Wednesday, May 18, 2005

SAUDI ARABIA: WAHHABISM OPPRESSES CHRISTIANS AND MUSLIMS
- Muslims youths suicide; expatriate Christian leaders imprisoned.

By Elizabeth Kendal
World Evangelical Alliance Religious Liberty Commission (WEA RLC)
Special to ASSIST News Service

AUSTRALIA (ANS) -- In the 7th and 8th Centuries, Arab armies vanquished civilisations and captured territory from the Arabian Peninsula through Palestine and the Middle East to Persia and India. They swept across North Africa into Spain and France, swallowing up much of the Pax Romana and claiming it for Islam. In the 15th Century the Ottoman Turks moved into Europe, capturing Constantinople (now Istanbul), then the Balkans. But in 1683 the Muslim advance was blocked at the gates of Vienna, and from that point on, the Islamic Empire stagnated and declined, while the post-Reformation Christian West rose.

During the early 18th Century, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab concluded that Islam declined due to its corruption by foreign influences. He believed that to regain its ascendancy, Islam had to wage war on 'shirk' (polytheism, including Christianity) and be reformed, purified of all the pagan and foreign influences that had infiltrated over the centuries.

In 1744, Muhammad ibn Abdul Wahhab and Muhammad ibn Saud, the tribal ruler of Diriyah (near Riyadh) covenanted that ibn Saud would protect ibn Abdul Wahhab and spread the Wahhabi creed. In return, ibn Abdul Wahhab would legitimise ibn Saud's rule over an expanding circle of tribes subdued through a new jihad. This 18th Century pact still underpins the Saudi state today. Wahhabi clerics protect and legitimise the rule of the liberal Saudi royal family, in exchange for total control of religious and education ministries and an agreement that the state will protect and spread Wahhabism's reformed, puritanical Islam worldwide.

The doctrine of Islamic holy war (Jihad) is a central tenet of Wahhabism and has been an instrument for Arab and Islamic imperialism since the 7th Century. Because Wahhabi clerics control Saudi Arabia's education system, Saudi youths are indoctrinated from their earliest days as to the necessity of Islamic jihad and the glory of 'martyrdom' in the cause of Allah. Terrorism experts note that around half of all 'martyred' suicidal jihadis in Iraq have been Saudi. Many are they are not driven by unemployment or poverty, but by the Wahhabi ideology of hate and empire pumped into them. In the last 30 years, Saudi Arabia's population has grown from 6 million to 24 million, with 60 per cent now under 20 years of age. Instead of having hearts filled with youthful, hopeful dreams of future life, they are filled with hate and dreams of death.

Meanwhile, Christians with the exhilarating, liberating Good News of salvation through Christ and abundant life in Christ are silenced. All non-Muslim expression is strictly forbidden. The Constitution mandates that a Saudi citizen be Muslim. Apostates are executed. Christian expatriate workers who gather for secret worship risk arrest by the muttawa, the Islamic religious police from the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Conditions in Saudi prisons are dire, and torture is routine.

On 22 April, the muttawa arrested 40 Pakistani Christians as they met quietly for secret worship. The believers were beaten, mocked and detained. They were later released, but their Christian materials and official ID cards were confiscated. A week later, on 29 April, the muttawa raided a house where 60 Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians had gathered for prayer. The group was threatened and their Bibles were confiscated. Five elders were imprisoned and are being held incommunicado.

PLEASE PRAY SPECIFICALLY FOR:

Christ, the crucified, raised Saviour and glorious enthroned King, who has already defeated the 'evil one', to bind the spiritual forces that keep Saudi Arabia in spiritual bondage to darkness and death.

Christ, the healer and deliverer, to bring spiritual healing and deliverance to Saudi Arabia by opening the doors of freedom, giving sight to the eyes, and breaking the chains that bind and the structures that oppress. (Luke 4:14-21)

'I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, "Here am I, here am I."' (Isaiah 65:1 NIV)
the Holy Spirit, our ever-present comforter and counselor, to protect the Christian prisoners, guard their hearts and minds, build their faith, and empower and use their witness for the kingdom and glory of God.