Saudi King Abdullah has instituted the first Cabinet shake-up since ascending to the throne in 2005. Changes in the Saudi cabinet mark major developments for the Saudi government. Information is still developing, but according to this Times of India Report (and thanks to commenter DW for alerting me to the shakeup and providing additional information). Donna Abu-Nasr, reporting for Associated Press, also has filed a story that is now being picked up by international media. The website for the Saudi Press Agency, the authoritative source for government information, is having some sort of trouble as I cannot access it right now.
The changes:
• Norah al-Faiz is appointed as a Deputy Minister for Girls’ Education, a new position, and the first senior female government official;
• Saleh bin Humaid, head of the Shoura Council, replaces Sheikh Salah al-Luhaidan, as Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Council;
• Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Humain replaces Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith as head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice;
• Mohammed al Jasser, the former vice governor, replaces Hamad Saud al-Sayyari as governor of the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA)
• Prince Faisal bin Abdullah replaces Abdullah Al-Obaid as Minister of Education;
• Abdullah al-Rabia replaces Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Mane as Minister of Health;
• Abdul-Aziz al-Khoja, former Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon, replaces Iyad bin Ameen Madani as Minister of Culture & Information;
• Abdullah al-Sheikh, former Minister of Justice, replaced Humaid who moved up to the Supreme Judicial Council;
• The King also announced the reestablishment of the Grand Ulema Commission, pulling together all Sunni Muslim factions to offer scholarly advice on issues.
My first take on this shuffle is that the Saudi religious establishment has been taken down a couple of notches, big notches. Al-Luhaidan became notorious for his ‘Mickey Mouse’ [Sorry, that was Sheikh Muhammad Munajid] and ‘death to broadcasters’ fatwas. This was not only embarrassing to the government, but actually scared many Saudis. The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, of course, has been a constant concern for many Saudis who, while supporting in the mission of the Commission, believed it was acting without sufficient control and had been arbitrary and abusive in its acts.
The re-establishment of the Grand Ulema Commission undercuts the authority of the Salafist trend within the Saudi religious establishment. It calls for working toward agreements that all Sunni Muslims find acceptable, not just the hardest of the hard-liners.
Clearly, appointing a woman to a senior position is a direct challenge to those who believe a woman’s ‘place’ is sheltered at home in a unisexual universe.
The change perhaps most directly important to the US is the change of the Minister of Education. News reports do not give a full name of which “Prince Faisal bin Abdullah” is named. It might be the King’s son, “Faisal bin Abdullah bin Abdelaziz”, but it’s more likely that it’s “Faisal bin Adbullah bin Mohammed”, the Assistant Director of General Intelligence. That being the case, then this move means that the government is deadly serious about rooting out extremism in the Saudi education system. It has been reported that this Prince Faisal had been working in the background to track them down. Now, he would be in a position to remove them definitively.
All in all, this is a pretty nice Valentine’s Day present to the Saudi people, even if the Commission doesn’t believe in celebrating it!
Links to more on the story:
Associated Press, Agence France Presse, Khaleej Times, BBC.
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February:14:2009 - 09:55
Yes, the new Education minister Pr Faisal bin Adbullah bin Mohammed is the Assistant Director of General Intelligence. He is also the King’s son-in-law. There are also some changes in Shoura Council, including three new Shia members.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Sorry about this, but I mentioned in my Email to you John that Luhidan is the Mickey mouse guy, I was wrong about that. thats Sheikh Muhammad Munajid. My apologies again.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
As an educator who has worked in the Saudi system and a parent of students in the Saudi system, I hope this is a change for the better. I have been very dissappointed in the past when changes lead to not much change. And it badly needs to be changed. They are missing a huge opportunity as it is. They have a huge population explosion and an opportunity to educate them properly, but they keep tying their own hands with nonsensical stuff. As we say here “kheir inshallah”.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Thanks, I’ll fix the post.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Just curious who the King will appoint to head up all the madrassas and make sure they keep turning out angry, repressed kids who want to grow up to be martyrs.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Well, since that’s never been Saudi government policy, I suspect the answer to your question is, ‘Nobody’.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Is it true that the new Minister of Justice is not one Al-Asheikh? If that is the case it would be also interesting.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Just to clarify, “madrassa” is just the word for school here.
Faisal bin Abdullah is the king’s son-in-law, and he has indeed been working in the background. The more I find out the happier I am- but I am waiting for the backlash….
February:14:2009 - 09:55
[...] might be big news. First saw it at Ace’s but John at Crossroads Arabia was the next place to visit. Ace quotes from the BBC: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia has sacked two powerful religious officials [...]
February:14:2009 - 09:55
The sense of ‘madrassa’ that was being used in that comment was ‘training school for terrorists’, not a Quranic school or any other kind.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
I’m still trying to sort out the names and jobs. Media reports so far are a bit confusing as to who, exactly, got what job, exactly. Part of the difficulty is in translations and transliterations.
Stay tuned, though, as these truly are monumental changes.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
I knew what he meant by madrassa. Many people seem to think that word automatically means religious or terrorist school (and for many of those, religious/terrorist also means the same thing). So when an Arab says their child is at madrassa, they mistake the meaning. Generally, it just means school.
My understanding it the changes are significant, but the least so, in the two judicial posts.
February:14:2009 - 09:55
And I LOVE that it happened on Valentines Day
!
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Absolutely true. But then there are those who actually don’t care what the word means. They have their own meanings which they’ll use regardless of fact.
You learn to identify closed minds after a while…
February:14:2009 - 09:55
Just wanted to add this; I can’t find an English source for this, but Al Arabiya (which is having a field day with the reshuffle), is reporting that at least two new members of the expanded Council of Senior Scholars (the government body responsible for official fatwas, expanded from 12 members to 21) belong to the Maliki school of jurisprudence, as opposed to the complete dominance of the more puritan Hanbali school before. No Shias yet though, but still a major step forward.
http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2009/02/14/66444.html (Arabic)
Just heard the news (I was *busy* last night). What a nice way to start the day
February:14:2009 - 09:55
[...] John Burgess has some thoughts on the appointment of Prince Faisal bin Abdullah and what it means for reform of religion in schools. [...]
February:14:2009 - 09:55
I thought this was really exciting news! And coming out on valentine’s day is lending it a bit of extra spice, coincidental as it may be!
February:14:2009 - 09:55
[...] missed this over the weekend, but via Chapomatic and Crossroads Arabia comes news of a certain amount of quiet moderation in Saudi Arabia: Saudi king shakes up religious [...]
February:14:2009 - 09:55
[...] missed this over the weekend, but via Chapomatic and Crossroads Arabia comes news of a certain amount of quiet moderation in Saudi Arabia: Saudi king shakes up religious [...]
February:14:2009 - 09:55
If you see a plant of any kind like mangoe or banana or olives with it’s leaves in yellow colour and falling down,then you must treat this plant immediately.The treatment shopuld be given to the roots not the leaves.
similarly,the saudi must be reformed from the roots not from the head gears.
The head gears are a ridiculous and troblesome items.
Every saudi consider himself as a king and so the oreders of the king are not respected let alone are implemented.
There is no defined rule that has to be made mandatory on every position at every level.
If the head of the organisation has to take a decission,he must take it without askning the lower level people when it comes to policy matter and it’s implementaiton.
If the lowe level people don’t implement the orders coming form the top,then they must be punished and removed.This is not the case in Saudi Arabia.
Thank you
February:14:2009 - 09:55
[...] missed this over the weekend, but via Chapomatic and Crossroads Arabia comes news of a certain amount of quiet moderation in Saudi Arabia: Saudi king shakes up religious [...]
February:14:2009 - 09:55
[...] sit in the Saudi cabinet. (Read a report by Nic Robertson of CNN on the changes; Crossroads Arabia has a comprehensive list of the changes. can be found [...]