this  Allah told us that the one who follows him is the rightly guided and the one who turns away from his call goes astray.

He warned us in many ayahs of apostasy, polytheism and disbelief. The annual Religious Freedom Reports released by US State Department often include sections about religious freedom in Saudi Arabia.

These reports are officially distributed by the State Department and then circulated amongst the centers of research in the West as well as the international media outlets and other channels, Saudi Arabia comes on top of concern of those involved in these reports, due to its religious and political significance.

Accordingly, it becomes incumbent on us, as Saudis, to discuss the sections in these reports which cover religious freedom in our country and provide facts that are not included in these reports. While discussing these reports, we should explain to the world our view point vis-à-vis these reports.

We should also allow the reader to discover the truth as stated therein and according to criteria upon which many fair-minded, rational people agreed with us.

This book includes a comprehensive vision of issues related to the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice and its official establishment in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This book was prepared by a group of Saudi academicians, males and females, representing different Saudi universities and various geographical regions.

They address the Western public opinion, its political and intellectual sources. Their aim is to clarify reality for Western public opinion, its political, intellectual and media sources. This reality that remains obscure for this public opinion as a result of certain political circumstances, religious superiority or suspicious media lusts. This reality was obscured from the West by the current rapid international developments and changes.”