Saudi Arabia

FEBRUARY 2004

After it became known that 15 of 

the 19 hijackers who perpetrated 

the attacks of September 11, 2001 

were Saudi nationals, urgent 

questions emerged about whether intolerant 

and repressive policies within Saudi Arabia 

were promoting extremism and terrorism 

abroad. There have been a growing number 

of reports that funding coming from Saudi 

Arabia has been used to finance religious 

schools and other activities that are alleged 

to support religious intolerance, and, in 

some cases, violence associated with certain

Islamic militant and extremist organizations in several parts of the world. Other reports have identified members of extremist 

and militant groups that have been trained 

as clerics in Saudi Arabia. These reports 

raise troubling questions about the Saudi 

government’s role in propagating worldwide an ideology that is incompatible with 

both the war against terrorism, as well as internationally recognized guarantees of the 

right to freedom of religion or belief. This, 

in turn, raises questions about U.S. policy 

toward Saudi Arabia.

In order to further explore these issues 

and their implications for U.S. policy, the 

Commission issued a report on Saudi Arabia in May 2003 and held a public hearing in 

November 2003 on Saudi Arabia’s reported 

export of intolerance. At the hearing, the 

Commission heard from four panelists: Dr. 

Mai Yamani, Research Fellow, Middle East 

Program, Royal Institute for International 

Affairs; Ambassador Martin Indyk, Director, Saban Center for Middle East Policy, 

Brookings Institution; Mr. Robert Baer, 

former CIA operative and author of Sleeping with the Devil: How Washington Sold our 

Soul for Saudi Crude; and Mr. David Aufhauser, former General Counsel, Treasury 

Department and former Chair, National 

Security Council Policy Coordinating 

Committee on Terrorist Financing. The 

panelists agreed that Saudi exportation of 

intolerance, the need to reform the education system, and addressing the virulently 

inciteful government-controlled media 

were among the most pressing issues that 

need to be dealt with both by the Saudis 

themselves and as a matter of U.S. policy. 

Each further confirmed and highlighted 

Commission concerns and U.S. policy recommendations outlined in the May 2003 

report. 

The Commission has concluded, as 

did the State Department, that there is no 

religious freedom in Saudi Arabia. The 

ramifications of this are felt both inside 

Saudi Arabia and around the globe. The 

Saudi government forcefully and almost 

completely limits the public practice or 

expression of religion to a narrow religious 

ideology commonly known in the West as 

“Wahhabism.”1 Consequently, non-Wahhabi Sunnis, Shiites, and other Muslims, 

as well as the more than two million 

Christian, Hindu, and other non-Muslim 

foreign workers, have been subject to severe 

violations of their human rights, including 

religious freedom. These violations have 

included harassment, detention, arrest, deportation, imprisonment, and torture. For 

several years, the Commission has recommended that successive U.S. Administrations designate Saudi Arabia a “country of 

particular concern” for its “egregious, systematic and ongoing violations of religious 

freedom.” 

In recent years, the Saudi government 

has conceded greater responsibility to its 

Wahhabi religious establishment in such 

areas as the judiciary, education, religious 

guidance (i.e., the mutawaa or religious 

police), and the propagation of Islam globally. The application of repressive religious 

laws has had a particular impact on Saudi 

women and female foreign workers. Saudi 

authorities continue to charge individuals 

with apostasy and blasphemy, crimes that 

can be punishable by death. Underlying 

these repressive policies on religious freedom and other human rights is an education system that is comprised primarily of 

a religious curriculum – mandatory for all 

students – that has been found to contain 

hate-filled and discriminatory material. 

Anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, and antiWestern sentiment also remains prevalent 

in the government-controlled media and 

in sermons delivered by clerics, who are 

under the authority of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs.

UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

800 North Capitol Street, NW Suite 790

Washington, DC 20002

February 2004 

P O L I C Y 

F O C U S

“...there is no 

religious 

freedom in 

Saudi Arabia.”

IN 2003, THE U.S. COMMISSION

ON INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS

FREEDOM INCREASED ITS ATTENTION ON SAUDI ARABIA. IN MAY

2003 IT ISSUED A REPORT WITH

POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS ON

SAUDI ARABIA. ON NOVEMBER

10, 2003, COMMISSIONER

KHALED ABOU EL FADL PUBLISHED AN OP-ED APPROVED BY

THE COMMISSION IN THE WALL

STREET JOURNAL ADDRESSING

THE URGENT NEED FOR CONGRESS

TO INITIATE AND MAKE PUBLIC A

STUDY ON SAUDI EXPORTATION OF

INTOLERANCE. MOST RECENTLY, 

ON NOVEMBER 18, 2003, THE

COMMISSION HELD A HEARING ON

CAPITOL HILL TITLED, “IS SAUDI

ARABIA A STRATEGIC THREAT?: 

THE GLOBAL PROPAGATION OF

INTOLERANCE.”

State Department International 

Religious Freedom Report, 2003
2

visit our web site at 

www.uscirf.gov

Saudi Reform Efforts

Since September 11, 2001, and in particular since the May 2003 terrorist bombing 

in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saudi government 

officials, including Crown Prince Abdullah, 

have made statements denouncing religious 

extremism and highlighting reform efforts in the areas of education, eradicating

extremism in mosques and abuses of the 

mutawaa, municipal elections, and funding 

and oversight of Saudi charities that finance 

operations outside of the country.

In September 2003, more than 300 

Saudi men and women from all regions of 

the Kingdom signed a document addressed 

to King Fahd calling on the government “to 

recognize that holding out on reform for 

too long, and not allowing popular participation in decision making, are among the 

main factors that have contributed to the 

dangerous turning point at which that our 

country now finds itself.”2

According to the witnesses at the Commission’s November 2003 hearing, current 

reform efforts by the Saudi government have 

not gone far enough to address effectively 

extremism within the Kingdom, the exportation of intolerance globally, and problems 

in the education system, among other things. 

Indeed, in her testimony, Dr. Yamani said, 

“the Saudi royal family has shown no inclination towards genuine reform.”3

Mr. Aufhauser highlighted some of the 

Saudi government’s internal reform efforts, 

but added that if these kinds of reforms 

are indeed sincere, the Saudi government 

must expand its domestic efforts to regulate 

funding activities outside the Kingdom and 

address the propagation of intolerance by 

Saudi-trained clerics throughout the world.

The Commission has noted discrepancies among Saudi officials about reform 

initiatives and other efforts. A recent example is the reported decision of the Saudi 

government to shut down all Islamic affairs 

departments in its embassies globally.4 A 

few days after the initial press report quoted 

an unnamed Saudi official confirming the 

intended closings, the Minister of Islamic 

Affairs publicly said that an article in the 

Washington Post was incorrect and that “the 

[Islamic affairs] centers are working and 

they are part of the Kingdom’s message.”5

It has been widely reported that Islamic 

affairs sections in Saudi embassies globally 

have been responsible for both distributing 

religious materials with inflammatory and 

hate-filled language toward non-Wahhabi 

religious groups and providing diplomatic 

status to Muslim clerics, even non-Saudi 

clerics, some of whom have been known to 

preach hate and intolerance of other religious communities. 

“...when you mix that [financing] with religious teachings 

and the thousands of madrassas that condemn pluralism 

and mark nonbelievers as enemies, you have a combustible 

compound that really needs to be addressed.”

David Aufhauser, former General Counsel, U.S. Treasury Department

IN 2003, CONGRESS CONTINUED

TO SHOWASUBSTANTIAL INTEREST

IN SAUDI ARABIA. TWO HOUSE

RESOLUTIONS (H.CON.RES. 242 

AND H.CON.RES. 244) WERE

INTRODUCED IN JULY FOCUSING ON REFORMING THE SAUDI

EDUCATION SYSTEM AND HIGHLIGHTING HUMAN RIGHTS AND

RELIGIOUS FREEDOM CONCERNS, 

RESPECTIVELY. A SIMILAR SENATE RESOLUTION (S.CON.RES. 

14) WAS INTRODUCED IN MARCH

2003 REGARDING THE EDUCATION SYSTEM. H.CON.RES. 244 

CALLS ON THE U.S. GOVERNMENT TO URGE SAUDI ARABIA

TO IMPLEMENT SEVERAL OF THE

SPECIFIC REFORMS THAT THE

COMMISSION RECOMMENDED

IN ITS MAY 2003 REPORT. IN

NOVEMBER, HOUSE AND SENATE BILLS (S. 1888 AND H.R. 

3643) WERE INTRODUCED ON

SAUDI FUNDING OF CHARITIES, 

SCHOOLS, AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS OUTSIDE OF THE KINGDOM

THAT AID AND ABET TERRORISM. 

FURTHERMORE, A NUMBER OF

CONGRESSIONAL HEARINGS, BOTH

IN THE HOUSE AND SENATE, 

WERE HELD IN 2003 ON SAUDI

FINANCING OF EXTREMISM AND

WAHHABI INFLUENCE IN THE

UNITED STATES.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 4

P O L I C Y F O C U S S A U D I A R A B I A

Religious police enforce strict dress code BBC photo

USCIRF
USCIRF

3 Commission Recommendations for U.S. Policy

The Commission issued several recommendations regarding U.S.-Saudi relations in May 2003, which have 

been updated to include evidence presented at the hearing.

For four consecutive years, the Commission has recommended that the U.S. government should designate 

Saudi Arabia a “country of particular concern” for its “egregious, systematic and ongoing violations of religious 

freedom” under the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998. To date, successive Administrations have failed 

to do so.

In general, the U.S. government should press for meaningful progress on reforms and support those seeking reform in Saudi Arabia. These reforms – many of which have already been identified by the Saudis themselves 

– should address religious freedom and other human rights conditions inside the Kingdom, as well as funding and 

other avenues of exporting hatred and intolerance. Several specific suggestions are given below.

A D DRESS GLOBAL PROP A GATION

• The U.S. government should task experts designated by the Commission or the General Accounting Office to undertake a public study to determine whether and how – and the extent to which – the Saudi government, individual 

members of the royal family, or Saudi-funded individuals or institutions are propagating globally, including in the 

United States, a religious ideology that explicitly promotes hate, intolerance, and human rights violations, in some 

cases violence, toward members of other religious groups, both Muslim and non-Muslim. Congress should authorize and fund such a study. 

• The U.S. government should request the Saudi government to provide an accounting of what kinds of Saudi 

support go to which religious schools, mosques, centers of learning, and other religious organizations globally, 

including in the United States. 

• The U.S. government should urge the Saudi government to stop funding religious activities abroad until the Saudis know the content of the teachings and are satisfied that they do not promote hatred, intolerance, and other 

human rights violations.

• The U.S. government should urge the Saudi government to monitor, regulate, and report publicly about the activities of Saudi charitable organizations based outside the Kingdom in countries throughout the world. 

• The U.S. government should urge the Saudi government to: a) stop providing diplomatic status to Islamic clerics 

and educators teaching outside the Kingdom; and b) close down those Islamic affairs sections in Saudi embassies 

throughout the world that have been responsible for propagating intolerance. 

ENC OURA GE REFORM

• The U.S. government should publicly support and encourage implementation of numerous Saudi government 

statements to carry out political, educational, and judicial reforms in the Kingdom. Specifically, the U.S. government should: a) raise concerns about human rights, including religious freedom, in its anti-terrorism dialogue 

with the Saudi government; and b) institutionalize a high-level ongoing dialogue on the Saudi reform agenda. 

• The U.S. government should urge the Saudi government to cease messages of hatred, intolerance, or incitement 

to violence against non-Wahhabi Muslims and non-Muslim religious groups in the educational curricula and 

textbooks, as well as in government-controlled mosques and media. 

• The U.S. government should expand its efforts to support initiatives to advance human rights, including freedom of religion and belief, in Saudi Arabia; the U.S. State Department should develop a country plan identifying 

activities concerning Saudi Arabia and report to Congress on the objectives and details of the plan and its implementation. In particular:

a)the State Department should ensure that public diplomacy, democracy, human rights, and other assistance programs directed toward the Middle East include components specifically for Saudi Arabia. This should include, 

for example, the Middle East Partnership Initiative – a U.S. aid initiative that focuses on political, educational, 

and economic reforms in the Middle East, as well as the empowerment of women; and

b)the U.S. government should take steps to overcome obstacles to broadcasting Radio Sawa – a U.S. government-funded, 24-hour Arabic language news and music radio service – throughout Saudi Arabia.

“As long as the Middle East remains a place where 

freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, 

resentment, and violence ready for export.”

President George W. Bush

C O M M I S S I O N R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S

MICHAEL K. YOUNG, CHAIR

Dean, The George Washington 

University Law School

FELICE D. GAER, VICE CHAIR

Director, Jacob Blaustein Institute for 

the Advancement of Human Rights, 

The American Jewish Committee 

NINA SHEA, VICE CHAIR

Director of the Center for Religious 

Freedom, Freedom House

PREETA D. BANSAL, 

COMMISSIONER

Counsel, Skadden, Arps, Slate, 

Meagher & Flom

PATTI CHANG, 

COMMISSIONER

President and CEO, Women’s 

Foundation of California

ARCHBISHOP CHARLES J. 

CHAPUT, COMMISSIONER

Archbishop of Denver

KHALED ABOU EL FADL, 

COMMISSIONER

Visiting Professor at Yale Law School 

and Professor of Law at UCLA

RICHARD D. LAND, 

COMMISSIONER 

President and CEO of the Ethics and 

Religious Liberty Commission of the 

Southern Baptist Convention

BISHOP RICARDO RAMIREZ, 

COMMISSIONER

Bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces, 

New Mexico

JOHN V. HANFORD III, 

EX-OFFICIO, 

NON-VOTING COMMISSIONER

Ambassador-at-Large for 

International Religious Freedom, U.S. 

Department of State

JOSEPH R. CRAPA, 

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

COMMISSIONERS
P O L I C Y F O C U S S A U D I A R A B I A

visit our web site at 

www.uscirf.gov

The conditions inside Saudi Arabia, as 

well as the possibility that the Saudi government has played a role in spreading hatred, 

intolerance, and even violence against both 

Muslims and non-Muslims, have very 

significant implications for U.S. foreign 

policy. Advancing human rights, including 

religious freedom, has not heretofore been 

a public feature of the U.S.-Saudi relationship. The Commission has recommended 

that it should be. 

Exporting Intolerance

Witnesses at the November hearing 

endorsed the Commission’s 2003 recommendation that Congress should authorize 

a study to determine whether, how, and 

the extent to which the Saudi government, 

members of the royal family, or Saudifunded individuals or institutions are 

propagating globally a religious ideology 

that explicitly promotes hate and violence 

toward members of other religious groups, 

including disfavored Muslims. Ambassador Indyk testified that “Shining the light 

on Saudi practices is very important.... I 

would only urge you to go beyond it, to 

shine the light not just on Saudi practices 

when it comes to exporting intolerance, but 

also on the Saudi education curriculum and 

the Saudi media, which continues to this 

day to trot out the most intolerant, racist, and anti-Semitic diatribes.”6

 Mr. Baer 

testified that the U.S. government should 

compel the Saudi government to completely 

“withdraw support for these groups [terrorist groups and madrassas where intolerance 

is preached].”7

Mr. Aufhauser argued that the Saudis 

should not fund any religious activities 

abroad unless they are convinced that what 

is being taught is not intolerant. He noted 

that while serving in the U.S. government, 

“more than one minister – prime minister 

– told me that they will not even let a Saudi 

cleric into their land anymore for fear that 

the preaching would be preaching of hate 

and revolt and violence rather than religion.”8 He added that “when you mix that 

[financing] with religious teachings and the 

thousands of madrassas that condemn pluralism and mark nonbelievers as enemies, 

you have a combustible compound that 

really needs to be addressed.”9

In a September 2003 press report, 

Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud acknowledged that it may be possible that 

individual Saudis have funded religious 

schools abroad that preach intolerance.10 He 

has stated publicly that the Saudi government would welcome information about 

this funding, which he characterized as a 

crime in Saudi Arabia. However, Prince 

Saud has not addressed the possibility that 

members of the royal family or Saudi government also may have contributed funds.

As pointed out by Commissioner 

Khaled Abou El Fadl in a November 10, 

2003 Wall Street Journal op-ed, “What we 

seek are facts – whether they vindicate or 

implicate Saudi Arabia.” The problem is 

serious and warrants investigation. The 

study would help assess the effectiveness of 

reforms announced to date and highlight 

areas where the U.S. government could urge 

that further steps be taken. 

It is important to note that the Commission is not recommending that the 

U.S. government conduct a study on the 

nature of the religion of Islam or the Saudi 

government’s favored interpretation of 

Islam. Rather, the study would focus on 

the alleged activities of a government that 

may have a strong effect on the protection 

of religious freedom and the promotion of 

violence and terrorism worldwide, where 

both Muslims and non-Muslims are adversely affected.

In his landmark speech in November 2003 commemorating 20 years of the 

National Endowment for Democracy, 

President Bush, even though speaking to 

the larger Middle East, fittingly described 

Commission concerns about the lack of religious freedom in the Kingdom and Saudi 

Arabia’s global exportation of intolerance: 

“As long as the Middle East remains a place 

where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment, and 

violence ready for export.” 

“...the Saudi royal family has shown 

no inclination towards genuine reform.” 

Mai Yamani, Royal Institute of International Affairs

1 Those in Saudi Arabia who espouse the Wahhabi doctrine 

generally refer to themselves as Salafi (one who returns to the 

pure roots of Islam) or muwahhidun (unitarians).

2 Khalid Al-Dakhil, “Saudi Arabia’s Reform Movement: A 

Historical Glimpse,” Arab Reform Bulletin, Carnegie Endowment 

for International Peace, October 2003 (http://www.ceip.org/

files/Publications/ARB-10-15.asp?from=pubtype, accessed 

December 5, 2003).

3 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Is 

Saudi Arabia a Strategic Threat?: the Global Propagation of 

Intolerance,” November 18, 2003 (http://www.uscirf.gov/

hearings/18Nov03/saudi.php3, accessed December 2, 2003).

4 Susan Schmidt and Caryle Murphy, The Washington Post, “U.S. 

Revokes Visa of Cleric at Saudi Embassy,” December 7, 2003, 

A1. For further developments on this issue, see Caryle Murphy 

and Susan Schmidt, The Washington Post, “U.S. Revokes Visas 

of 16 at Islamic Institute,” January 29, 2004, A10.

5 Saudi Press Agency, “Saudis Deny Closing Religious Centers,” 

December 9, 2003.

6 U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, “Is Saudi 

Arabia a Strategic Threat?” 

7 Ibid.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 Lisa Beyer, “Inside the Kingdom,” Time, 51, September 15, 

2003.

TO CONTACT THE COMMISSION :

UNITED STATES COMMISSION ON

INTERNATIONAL RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

800 North Capitol St., NW, Suite 790

Washington, DC 20002

Web site: www.uscirf.gov

E-mail: communications@uscirf.gov

Voice: 202-523-3240 

Fax: 202-523-5020

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2

4

USCIRF

Commissioners at November USCIRF hearing USCIRF Communications Office photo