From: ali@utrcv1 (ALI BABA)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.arabic,soc.culture.iranian,soc.culture.afghanistan
Subject: Saudi clergymen seek tighter Islamic rule
Date: 8 Oct 92 15:59:00 GMT
Organization: United Technologies Research Center

Paris, Oct.7- For the second time in two years a large group of militant
fundamentalist clergymen in Saudi Arabia have submitted a petition to king
Fahad criticizing virtually every aspect of domestic and foreign policy in
the Kingdom and demanding a more rigorous application of Islamic law in a
country that already ranks as one of the world's most conservative muslim
societies.
The 46 page document was delivered to the saudi government's senior
religious leader' sheik Abdelaziz Bin baz, who administers the kingdom's
religious affairs.
It demanded revision of the nation's defense and foreign policies and the
prohibition of dealings with Western financial and cultural institutions,
such as banks and television and entertainment companies.
The document, signed by 107 religious official from various government
financed Muslim universities and institutions around the kingdom, denounced
the government's "containment" of religious activities and the arrests of
some religious firebrands who have made inflammatory speeches at Friday
prayers.
It also severely criticized Saudi Arabia's payment of $26 billion to Iraq
during its war against Iran from 1980 to 1988 and other "non-Islamic
governments," including those of Syria, Russia, Jordan, Algeria and Egypt.
It ask the king to refrain from inviting foreign "atheist"troops to defend
Saudi Arabia ever again, as he did in 1990 after the invasion of Kuwait.
The petition, a copy which was fax to New york times by militant Islamic
organization, was bolder and defiant than a similar document drafted in
may 1991 by some of the same people, and contained more than twice as many
signatures.
The official press agency denounced the petition as "misguided" and
divisive," full of errors and aimed at "sowing confusion" while overlooking
the good deeds of government."
several Saudi liberals dismissed the document as a manifestation of the
insecurity of Islamic militants about the fast pace of modernization in
Saudi Arabia. They said it was probably prompted by King's decision in
February to establish a 60 member consultative council.
The memorandum demands that religious programming, already commanding well
over 50 percent of the time and space available on radio and TV. and most
newspapers, be increased further. It calls on the King to direct Saudi
government television to stop running programs that "glorify decadent
Western life styles."
The Saudi ruling establishment, the royal princes and businessmen who favor
a liberal economic policy and steady modernization of political and social
institutions, has run into increasing resistance from religious militants.
The religious right has opposed middle east peace talks, which the King
supports, and the Saudi alliance with the United States.
the petitioners asked that muslim religious scholars be allowed to vastly
expand their freedom of expression "on any subject they see fit" without
seeking approval from elder religious leader affiliated with the
government. It also sought permission for the fundamentalist to set up
their own privately financed press and broadcast companies and a supreme
consultative council of religious figures to review all written and
broadcast material before it is presented to public.
The document sharply criticizes waste in military spending, saying that
there is a wide discrepancy between the amounts spent on purchasing arms
and expertise in the past 20 years, which exceed $150 billion, and the size
and power of the Saudi army which said, is too weak to defend the country
against aggressors.
It also criticized the failure of the Saudi military to render assistance
to fellow Muslims "or in fighting the Jews," in an allusion to Bosnia and
Israel. The petition asked for the creation of an army of a half a million
Saudi (in a country with a population of about 10 million), the
establishment of compulsory military service and the creation of a reserve
corps "as is the case with the Jewish enemy."

                       From New York Times Thursday Oct. 8th page A6

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