In his weekly column for Asharq Alawsat, Mshari Al-Zaydi focuses on the crisis in Darfur. He analyses the situation and finds a situation, not unique to Sudan, where governments spend a lot of time saying the right things to particular audiences, but not actually accomplishing much, if anything. He finds similarities between the vapid statements of Sudan’s president Al Bashir and Iraqi PM Al Maliki. Interesting reading.

Mirror of Lies
Mshari Al-Zaydi

Sudanese President Omar al Bashir smiled as he made some harsh statements earlier this week saying, “We will not relinquish Sudan and we will not hand it to colonialists.” He scoffed at the international community that “whines” about the Darfur crisis and identified the source of the problem as the undermining of Sudanese greatness.

Bashir said, “Deception and ambushing with respect to the country is not over.” He added: the goal is the (greater) state of Sudan. All the states that become greater countries are no “manlier than us”.

The leader of Sudan continued to mutter words of this kind, stating that he will not accept the presence of any “foreigner” [in the form of] international troops for which the Security Council, the African Union as well as major forces in the world are pressuring Sudan in order to station these forces in the troubled Darfur region.

…There are some Arab politicians who are skilled in deporting problems and employing issues such as nationalism and national and religious feuds to serve their own interests, just like every demagogic ruler. They usually employ such a method instead of addressing the problem itself and doing their best to solve it. What could President Bashir’s statements achieve apart from provoking public sentiment and offering no solution to the major problem in Darfur.

…Is it clear through the state of extreme poverty in Sudan or the frustrations that Sudanese citizens suffer from or rather through the conflicts between former comrades of the Islamic Revolution? Where is this greatness when all reports talk about the fact that after the Salvation Front had brought General Bashir to power, wages decreased, purchasing power weakened and failed to benefit from the abundance of goods, in addition to the outbreak of diseases such as malaria and tuberculosis once again. Currently, 120,000 university students in Sudan face difficult living conditions that drive many of them to abandon higher education, whereas 57% of young people state that migration is their priority (as stated in a report prepared by Secretary Sayyed Ahmed and published in Asharq Al Awsat in May 2001).

And so what have “foreigners” got to do with all these issues? Do all these statistics and facts signify some kind of greatness?! Does “manliness” exist only through the actions perpetrated by the Janjaweed militia?! Or is it that manliness and greatness lie in the provision of development, achieving peace and abandoning adventurism based on useless national or fundamentalist pretexts?

…The question behind this argument is why do we lack openness in facing problems? Instead of reaching out to problems using the right path where all aspects of the solution would be tackled, we avoid them and this escapism is always conducted under the pretext of protecting and discussing conspiracies of others, that is, “strangers”. Why not give these strangers the opportunity to intervene in our problems? Why don’t we resolve these problems on our own instead of wasting time and effort in verbal battles and heroic odes that only weave webs of lies?
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Arab News corrects earlier media reports—including its own—that stated the person responsible for killing a detainee in control of the Commission was not an official. It turns out that he was. Senior Commission figures are trying to point out that he shouldn’t have been where he was, that he was ‘administrative’ not ‘operational’….

In any case, this is the first time in Saudi history that a religious policeman has been found culpable of a death. Read the whole piece for details.

UPDATE: The Washington Post takes note of this case in a story today from it’s correspondent in Saudi Arabia: Second Case Brought Against Saudi Religious Police in Death of a Suspect. The article also notes the widespread coverage the story of Commission malfeasance has received in the Saudi media.

Donna Abu Nasr, Associated Press’ regional correspondent, also has a story picked up by American media. Saudi Religious Cops Implicated in Death reviews the detail of this and earlier cases and the growing displeasure of Saudis at Commission behavior.

Assailant of Huraisi Is a Commission Member
Raid Qusti, Arab News

RIYADH, 27 June 2007 — Contrary to media reports yesterday, the man allegedly responsible for the death of Salman Al-Huraisi, who was in the custody of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, was a member of the commission. According to a new statement from the Governorate of Riyadh, the commission member is accused of beating Al-Huraisi whose house was raided because he was suspected of possessing and consuming alcohol.

The governorate said that after announcing the conclusions of the investigation in a statement on Monday carried by the Saudi Press Agency, many Saudi newspapers published stories stating that the person responsible for the man’s death was not a member of the commission. The new statement from the governorate confirms that a commission member is responsible for the man’s death. No name was given in the statement.

The deputy president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Ibrahim Al-Huwaimil, said that the commission member had an administrative position and should not have taken part in the raid which resulted in Al-Huraisi’s death. In an interview with Orbit TV, Al-Huwaimil said: “He was a member of the commission. He was not a field member but had an administrative job.” This is the first time a member of the commission has been publicly held responsible for a death.
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This Associated Press wire story (here carried by ABC TV) is getting a lot of coverage—some of it negative—in the US media.

I’m not convinced that the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is much more than a ‘talk shop’. It could be more, but instead it seems to be a place where dialogue is subsumed in demagoguery, with appeals to emotions rather than reason. It’s certainly not a place to find creative, outside-the-box thinking. But I guess it can’t hurt to have an official US presence at their meetings, if only to speak up on occasion to note that the Islamic world is vast and holds many different values, some of them even mutually incompatible.

Bush to Name Envoy to Islamic Conference
BEN FELLER Associated Press

President Bush announced Wednesday he will establish an envoy to a coalition of Muslim countries, with hopes of bolstering ties to the Islamic world and improving the image of the United States.

Bush’s special envoy, who has not yet been named, will be a liaison to The Organization of the Islamic Conference. The intergovernmental organization, representing more than 50 Islamic states, promotes Muslim solidarity in social and political affairs.

“Our special envoy will listen to and learn from representatives from Muslim states, and will share with them America’s views and values,” Bush said in a ceremony honoring the 50th anniversary of the Islamic Center, a mosque and cultural center in Washington.

“This is an opportunity for Americans to demonstrate to Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialogue and continued friendship,” Bush said.

The United States has never before had a diplomat dedicated to dealing with The Organization of the Islamic Conference, or OIC. The establishment of a U.S. envoy comes as the plodding war in Iraq has fanned anti-American sentiment across the Muslim world.
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Khaled Al-Maeena, Editor-in-Chief of Arab News is accompanying Saudi King Abdullah on his tour through Europe and the Middle East. Here he files his report from Amman, Jordan, where the two Kings Abdullah met.

I don’t think we need to look outside the Palestinian community to find adequate excuse for the disaster Hamas has visited upon the Palestinian people. It doesn’t take ‘Israeli intransigence’ or outsiders’ ‘lack of understanding’. The bloody-mindedness of the Palestinian factions is more than enough excuse.

During the meeting, the kings also touched about the Saudi peace plan, Lebanon, and anti-terror efforts and cooperation.

King Tells Palestinians to Unite
Khaled Al-Maeena

AMMAN, 28 June 2007 — Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, who arrived here yesterday on the last leg of his five-nation tour, urged Palestinian groups to stand united to protect their national interests. He warned that their continuing infighting would destroy all hope of setting up an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.

The Saudi leader and his delegation received an unprecedented welcome from Jordan’s King Abdallah and other senior officials. Thousands of Jordanians, including tribal leaders in traditional dress, stood along roads to cheer the king and his entourage waving pictures of him and Saudi flags.

…King Abdullah blamed Israel and world powers for making the situation worse in Palestine. “The situation after the Makkah Accord was promising and positive but three months after the agreement was signed, the situation deteriorated. Israel’s stubbornness and the refusal by some world powers to help the Palestinians cement understanding between them led to this deterioration,” he explained.

The Saudi king called upon the Palestinian leaders to shoulder their responsibility toward their people. “The present situation (fighting between Fatah and Hamas) should not be allowed to continue as it will serve the usurpers of Palestinian territory and harm the just Palestinian cause. It will also destroy the hope of setting up an independent Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital.”

On Tuesday, the Saudi king told Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak that his country would be willing to resume inter-Palestinian mediation, Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said. “Yes, this is very much on the table,” Awad told reporters following the meeting in Sharm El-Sheikh. “We need some time for the spirits to calm down, for the verbal clashes to subside. We need time to create a climate conducive to mediating between Hamas and the Palestinian Authority in order to sort out their differences.”

Saudi Arabia is still making its way from a traditional economy to one suited to the 21st C. Many Saudis do not have—or want—credit cards; many large purchases continue to be made with piles or satchels of cash. Bill-collecting also leaves a lot to be desired in terms of ease and efficiency.

The new Sadad program that ties together all the country’s banks and ATM machines with various utility and service billing seeks to make a leap into the present, if not the future. Both Saudi English dailies cover the story.

Kingdom Launches Centralized Payment
Raid Qusti, Arab News

RIYADH, 27 June 2007 — Saudi Arabia launched yesterday a new centralized payment system, “Sadad”, enabling citizens and residents to combine all their utility and service bills into one bill and pay it through any sales points or ATM machine by the end of this year. The payer does not have to be a customer of the bank to use the system.

Sadad was officially launched in the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) by Deputy Governor Mohammed Al-Jasser.

This is the Kingdom’s latest revolutionary payment system after the Saudi Payments Network (SPAN) established in 1990, and the Saudi Arabian Riyal Interbank Express (SARIE) established in 1997. “The system was going through an experimental phase in the past two months. It is now fully complete,” Al-Jasser said.

He noted that 6,300 ATM machines from almost all the banks in the Kingdom have the payment service. “All of the banks in the Kingdom with an exception of one or two have joined Sadad,” he pointed out. During the experimental phase last year, millions of transactions were paid through Sadad valued at SR14.6 trillion, he added.
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Saudi Gazette offers its positive views here: Sadad Spreads Convenience for Everyone, Everywhere

On the religion page of Saudi Gazette, we find this article telling why Islamic inheritance is the best method of distributing the wealth of a deceased. Overall, the piece provides the standard arguments about how Islam changed—for the better—the existing practices on wealth distribution.

The article, however, does not seem to realize that the rest of the world has changed since pre-Islamic days, in ways different from Islamic methods, and that today ‘fairness’ is far more the standard. The piece also doesn’t seem to acknowledge the concept of private property in quite the same ways as most Saudi businessmen would. It also fails to address the inherent lack of fairness when it comes to women’s ability to inherit. That’s a pretty big failure.

That said, this is still a clear explication of just what Islamic inheritance laws seek to accomplish.

The System of Inheritance in Islam

Abdul Hamid Siddiqui

Inheritance is when living persons rightfully acquire dead persons’ property. It exists in some form wherever the institution of private property is recognized as the basis of the social and economic system. The actual forms of inheritance and the laws governing them, however, differ according to the ideals of different societies.
The law of inheritance in Islam is based upon five main considerations:

1- To break up the concentration of wealth from the hands of few individuals and to spread it out in society.

2- To respect right of individual ownership and property earned through honest means.

3- To drive into people’s consciousness the fact that they are not the absolute masters of the wealth they produce but they are only trustees and are not, therefore, authorized to pass this wealth on to others as they like.

4- To consolidate the family system, which is the social unit of an Islamic society.

5- To give incentive to work and encourage economic activity as sanctioned by Islam.
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Saudi Gazette reports on a public demonstration—here, a motorcade in Jeddah—in support of the welfare prisoners in Saudi jails and former prisoners. The non-governmental organization appears to be focused on rehabilitation and reform of the prisoners, both male and female. It also seeks to address the current status of treatment of drug addicts.

Convoy Rallies for Prisoner Support
Adel Al-Malki

The Committee for the Welfare of Prisoners led a convoy of about 150 cars Monday, starting from the Al-Baiah circle in Jeddah to the Camels circle in North Obhour.

The convoy lasted for five hours and composed of different groups from the government and private sectors as well as other schools and universities.

“Our objective is to support prisoners as well as ex-prisoners through special programs,” said Committee Executive Chairman Saud Al-Aqeel.

The committee supports the reform programs through seminars, lectures and symposiums. “The key aim is to make them productive members of society again,” he said.
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Asharq Alawsat reports that the Saudi Consultative or Shoura Council has requested the presence of several ministers to answer their questions. Foremost among the ministers is Pr. Nayef, Minister of the Interior, but the Ministers for Labor, Finance, and Foreign Affairs are also being summoned.

While not endowed with full parliamentary powers, the Shoura Council is starting to grow its own powers. At the very least, these sessions will add to the limited transparency that currently reigns in Saudi government. As the sessions will be televised, the public will also be able to judge for themselves whether Council members are serious in their work or are happy just grandstanding for popular acclaim, a problem nascent Arab parliaments have had in the past.

Saudi Shura Council to Question Interior Minister on War on Terror
Turki Al-Saheil

Riyadh, Asharq Al-Awsat- It was announced in Saudi Arabia yesterday that next Sunday was set as the date for a discussion in the Shura Council with Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin-Abdulaziz of matters related to his ministry’s work and specifically the efforts being made to fight terror and crush “Al-Qaeda” organization.

A source in the “Shura” told “Asharq Al-Awsat” that the reason for inviting the interior minister to the council is in response to requests by members’ seeking clarification of some information relating to the terrorist group and the ministry’s efforts in tracking them and foiling their schemes.

Saudi Arabia has been battling the “Al-Qaeda” organization locally since May 2003 following the bombings which shook three residential compounds in Riyadh where Westerners and Arabs lived.

A group of Shura members had expressed to the council’s chairmanship their desire to invite Prince Naif to the Shura session, a request that was submitted and approved by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz.

Prince Naif will be the first minister to be questioned at the third year of the council’s current session followed by the foreign, finance, and labor ministers in the coming months. The same source said the dates for discussions have yet to be finalized. The requests to summon Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal, Labor Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi, and Finance Minister Dr.Ibrahim al-Assaf have already been forwarded to the king. The council is expected to summon one of the three ministers before its official recess. The session with Minister al-Gosaibi is expected to be heated as several businessmen are council members and quite often voice a clear opposition to the minister’s policy of granting visas [to bring in foreign workers].
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Saudi novelist and commentator Turki Al-Hamad has this piece in Asharq Alawsat. He laments that the Arab world cannot seem to break from its past and instead must keep wallowing in the violence, revenge, and retaliation that have outlined its history for far too many years. This heartfelt column is worth reading in its whole.

We are the Past
Turki al-Hamad

In the famous Egyptian film entitled ‘Ana il Madi’ (I am the Past), actor Zaki Rostom plays the role of a wealthy virtuous man who is imprisoned for 25 years for a murder he did not commit. The crime, we discover, was the result of a conspiracy between his friend’s wife (played by Lula Sedqi) and her lover, who also happens to be Rostom’s brother in law (played by Farid Shawqi).

The lovers get married after framing Rostom and getting him out of the way. But Rostom vows to avenge himself, as soon as he gets out of jail he seeks the couple that destroyed him only to find out that they had died. He discovers that they have a daughter together (played by Faten Hamama) and so he changes his planned scheme of vengeance. He marries the young girl and together with his sister (played by Negma Ibrahim), they conspire to make the girl’s life a living hell. The poor wife, faithful and in love with her significantly older husband, could not understand why he was torturing her like that.

In this film, the character played by Zaki Rostom lived in the past and was completely detached from the present. Even after the lovers had died, his desire for revenge was still burning inside of him, blinding him from seeing anything except the past and what had happened then. It is only when his wife falls pregnant at the end of the film that comes back to his senses and finally is able to see the possibility of the future through his child. When his wife finds out his real story, she understands and forgives him. His sister, however, who remains enslaved by the past, suffers a grisly demise in the end, and thus the future triumphs over the past.

It would not be inaccurate to make a comparison between the current Arab situation and this film. The past is the common thread that ties the story to this reality; everyone is seeking revenge and retaliation for issues that occurred in the distant past. They torture and are tortured, losing the present without redeeming the past whilst remaining completely unaware throughout.

If the situation continues as it is in the Arab region, the day might come when the whole region is transformed into a living museum of history that the rest of the world could visit in tours to see what the world was like when it was drenched in blood and burdened with vendettas and vengeance, all while remaining unconscious and disconnected from the events unfolding in the outside world. It is a place where man has no value for his humanness alone. His worth can only be regarded though additional attributes whether nationalistic, religious, sectarian, or gender based.
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Khaleej Times carries this report on a Saudi Ministry of Interior study on drug abuse in Saudi Arabia. It cites a figure of 90,000 people going into treatment facilities annually, but that figure is growing. Drug addiction certainly could keep a young Saudi from finding or holding a job.

Drug abuse on the rise in Saudi: study
Habib Shaikh

JEDDAH — The spread of drugs abuse in Saudi Arabia is a major cause of unemployment among Saudis, according to a study. Statistics by the Interior Ministry show that drug abuse increases by 17 per cent every year.

The study said that broken families as well as poor education are also reasons why many people in the kingdom turn to drugs. The study which stressed the need to establish more drug rehabilitation centres in the kingdom. At present, there are only three to serve the entire country.
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Dar Al-Hekma College, a women’s college in Jeddah, is starting up the first Saudi law program for women. Up until now, Saudi women had to pursue law studies outside the Kingdom. It’s interesting to note that the program is accredited not only in Saudi Arabia, but also by the American National Commission for Certifying Agencies. This ensures that course work and credits are transferable internationally.

Dar Al-Hekma Starting Law Program
Lulwa Shalhoub, Arab News

JEDDAH, 26 June 2007 — With an aim of making positive changes in society, Dar Al-Hekma College is to start a four-year bachelor degree program in law during the next academic year.

According to Suhair Al-Qurashi, dean of Dar Al-Hekma College, the program will cover several areas relating to international, criminal, civil, commercial and Shariah law.

The curriculum has been designed by law experts from local Saudi universities, Jordan and America’s prestigious Harvard University. The program has also been accredited by the Ministry of Higher Education and follows the accreditation standards set by the National Commission for Certifying Agencies (NCCA), an American accrediting body.

Dar Al-Hekma courses are generally conducted in English. However, knowledge of Arabic will be a requirement for students to enroll in the Shariah course, which will be taught in Arabic.

Speaking about Shariah course being taught in Arabic, Saleha Abedin, director of General Education, Academic Advancement and International Institutional Relations at Dar Al-Hekma, said, “We will still maintain our international standards of education. We want to prepare our students to be able to continue their postgraduate studies anywhere they want.”
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Arab News reports on the court findings concerning a Saudi man, taken into custody by the religious police and beaten to death. It wasn’t the Commission, the investigation said, but a non-Commission member, a vigilante, who was acting on his own accord.

I wonder what he was doing with the Commission? I wonder how the Commission members involved in the raid permitted this non-member to take part in their official actions and were unable to stop him from killing the detainee? Can just anyone join in on Commission activities?

Commission Cleared in Huraisi Death
Raid Qusti, Arab News

RIYADH, 26 June 2007 — A Saudi man who is not an official member of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice is being held responsible for the death in custody of a Saudi man last month, the Governorate of Riyadh said in a statement yesterday.

Along with commission members, the man took part in a raid on the apartment of Salman Al-Huraisi, the dead Saudi. Al-Huraisi died after commission members raided his apartment because they suspected the presence of alcohol. According to the governorate, large quantities of alcohol were found in the apartment and the man later died in custody, allegedly as a result of beatings.
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Saudi Gazette‘s coverage is here.