More on the Saudi Kingdom: An absolute monarchy!
SIR— Thank you for the supplement on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which you published on September 23. However, there was a typing error when it was stated that the advent of Islam was in the 17th century when it was in the 7th century. The real name for the country is Al-Hijaz.
SIR— Thank you for the supplement on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia which you published on September 23. However, there was a typing error when it was stated that the advent of Islam was in the 17th century when it was in the 7th century. The real name for the country is Al-Hijaz.
It’s the Saudi dynasty that imposed their family name and hence “Arabia of Saudi†the Saudis are not natives of Hijaz. They came, saw and conquered, after hijacking the Wahabiyyah Islamic puritanical movement under a spiritual leader, Abdul Wahab.
It’s true that the Shariah is applied in the administration of justice in the kingdom. But in an Islamic political system, there is no hereditary rule.
Thus the rightful khalifs — Abubaker, Umaru, Uthman and Ali — were not kings. There must be consultation. But in Saudi Arabia, there is no Parliament, the advisory body proclaimed by King Fahdi in 1991 after the First Gulf War, is not a legislative council as the king is not obliged to take its advice.
While constitutional monarchies like those of England, Scandinavia and Japan have survived because the kings/queens reign and people rule, and the kingdoms of Jordan, Qatar, Morocco and Kuwait are progressively moving towards that, the Saudi Kingdom is still an absolute monarchy where kings rule by the grace of God and are answerable to God alone, not to their subjects.
Muhammad Ahmad Abbas
Kampala
It’s the Saudi dynasty that imposed their family name and hence “Arabia of Saudi†the Saudis are not natives of Hijaz. They came, saw and conquered, after hijacking the Wahabiyyah Islamic puritanical movement under a spiritual leader, Abdul Wahab.
It’s true that the Shariah is applied in the administration of justice in the kingdom. But in an Islamic political system, there is no hereditary rule.
Thus the rightful khalifs — Abubaker, Umaru, Uthman and Ali — were not kings. There must be consultation. But in Saudi Arabia, there is no Parliament, the advisory body proclaimed by King Fahdi in 1991 after the First Gulf War, is not a legislative council as the king is not obliged to take its advice.
While constitutional monarchies like those of England, Scandinavia and Japan have survived because the kings/queens reign and people rule, and the kingdoms of Jordan, Qatar, Morocco and Kuwait are progressively moving towards that, the Saudi Kingdom is still an absolute monarchy where kings rule by the grace of God and are answerable to God alone, not to their subjects.
Muhammad Ahmad Abbas
Kampala