Time to Re-Evaluate Relations with Saudi Arabia

"We in Saudi Arabia are not observers in Pakistan, we are participants."

Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir

Saudi Arabia and Pakistan have enjoyed strong bi-lateral ties for decades and Pakistani citizens mostly regard Saudi Arab rulers with reverence, as Saudi rulers are the self-proclaimed guardians of the Holy Shrines in Mecca and Medina. 

That being said, it is worth noting that the influence of Saudi Arabia in Pakistani affairs has been –for want of a better word- unhealthy. When it comes to making decisions on regional policies, solving energy issues or even parliamentary affairs, somehow Saudi Arabia will be involved in them. Thus, such an unhealthy interest in our national affairs by a foreign country should be a cause of concern for us a nation and more so for our policy planners, but are they even concerned?

Recently when Ex-Dictator cum Ex-President Pervez Musharraf arrived in Pakistan after four years of self imposed exile, it was reported that he did so after Saudis played a key role in sealing a deal with Nawaz Sharif to keep clear off Musharraf and turned the keys here and there in the corridors of power in Islamabad to ensure Pervez Muharraf’s safe arrival.

In wiki leaks cables it was found that though Saudis clearly favor Nawaz Sharif in Pakistani politics, and it has been shown a number of times, but they also have a certain likeness for Musharraf and view the Army “as their winning horse” Pakistan.  

In addition, it is common knowledge that many of our religious parties –dare I say all of them?-are on Saudi payroll, and the Saudis have funneled huge sums of money in creation of religious institutions throughout Pakistan. It strikes me as singularly amusing when I see religious parties in Pakistan indulging in anti-US tirades but conveniently forgetting that their biggest financier is USA’s main enforcer in this region.

Also, the Saudi petro-dollar being dished out to religious parties and seminaries is becoming a headache for Pakistan. In South Punjab, for instance, it has been reported that Saudis are funding almost 100 million dollars each year to Deobandi and Ahl-e Hadith clerics, who are using those funds to establish extremist networks in those areas and from where terrorists can fan out in Pakistan to attack religious minorities and security officials.

 The PMLN led government in Punjab has never been interested in dismantling those networks and putting restrictions on such financing. But they can be forgiven for  their lack of action in this regards, since Mian Nawaz Sharif himself is Saudi Arabia’s favorite politician in Pakistan, who is heavily indebted to them for their ‘generous help’ in election campaigns and providing ‘special development loans’ to him during his exile there.

Besides financing terrorist outfits in Punjab, Saudis are also ‘allegedly ‘involved in Baluchistan crisis (aren’t they already too much involved?). Reason being the Pak Iran Gas pipeline which is critical for addressing the nation’s crisis, but which is being sabotaged by the nexus of USA and Saudi Arabia because they do not want to see the spread of Iranian influence in the region and also because Saudis consider Iranian enemies based on differences in sects. Indeed, it has been revealed that this nexus of Saudi Arabia and USA has been involved in fomenting separatism in Baluchistan, which is resulting in numerous deaths in the province and is a cause of concern for both Pakistan and Iran because if the separatist strife keeps on increasing in Baluchistan, it would put the gas pipe line in jeopardy ( much to the satisfaction of Saudis and Americans).

Thus with all the trouble that Saudis are responsible for creating in Pakistan, it is time for our government and political/politico-religious parties to reevaluate their relations with KSA,  as its constant interference in our affairs is giving us more harm rather than the benefits it purports to provide. For that, our leaders will have to take tough decisions as Saudis still provide us with much needed crude oil and aid assistance. It is a tricky balancing act, but one that has to performed, as too much damage has already been done by our love affair with the ‘brotherly Muslim country’.

Combining Wahhabism and Capitalism to Destroy Islamic Heritage

The current controversy of the potential Saudi demolition of Riyad-Al-Jannah and the graves of Islamic Caliphs Abu Bakar and Omar is one in a long line of projects that the world’s biggest exporter of crude oil has undertaken to erase Islamic Heritage sites. The Saudi obsession with everything concrete and steel is a cause of concern for Muslims around the world. The construction of enormous towers and skyscrapers including the ghastly Mecca Clock Tower tell us something about the future plans of the Saudis.

A 2011 report by The Independent  paper titled “Mecca for the rich: Islam's holiest site 'turning into Vegas” written by Jerome Taylor (who wrote the recent story about the planned Saudi destruction of Riyad-Al-Jannah etc), says that the Saudis are planning to turn Mecca into a playground for the rich, by building sky scrapers and luxury hotels that cater for the rich Muslims coming from all over the world. The same newspaper reported back in April 2006 about the Saudi construction rampage in Islam’s holiest sites.

Systematic destruction of the holy sites and building hotels and resorts is being backed by the blessings of its religious clerics, who endorse the destruction of the holy sites because of their (baseless) fear that idolatry might creep into Muslim ranks.  Wahhabism, which is an extreme and strict form of Islam that denounces the reverence of any holy site, is the official religion in Saudi Arabia. It is worth noting that the same brand of Islam is practiced by the Taliban who have been involved in the destruction of Bamyan Buddhas and the attack on the legendary Sufi Rehman Baba’s shrine  in Peshawar. However, the Wahabbi Kingdom seems to be on something more than destroying shrines, graves and imposing its own brand of Islam.

Even a cursory search reveals that the Saudis are embarking on a real estate and renewable energy projects as they plan for the future post 2030 when it is feared that the supply of oil, which generates 86% of the kingdom’s revenue, might start to dwindle thus forcing the Saudis to import additional oil from other countries. The Economist states that the rapid increase in demand for oil inside Saudi Arabia has increased by 37% and 65% of its electricity is generated by the oil that it produces. For now, increase in oil price has caused the wealth of Saudis to soar, quite literally, and their construction of the Kingdom Tower is a testament to the money flooding in.

But the increase in oil consumption, the increasing American reliance on Shale Gas , the expectation that Canada and Mexico might become the new middle east  and the awareness of  the fact that oil reserves would not last forever has led Saudi Arabia to consider alternate forms of revenue generation which include real estate, Hajj ( obviously),banking sector and other renewable forms of energy. Khalid Al Falih, the President and CEO of Saudi Aramco, reflects the future strategy of the Saudis when he says that Saudi Aramco wants to transform from an oil& gas company to a ‘global energy and chemicals enterprise’. Apart from energy sources, the real estate sector is booming thanks to the swelling population and the increase in tours by the increasingly affluent middle-class of the Muslim world.

So how does the new course of Saudi economy relate to destruction of Islam’s holy sites? In this regard, my hypothesis is that the Saudis under the valid pretext of real state expansion are destroying the holy sites by invoking the tenets of Wahhabism but on the other hand, in order to clear the way for capitalist expansion projects and to keep up with the rest of the world they are back tracking on the Wahabi doctrine which vehemently opposes all forms of modernization.  The real estate development and other modernization projects can be undertaken anywhere in the kingdom but it seems that the Wahabbi clerics are capitalizing on this opportunity to erase the early history of Islam and increase their hold on the religion. Few countries have dared to raise voice against this heinous crime of the destruction of Islamic holy sites, fearing diplomatic repercussions that might arise. Yet we Pakistanis Muslims scream over the depiction of the Prophet (PBHUH) in the western media, burn buildings, kill people and block websites in protests but do not raise a single voice when the house of Hazrat Khadija (R.A) is turned into a public toilet block and when the Saudi Islamic affairs ministry declares that “the green dome (of Masjid Nabwi) shall be demolished and the three graves flattened in the Prophet's Masjid".

The time to raise voice against this crime of titanic proportions is now!

Another Blasphemous Cartoon Publication?? GIVE IT A BREAK PLEASE !

Here we go again. Another cartoon of the Prophet ( S.A.W.S) has been published. This time the perpetrator is the Atheist , Secularist and Humanist Society of University College London (UCL). It’s a cartoon, which shows Jesus and Prophet Mohammad in a bar.

This all has been done in the name of freedom of expression. I for one am a great believer in freedom of expression but this, my friends is not freedom of expression. Religion, generally hasn’t been my strong point so talks about religion don’t interest me, but when you talk about offending people in the name of freedom of expression then that really infuriates me, because it goes against every secular ideal I stand for.

We must ask ourselves, why do countries adopt secularism and not a theocracy? It is because secularism guarantees the freedom of expressing faith and the state guaranteeing the adherents of a faith or a belief its protection against attacks both verbal and physical. This much has also been mentioned in the 2005 World Humanist Congress that the state should intervene to protect human rights from gross violation, even if based on religious doctrine or enshrined in religiously based civil law.

Now, here we must highlight one point that humanists consider themselves as a separate religion and in The Humanist ((Vol. I, 1941, p. 5), Oliver Reiser, a signatory of the Humanist Manifesto, stated that:

The one great hope for democracy lies in the development of a non-super naturalistic religion which, unlike other intellectual movements, will be non-academic in its appeal to all civilized individuals. This new foundation for a coming world-order must be the emergent outcome of the thought-content of a universalized culture….

The god of this coming world-religion, that is, the object of reverence of scientific humanism, is the spirit of humanity in its upward striving.

This point is also supported by humanist like Burdette Backus and Kenneth Patton. Simply put, their “religion” is against “supernatural and theist religion”. Thus if they want their religion to be established as a state sponsored religion then they are going directly against the sacred principles of secularism which guarantees the freedom of religion under its umbrella and most importantly it abolishes state sponsored religion.

Resolution 7/19. Combating defamation of Religions, passed in the UN General Assembly on 28^th March 2008 asserts that any intolerant and xenophobic views against religions should be discouraged and actions taken against them because they incite violence. Well that is exactly what the Humanist society in UCL is doing. Thankfully, the UK government is taking action but sadly, the Muslim response is not up to the level of their opponents. Usually, threats are given which form the staple of most religions around the world, but importantly nobody is countering with logical arguments. However, I would like to draw attention to the Ahmaddiya Muslim Youth Association London that has taken a stand and is petitioning for the removal of the said cartoons. Very ironically, the current religious attitude of some Muslim countries like Pakistan is especially intolerant of Ahmadis, which is in direct opposition to the resolution 7/19. You will be surprised to read that Saudi Arabia was actually against the defamation resolution because it would lead the Muslims to “recognize pagan faiths” and a supposed “pagan faith” namely the Ahmaddiya faith is going for a petition against the publication of those cartoons, BBC reported. Now isn’t that one heck of a conundrum.

Therefore, the solution to the problem is that we should be logically advocating our concerns against the publication of such cartoons and raise public awareness that it is as much hurtful to the Muslims as it is hurtful to the Jews when Iranian leaders deny the holocaust (which to me is detestable). Unity among Muslims is of course lacking and is an area that must be worked upon. Lastly, the educated youth of Pakistan should take a stand against such blatant attacks against the freedom of religion and come up with a strong and united front against such ‘wannabe atheists”,