Saudi Hypocrisy or Saudi Tolerance - Eboo Patel
My first reaction to Saudi calling for religious pluralism is outright cynicism. This is a country that forces a particular religion, Islam, on everyone, forces the practice of that religion on people who ascribe to the religion no matter how the individual chooses to practice the religion and disallows any other religion from begin practiced in the country. The human rights record of the country, especially in the name of religion, is beyond dismal. The Saudi Government also acts as "custodians" of Mecca (and Medina) where they dictate who can come to the city, regardless of a person's stated belief in Islam, and prohibit any non-Muslim from entering the city based on the country's interpretation of scripture. Disallowing some Muslims from performing Hajj and disbarring non-Muslims from Mecca has long been thorn in the side of any progress in both Saudi and Islamic public relations.
The many problems with Saudi in relation to other Muslims, human rights, other religions, etc... has been an issue for Muslims in being able to complete or in wanting to complete (out of principle) the pilgrimage to Mecca...I won't even bring up the financial component. Some Muslims have reacted by forming alternate pilgrimages out of social consciousness and/or revisiting the meaning of Mecca and pilgrimage in the Qur'an. Some just wait for the day when Saudi "wakes up" and they can finally make their journey and complete what many believe is a necessary part of their religious practices.
Maybe this is a step. Perhaps the new attempt at Saudi to interact with other faiths is a sign of some sort of progress towards, well, progress. I am going to have to stay skeptical and do a lot more observing before I believe the government is moving towards real change. I see the change internally through movements inside Saudi, but are these movements actually having that much of an effect? We shall see...
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Kelly
American Islamic Fellowship
blog@americanislamicfellowship.com
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