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March 4, 2005 |
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"ONE MISAPPREHENSION THAT OBSTRUCTS COOPERATION BETWEEN US IS THE CLAIM THAT ISLAM IS NOT COMPATIBLE WITH THE PREVAILING WESTERN VIEW OF HUMAN RIGHTS." PRINCE TURKI AL-FAISAL: TERRORISM DOES NOT RESPECT ANY RELIGION. Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister has called for correction of the wrong concepts and impressions and for the purification of the atmospheres among the Arab and Islamic countries on one hand and the Western countries on the other. In a lecture delivered at the Centre of Islamic Studies at the University of Oxford he recalled that both the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom share a unique characteristic, that's their beyond-the-border cultural influence. He said Islam preceded the renowned British Charter on Human Rights in calling for the respect of human rights by 600 years. He recalled that the Saudi Arabia is a founding constituent member of Cairo Declaration for Human rights. He called on all cultures to agree on different sensitive philosophical terminologies to get nearer and nearer to practical agreement and implementation. Prince Saud announced that his ministry is planning to recruit women this year, noting that Saudi woman were not given the chance to participate in this year's municipal elections. However, he did not rule out their participation in the next municipal elections. What undermines the credibility of the west in its drive to support human rights in the Arab and Islamic worlds is its negligence in dealing with the world's greatest human rights violations in contemporary history, notably the tragedy that has befallen Palestinian people. He said the West's double standards have become a basic element for lack of rapprochement between our two cultures' political philosophy. We, in the two kingdoms of Saudi Arabia and Great Britain, are not going to be able to solve all problems of the current world but we are seeking to set a new example and forge a new order. Following is the text of the lecture: "Overcoming Disconnect" Statement of Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, delivered at Oxford Center of Islamic Studies, Oxford University, February 24, 2005. The greatest gift you have given me today is the opportunity of seeing again one the most esteemed and dear friends Lord Hurd. I also see in front of me Lord James Craig who is responsible for me delivering my speech in English out of fear that would correct me if I delivered it in Arabic. Dr Nizami, the Directors of the Centre, Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here today. T. E Laurence, who attended Jesus College here at Oxford, is rumoured to have made the claim that he read every book in the library of that College. Notwithstanding my great appreciation for the oldest English-language institute of learning, I do not intend to verify the validity of that claim, as it could take me the rest of the week to complete the feat. But seriously I am very pleased to be here among you today, and to engage in what I hope will be a candid, reciprocal discourse. With your kind permission, I am going to claim the right to change the topic of my presentation today. The subject that I shall talk about is the current disconnect in political philosophy between the countries of the Arab and Islamic world and those of the Western hemisphere. Perhaps together we shall be able to clear the air of certain misconceptions and misapprehensions. Yesterday, I spoke to the "Saudi-British Business Forum" where I advanced the notion that the uniqueness of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Untied Kingdom, within their respective regions and in the world, should impose upon them a sense of duty and dedication to work closely to address the problems facing the international community today. The Uniqueness of the United Kingdom rests in its being a nation of laws that has spread its cultural values throughout its once extensive Empire, and still enjoys a prominent position in world affairs. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is the holy land where the message of Islam was revealed, where the two holy mosques are located and where millions of Muslims travel every year to perform the pilgrimage and Umrah. As such Saudi Arabia is thrust to assume a position of influence and authority to maintain the moral tradition and the purity of Islam. If you permit me, I shall hazard to suggest a different interpretation of the concepts of Orientalism and Occidentalism that kept us apart so long. These are perceptions that cannot be changed by wishful thinking. The late Kipling in his famous dictum, "East is east and West is west, and never the twain shall meet", reflected this prevailing view of the time. It certainly can not be valid in today's world. The values of East and West are continually juxtaposed. They provide therefore a comparative mechanism by which each society can look at itself in the other's mirror in what I would call and ethical system of checks and balances so that when the balance is tipped one way in one part, it can be quickly readjusted by the other. One misapprehension that obstructs cooperation between us is the claim that Islam is not compatible with the prevailing Western view of human rights. There is absolutely no question that Islam recognizes the concept of human rights and in so doing preceded the Magna Charta by some six hundred years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a party to and was instrumental in the formulation of the Cairo declaration of Human rights. In my opinion the Declaration succinctly codified the Islamic view of human rights. It declares in Article 1 that "all men are equal in terms of basic human dignity and basic obligations and responsibilities, without any discrimination on the grounds of race, colour, language, sex, religious belief, political affiliation, social status or other considerations." It states in Article 2 "life is a God given gift and the right to life is guaranteed to every human being. It is the duty of individuals, societies and states to protect this right from any violations." It is obvious that we do not live in a perfect world, and it is possible that the Declaration addresses itself to such a perfect world. But the problem of what is what ought to be is at the core of any society. The disconnect between our different societies' political philosophies can be measured by how close in application a system of values is in reality to what it ideally ought to be; it goes without saying that the closer these values are to the idyllic state, the better the society is. The disconnect is further complicated as we are not using the same language to express the same concept. One of the greatest contributions to systems of modern thought was the British critical analysis of philosophical proportions, and by extension value statements, as expressed by influential philosophers of the twentieth century A.J. Ayer and Ludwig Wittgenstein, who emphasised linguistic analysis, precision and clarity. If we are to understand each other, especially when using abstract terms, we must have uniform agreement on the definition and appropriate usage of these terms. Until now, there remains a difference of interpretation as to what constitutes a uniformity of application of certain rights and processes such as human rights, democracy, liberty, and freedom of expression amongst others. Nowadays, however, we speak of these concepts with a lack of either historical context or present day application. As we attempt to understand them today, human rights evolved from specific conditions to respond to various diversified requirements. While the serf tilling the land in medieval Europe quested for freedom, the complete freedom of the Bedouin nomad in the Arabian Desert had to be curbed in order not to infringe on the freedom of others by tribal wars and violence. As the author of American liberty, James Madison, once wrote and I quote "in framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself." This leads to a further disconnect. There is the peculiar view in the West that democracy and human rights have always been immutable. Allow me a brief history digression. The power struggle in the United Kingdom between branches of the government was a painful process, and it took the Reformation and a civil war to resolve the issue. Furthermore, the full emancipation of women did not come until the twentieth century. According to one historian, it was "laughable" to assume that a woman could manage her financial affairs without the guidance of a man. I can't help but compare this to the concept adopted by Islam of the independence of women to handle their own wealth, which, by the way, has always been immutable. Women suffrage did not come about in the United Kingdom until the 20th century and even then it had to be phased. The first stage allowed only women above the age of thirty to participate in elections, giving rise to rumours of a great conspiracy by men to prevent women from voting because they believed that no woman would admit to being older that thirty. As to the United States, it took a civil war and a generation of Supreme Court decisions for the Bill of Rights to be enforced. I can go on and on in the vein, however my purpose is not to criticize but to recite illuminating historical facts and to stress the point that successful political reforms is an evolutionary process. There are many constitutions around the world that guarantee the application of human rights, but in practice some of these provisions are "more honoured in the breach than the observance." Allow to quote a President of the United States: "It is not the enactment, but the observance of laws, that creates the character of a nation." We in Saudi Arabia believe in the necessity of political reform, but it must be evolutionary and indigenous. To this end, we enacted the Basic Law of Governance, started a program of National Dialogue and increased the size of our Consultative Council, whose authority has been extended to review and promulgate legislation. As a result, it became a member of the International Parliamentary Union. This month, we commenced the process of electing municipal council members as a step to test the waters. The Saudi Minister of Islamic Affairs has declared that there is nothing in Islam that prohibits women from participating in elections. The smoothness of the electoral process led our Election Commissioner to announce that he is recommending that women participate in coming elections. I would not be surprised if they do so in the next round. The role of Saudi women is changing rapidly; our educational reforms have created a new generation of highly educated and professionally trained Saudi women who are acquiring their rightful position in Saudi society. I am proud to mention here this year we shall have women working in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Saudi Arabia for the first time. We are doing our best in our reform. We must follow our own measured pace. One must not mistake caution for inaction. In fact, by hazarding the introduction of readily made imported reforms, we would only be allowing the detractors to claim that these reforms are not intended for the well-being of the people, but rather to allow for political domination by the west or the transformation of highly devout and traditional society into a self-indulgent one. If we accept the view of the West that the essence of human rights lies in their universality and uniform applicability, then any discrimination in the application of these rights would mean the absolute negation of that essence. In this perspective the West's credibility in championing the cause of human rights in the Arab and Islamic world is demeaned by its disregard and neglect of the greatest human rights crises in the modern history of our region the plight of the Palestinian people. Thus the double-standard, practised for decades by the West, is a fundamental factor of disconnect in our political philosophies. In this context we are encouraged that Prime Minister Blair has taken the initiative in calling for the coming London conference. We hope this will go a long way to remove this perception. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Kingdom are in a unique position to resolve this disconnect and move forward to address the pressing issues facing the international community. We will not be able to discover remedies for all the woes that face us, but let us strive for a new model and a new order. In a recent book, The Dragons of Expectation, the Oxford Aluminous Robert Conquest explains that, and I quote, "The new orders must be non-militant, non-expansionist, non-fanaticalwith some level of internal tolerance, of a plural order, with some real prospect of settling into habit or tradition." This is an achievable objective. It is not too late, as your great poet Alfred Lord Tennyson said, "To seek a newer world," and, "strong in will, to strive, to seek, to find and not to yield." Citing verses 39 and 40 from Surat An-Najm in the holy Quran; "That man can have nothing but he strives for. That (the fruit) of his striving will soon come in sight." I thank you very much and may the peace of God be upon you. On the other hand in a speech at the SMi's group 3rd Annual Conference on "Homeland Security" Saudi Ambassador to Britain and Ireland Prince Turki Al-Faisal, reiterated the Kingdom's condemnation of all forms of terrorism and its determination to combat the dangerous international phenomenon, which threatens global peace and security. The Ambassador's speech, emphasised the importance of enhancing international political and security cooperation against terrorism at all levels, and noted the importance of preventive work by exchange of intelligence information and promotion of understanding among nations and civilizations. Prince Turki spoke of the 9/11 attacks and other terrorist attacks that took place in eastern African, Yemen, Indonesia, Spain, Iraq, Morocco, Turkey, Russia, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Egypt, with two attacks that took place in Riyadh in which all perpetrators were killed. Prince Turki Al-Faisal stressed the importance of international cooperation to combat terrorism and address its root causes. Prince Turki said that despite the world agreement on the dangers of terrorism no agreement has been reached on defining it. Prince Turki added that the UN has taken measures to combat terrorism and established the UN Committee for combating terrorism and this Committee could play a prime role in fighting terrorism, while coordinating the activities of member states. Prince Turki noted that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has been determinedly fighting against terrorism since before the 9/11 attacks, and will continue its efforts to uproot and eradicate terrorism. He said that terrorism is abhorrent to all peoples and governments, including Saudi and British, Muslim and Christian. He noted that the Kingdom has implemented many laws to eradicate sources of terrorism, and called for united, international efforts to combat terrorism. Prince Turki pointed resolution 1373, which the Security Council adopted, reaffirming its unequivocal condemnation of the terrorist attacks which took place in New York, Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania on 11 September 2001, and expressing its determination to prevent all such acts. Resolution 1373 also established the Counter-Terrorism Committee made up of all 15 members of the Security Council. The CTC monitors the implementation of resolution 1373 by all States and tries to increase the capability of States to fight terrorism. Prince Turki Al-Faisal stressed that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's position towards terrorism has not changed and added that the Kingdom has been the victim of terrorist attacks since the sixties of the last century. The Prince added that the Kingdom has never encouraged violence and pointed to the role the kingdom played before September 11, in the signing of the Arab Agreement for combating terrorism, while it has exchanged information on terrorism with friendly countries amongst which the United Kingdom. Prince Turki noted that the Kingdom's Grand Mufti said that Islam is not a religion of violence while the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the World Muslim League have both condemned terrorism and consider it as a sin. He said the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has taken many measures to combat terrorism amongst which the implementation of the UNSC resolution 1267 regarding the freezing of Taliban's assets and resolution 1333 concerning the freezing of the assets of all names listed in the 1333 resolution. Prince Turki stressed that the Kingdom has also implemented UNSC resolution 1368 on 12 September 2001. On the other hand Prince Mansour Ibn Mit'eb Ibn Abdul Aziz, Chairman of Municipal Electoral College in Saudi Arabia, expressed satisfaction over the results of municipal elections recently held in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In a lecture delivered at the British Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, Prince Mansour recalled that the move is a resumption of the deep-rooted practice set up be the founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia late King Abdul Aziz Ibn Abdul Rahman Al Saud, citing the issuance of the late king's directives to establish an elected national council to provide consultation on Makkah affairs and later, another royal decree to set up an elected consultative council to provide consultation on finance affairs. Prince Mansour also recalled the call of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz to form the Shoura Council to expedite the political development and augment the popular participation in it, particularly in the local affairs issues. Meanwhile British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Sherard Cowper Coles has confirmed the depth and firmness of relations between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Britain, describing these relations as historic and developing. He said Saudi Arabia is a great ally of Britain and of a considerable political, economic and religious influence in the Middle East region. He added that Saudi Arabia has not provided the world with oil only, but also submitted numerous practical and effective solutions for a number of problems in the region and the world at large, citing Crown Prince Abdullah's initiative for achieving peace in the Middle East. In a press briefing with Arab media representatives at the headquarters of the British Foreign Office on the sidelines of the visit by Prince Saud Al-Faisal, the Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and his accompanying delegation to Britain, Coles said London meeting between Saudi and British officials represents a joint initiative between the two friendly countries to exchange experience, deepen understanding and discuss a number of issues of mutual concern. He praised the role of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in fighting terrorism, saying that the Kingdom has made great strides in this direction and has been able to eliminate a number of dangerous terrorist elements, noting that terrorism is an international serious problem. The ambassador said there are numerous joint economic interests shared between the two kingdoms, noting that Saudi Arabia is Britain's biggest trade partner outside the countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation Development. He noted that British investments in Saudi Arabia amounted to around $3.5 billion. He said there are 150 joint ventures between Saudi and British companies stationed in Saudi Arabia. He said Saudi British relations were not confined to the two governments but also have deep roots among people, noting that the number of entry visas issued by the British embassy in Riyadh for Saudi nationals increased by 30 percent last year. He lauded Saudi Arabia's interest in reform process, noting that reform stems from the interests and future of the Saudi people on one hand and the design of the steps of the economic, political and social progress for the future of the country on the other. He added that the Saudi people are interested in reforms according to their traditions, habits, culture, religious beliefs and not in a way imposed from outside. He said there is complete agreement between Saudi Arabia and Britain on a number of regional and international issues, led by the Palestinian issue and the achievement of stability, development and progress in Iraq. He praised the role of Saudi Arabia in achieving stability of oil supplies and prices, noting the positive effect of that role on the world economic growth and stability. |
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