Thursday, August 30, 2007

Saudi Arabia Must Be Culturally Open, or It Will Turn into a Taliban State

by Sa'ud Al-Balawi from Al-Watan/MEMRI

"...Last Tuesday, Al-Watan reported that eight extremists had threatened to disrupt vocal concerts organized as part of the annual Jeddah festival, after trying to persuade the public not to enter the concert hall ... What do these people actually want? Do they doubt the extent of religious [commitment] in [Saudi] society? Or maybe they want the kind of religious [zeal] that would turn the Saudi society into a Taliban one - i.e. following the Taliban model of Islam, which completely discounts the individual by controlling his freedom of choice within the already limited range of choices available in that eastern Islamic country [Afghanistan]. Why do they want to compel others to act according to their [extremist] convictions? This is a controlling mentality, stemming from rigid views that do not tolerate either objections or challenge. [Worse still, such people] believe that they have the right to murder in the name of their ideas. It is this kind of extremism that has led to [the emergence of] terrorism, which has brought grief to both our people and our motherland."

2 comments:

Michael Timothy said...

Thanks for leaving comment on my blog...MIND JAZZ....your site looks like it will be extremely interesting...
I'll leave comments as I read
Peace
Michael Timothy McAlevey

Michael Timothy said...

Your site looks interesting...I will leave comments as I read.
Saudi's are a hoot....where would they be if the oil dried up?
Michael Timothy McAlevey