Al Saud hated this article so much, it must be shared widely

[Abdullah Ahmad, Group Editor-in-Chief of Malaysian daily New Straits Times, was removed after writing this piece. Saudis disliked it so much when it was published. It must be shared widely!]

From The New Straits Times

12 November 2003

On The Record: Freeing the Prophet'’s land

Abdullah Ahmad

ANYONE who reads about the House of Saud knows that the story is most unflattering to the dynasty. I have been to Makkah and Madinah 17 times, the last a decade ago. Journeys to the two Islamic holy

sanctuaries were always a delight.

I always looked forward to performing my religious obligations in the land where the Prophet was born, preached the glory of Allah and eventually led the exodus of the faithful from Makkah to Madinah. There he settled to form the first Islamic government and died, aged 63.

On further reading of several decades of revisionism, most enlightened Muslims have come to one assessment and conclusion: Islam has suffered at the hands of the so-called guardian of the holy cities of Makkah and Madinah. My interest in Saudi Arabia, as opposed to my commitment to Makkah and Madinah, has waned and my bookshelves have yielded space to pan-Arabism, modernisation and democratisation there.

I agonise about my co-religionists in Saudi Arabia, especially in the holy cities. The problem is they do not know how to empower themselves, even in the new millennium.

Ever since he declared a victorious end to the invasion of Iraq in May, US President George W. Bush has insisted that the world had been made safer with the toppling of Saddam Hussein. Now, a guerilla or terrorist bomb blast blows a raspberry to that idea on a daily basis.

An especially splattering snort was delivered on Sunday in Riyadh, when a suicide attack killed 17 and injured 120.

Terrorism is like the beast whose appetite increases every time it feeds. Its voracity means that it also dines on borrowed causes — and the cause of the Iraqi resistance against the US occupation and its

collaborators is particularly nourishing. Let us not fool ourselves about this: the longer the military occupation remains unabated, the more the Baath loyalists, fedayeen, Sunni discontents and foreign

insurgents begin to look like the Afghan mujahidin at the time of the Russian onslaught.

For terrorism, Iraq has been a moveable feast extending even into the fasting month of Ramadan. I thought the commemoration of the gift of the Quran would herald a respite, but there were bombings in the first weekend of the holy month in Baghdad, targeting and killing mainly Iraqis. Last weekend, the peace of Ramadan was shattered in the capital of the House of Saud itself, again murdering and maiming mostly Arab expatriates in the housing area of Al-Muhaya.

Saudi Arabia has long been suspected of complicity, conscious or otherwise, in the Sept 11 attacks. No matter how much the kingdom tried to wriggle out of it, there was no escaping the fact that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis who were educated and of good birth. Above all, so is Osama bin Laden.

Although he might have been swayed by ideologues from countries like Egypt, there is also no escaping the fact that he provided al-Qaeda with at least the initial means to organise itself — Saudi money.

Excess oil money coupled with the ultra-conservative Wahhabi sect was bound to add up, sooner or later, to a combustible mix. Some American analysts contend that the export of radical Islam was a deliberate ploy by the Saudi elite to keep it away from their country. Many moderate Muslims agree.

By supporting the ustaz, mullah and madrasah, chiefly in the Afghan jihad against the Soviet heathens, the rich Saudis tried to pay off the extremists to look elsewhere. But when the Saudi Government invited US troops on its soil in the Gulf War of 1991, al-Qaeda lashed round to bite the hand that fed it. It never forgave the House of Saud for violating Islam's birthplace with the presence of infidel soldiers.

Call it a CIA conspiracy to discredit the so-called custodian of the holy places, but the "export" theory is difficult to disprove.

Riyadh now readily admits that alQaeda is out to overthrow the Saud dynasty, for whom many Muslims do not feel sorry. The rude awakening came in triple suicide bombings in Riyadh in May, which killed 35. The Saudis refer to that day as their own 9/11.

An unprecedented crackdown was launched on Islamic militants.

Suspected al-Qaeda cells were discovered in Riyadh, Makkah and other cities. Hundreds of suspects were arrested. Senior princes and top religious officials denounced ex-tremism and intolerance. Hundreds of imam were sacked or sent for "retraining".

Even so, the running gun battles reported between terrorist suspects and the Saudi police did not silence the background chatter of an imminent attack. Both Britain and the US, who have twice the reason to feel skittish after Iraq, had warned repeatedly that a plot was afoot in the weeks before the weekend bombing.

Al-Qaeda's choice of the Muhaya compound, less well-guarded and housing fewer Westerners than the one in May, may well indicate that the terrorists are up against it. Prince Turki al-Faisal, Saudi ambassador in London, told Reuters that, "To me, it is a clear sign of the desperate group that wants to show it can do things ...after all the successes we've had in tracking these people down over the last

six months." Terrorists, however, are always burning in desperation — they wouldn't otherwise be willing to kill themselves. Their increasing preference for soft targets does not mean that they are on the retreat. I wouldn't want to undercut the prince's knowledge of his country, but governments today bear the ultimate responsibility for securing their citizens against terror. This was the lesson of Sept 11, one that Malaysia learnt a long time ago.

It is, therefore, hard to evade the suspicion that years of complacency, if not patronage, left the terrorist networks deeply dug in. The legitimacy of the House of Saud rests on its allegiance to the severity of Wahhabi doctrine, which has not only encouraged militancy and fanaticism but elevated the hypocrisy of the royals, who live alternate lives in their luxury Manhattan penthouses, London townhouses and mansions in the English countryside, and fritter away millions in the casinos of Las Vegas, Monte Carlo, Cannes, St Moritz, etc.

Wahhabi belief, even the pretence of it, makes the Saudi monarchy resistant to change and democracy. Like any other totalitarian system, an attempt at pluralism will weaken both the regime and the dogma that upholds it. Bush, at a speech to the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington last week, showed excessive optimism when he said: "The Saudi Government is taking first steps toward reform, including a plan for gradual introduction of elections. By giving the Saudi people a greater role in their own society, the Saudi Government can demonstrate true leadership in the region." Wishful thinking.

I wouldn't hold my breath, since, like any other totalitarian system, the Saudi regime is nothing if not adept at its own preservation. It has played a double-edged foreign policy of Wahhabi proselytisation on the one hand and pro-Americanism on the other. The latter has bought it little influence in the advance of Arab and Muslim causes, particularly in Palestine. Now it is caught in the vise of a dilemma. It must distance itself from both.

Though Arab leaders have protested at his presumption, Bush is right in his hopes for the Saudi people. He must, however, first deliver on the hopes of the people of Iraq, not his own.

The Treaty of Sevres (Aug 10, 1920) caused the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire, ironically by Arab collusion with the West. Since then, Islam has lain prostrate in defeat and humiliation.

New York Times columnist Thomas L. Friedman, who has learnt much since the Iraq war, quoted and echoed Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad in these pages yesterday on the indignity to which Muslims have been subjected, and their angry, thoughtless and hate-filled response.

Until the Muslims come to terms with collective unity, correct interpretation and application of their religion and with what Islam demands and defines consistent with time, I'm afraid they will remain under the sway of non-Muslims and largely Western domination.

Of course, Islam is potentially powerful but is still an undirected political force. Until authoritarian regimes everywhere are utterly destroyed and give way to a new Islamic order, the fortunes of the

ummah will never rise.

When prime minister of Is-Real reacted to formation of a new nation

I post something here from my novel The Merchant King.

Ehud Friedman, the prime minister of Is-Real reacts to the formation of a new nation.

Happy reading...

As the news flashed around the world, editors took notice. New King, New Miserabilia King, A Nation is Born, Nation at Midnight, Visionary Leader, headlines screamed in big fonts.

Singapore was both amused and alarmed at the news. “Is Raygistan a new rival?” The Singaporean Prime Minister posed the question to his foreign advisors, who calmed such concern by pointing out Raygistan’s location on the map in the Indian Ocean.

Singapore wondered if the new nation that did not know whether it was in Asia or Africa could be a friend or a foe. In Singapore’s final analysis, Raygistan was declared as an export destination. No friend or foe, but a buyer of goods and services.

In the nation of Is-Real, whose original name was Is-Real-Or-Not? when it was launched more than 40 years ago, there was consternation in the cabinet.

“If these Neolandians want Raygistan to be their new ally, we are out of business,” Prime Minister Ehud Friedman said in the emergency meeting. Friedman was a former veteran army general who shot to fame for shooting a group of prisoners of war.

“Haven’t these Neolandians learnt anything from the past? They put their interests in Shah’s pocket and Mullahs came and picked the Shah’s pocket. Call the Mostsad chief, he must have something on Falcon,” Friedman thundered before his cabinet minions.

“General, our friends from the Senate were at the Uhlalaland party where Falcon had for the first time spoken about Raygistan,” Intelligence Minister Thomas Lieberman proffered some information.

“First things first. Colonel, don’t ever call me General. I am a politician now. And what else do you know, bugger?” Friedman demanded. Total frankness with each other was the way of life for Is-Real’s politicians.

“Then first things first to you as well, prime minister. Don’t call me Colonel, I won the election with more votes than you did, so screw you! On your point about Raygistan, yes, Neolandia thinks Is-Real has become a liability,” Lieberman spat out more details.

“Bullshit!” Friedman spat in a spittoon that was kept nearby because of his habit of spitting every time he felt disgusted with himself, which was quite often.

“Minister, tell our friends we take a grim view of this new nation. Remind them we have 300 nuclear knobs. When we were launched people called us ‘Is-Real-or-Not?’ Then they just called us ‘Is-Real?’ and when they realised what weapons we got they dropped the question mark. We now put question marks on others, hahahahahahahaha!”

Friedman often went into dramatic speeches during cabinet meetings.

“What’s so funny, Prime Minister?” Lieberman asked.

“Oh, I am thinking about the next phase in our nationhood when we’ll be Is-Realty,” replied Friedman, prompting Lieberman to dish out more information on Raygistan.

“Prime Minister, looks like Raygistan is a new scheme of globalization. Our Big Bucks friends are in it. You know that Putchinsky? He is on this scheme as well.”

“Minister, make sure it is all about money, nothing more than money. Raygistan with its own military will be a game- changer. Sorry, chaps, we need no more rivals.”

Friedman dismissed the meeting with that remark.

In Kindom, they sent a cable of congratulations to the new King. They were happy that a new absolute monarchy had been set up after the transformation of a tribal clan into a royal family. Kindom soon became the first to open its embassy in Raygistan.

Neolandians had their consultants and military but no proper embassy. The Neolandian embassy had to be properly secured on a strategic site. When things go bad, Neolandia’s diplomatic missions become the favorite targets for political activists, feminists, environmentalists, salacious journalists, students, trade unionists, mobs, terrorists. Their causes may be at odds with each other, Neolandia does mange to rile a lot of disparate groups all the time.

In Europe, Purgia, the first among Old World Leaguers (Owls), was furious when the news broke that a new nation has been formed in the undefined Miserabilian-African territory. Didn’t Purgia make it clear to big powers that nothing in Africa must be done without its arbitration? Neolandians argued in their defense that Raygistan was not clearly defined so those Owlish tantrums were not very nice.

Purgian officials were also furious at their journalists for missing the news that mattered so much. The government offered its warship, the Mouse Cheese Vessel to journalists to reach Raygistan but the Neolandians cautioned them not to enter Raygistan’s territorial waters without permission.

“Drop off your journalists in international waters on our boat. Raygistanis do not want any foreign forces other than us. They are pretty paranoid about any violation of their sovereignty right now,” Captain Timothy, one of the officers in charge of the Scarecrow warship, advised the Purgians.

The Purgian press filed several dispatches on the situation in Raygistan, but it could not secure an interview with King Falcon. This did not stop Purgian reporter, Bernard Bernaudet, from posing as an Englishman in the hope of a more sympathetic hearing. But when his cover was blown, he suffered a severe insult. The King became so angry at being deceived that he decided to administer instant justice. He removed his white shoe from his left foot with the left hand and hit the Purgian on his right cheek.

The insult was too grave to be broadcast to the Purgian public. An angry President Jean Pierre declared Purgia would not recognize Raygistan as an independent nation at the U.N. till its geographical location was cleared of all ambiguities. If Raygistan is African then it must join Purge Africa, an alliance of African nations under Purgian patronage.

Unlike the Purgian president, Westminster Witch in London knew what was going on. Neolandia had kept her in the loop about everything. But London-based journalists had not taken it kindly that Neolandia’s Yackety-Yack had monopolised the news of such significance.

Susan Swan, editor of Printfury, Yackety-Yack’s formidable global rival, flew into an uncontrollable rage. “Neolandians have fucked us royally. How about fucking them back?”

She soon gathered her team of ace reporters, people with languages skills in Arabic, Purgian, Hindi, Swahili, Farsi, Turkish and with access to high-level political sources.

“Find out all you can on King Falcon and his kingdom,” Susan Swan said in her stern message to the assembled reporters.

No one captured the development as presciently as a Yemeni journalist. He had been briefed about the King’s thinking by a local merchant who was present during the swearing-in ceremony of King Falcon. His prescient passage read: “A Nimrod is born again. Is he going to retry to create the Tower of Babel? Falcon is the new god-king. Look out for the signs of Babylon in the sky.”

Printfury’s journalists flew to Raygistan from London, benefiting from the direct service provided by British Fly. The new King had banned the use of the beach to airline girls, whose antics in bikinis were believed to have caused his father to behave irrationally, making Nasir no longer fit to lead his people. The girls had heard stories about how Falcon became king. Staying at the same hotel used by the airline crew, Printfury’s journalists were able to glean salacious gossip.