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holymains · 2 years ago

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Islamic calendar 2017 saudi arabia

Shia Muslims do so to replicate the sufferings of Hussein ibn Ali on the Day of Ashura. Sunni Muslims also fast during Muharram for the first ten days of Muharram, or just the tenth day, or on both the ninth and tenth days the exact term depends on the individual. Some Muslims fast during this day, because it is recorded in the hadith[citation needed that Musa (Moses) and his people obtained a victory over the Egyptian Pharaoh on the 10th day of Muharram accordingly Muhammad asked Muslims to fast on this day that is Ashura and on a day before that is 9th.įasting differs among the Muslim groupings mainstream Shia Muslims stop eating and drinking during sunlight hours and do not eat until late afternoon. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a monarchy ruled by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, who is both head of state and head of government. Abu Qataada (R.A.) has related that the Prophet has reported to have said that by fasting on the 10th of Muharram Allah Ta'aalaa will pardon the sins of the past year. The tenth day of Muharram is the Day of Ashura, which to Shia Muslims is part of the Mourning of Muharram.ġ0th of Muharram: On this day he who spends more lavishly for the sake of his family members, Allah Ta'aalaa will bestow blessing upon the sustenance of the following year. It is held to be the most sacred of all the months, excluding Ramadan. The word "Muharram" means "Forbidden" and is derived from the word harām, meaning "sinful". It is one of the four sacred months of the year.Since the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, Muharram moves from year to year when compared with the Gregorian calendar. Muharram (Arabic: المحرّم) is the first month of the Islamic calendar. This year, Saudi Arabia announced holidays from the 25th of Ramadan until the 7th of Shawal, the lunar month after Ramadan.Īs per astronomic calculations, Turkey and Muslim communities in the US and Europe expect the first day of Eid al-Fitr on Sunday, June 25.What is Muharram-Islamic New Year Holiday ? Islamic New Year (Muharram is the first month of the Hijri calendar) 2. Ramadan lasts either 29 or 30 days, depending on sighting of the moon on the 29th night of Ramadan, on Saturday June 24.Īt the end of Ramadan, Muslims celebrate breaking their fast with the three-day festival of Eid al-Fitr, but holidays differ by country. Muslim holidays by their Gregorian dates 1. The dates for these two holidays are determined by tradition according to the Islamic or Hijra calendar, which is based on the lunar year.3 The dates for Muslim holidays change every. In general, Muslims observe two key holidays: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. However, local sighting continues to be the default policy in each country. Muslims have been celebrating Eid (Muslim festival) holidays for the past 1,400 years. In India Ramadan will Start from May 28 2017. Saudi Arabia announced that the first day of Ramadan in the country will be on Saturday, May 27. The Islamic New Year is on the first day of Muharram, the first month in the lunar Islamic calendar, which differs from the Gregorian calendar. Last year in May, member states of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, at the International Hijri Calendar Unity Congress held in Istanbul, voted in favour of adopting a single unified lunar calendar. The Saudi Arabia Supreme Court announced that Friday May 26 will complete the month of Sha'baan and that the first day of Ramadan will be on Saturday May 27. Next year: Tue, (Tentative Date) Last year: Tue, Aug 10, 2021. If the new moon, Crescent, is sighted, the next day is counted as first day of the next month. This records an increase from the previous. A new month in Islamic Calendar begins with sighting of moon on 29th of the prevailing month. وزارة الأوقاف والشؤون الدينية – سلطنة عمان May 26, 2017 Islamic (Hijri) Calendar Year 1953 CE Based on Ummul Qura System, Saudi Arabia Covers hijri years: 1372 - 1373 AH Accompanied by fasting calendar and. Saudi Arabia Cement Production: Based on Islamic Calendar data was reported at 53418.000 Ton th in Dec 2020. Moon sighters in the UAE posted a photo showing the new moon crescent during the day on Friday. If the moon is not visible, the month will last 30 days.Īstronomic predictions indicate that the new moon crescent should be visible either with the naked eye, or with a telescope from around the world on Friday evening. Muslim lunar months last between 29 and 30 days, and depending on sighting of the moon on the 29th night of each month. #Auspol we extend our prayerful and kindest thoughts to the #Muslim Community for #Ramadan #RamadanMubarak /G7L1kCskla “Ramadan Mubarak” and “Ramadan Kareem” are common greetings exchanged in this occasion, wishing the recipient a blessed and generous Ramadan. In Muslim-majority countries, offices are required by law to reduce working hours, and many restaurants are closed during daylight hours in Ramadan.

#Islamic calendar 2017 saudi arabia

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the-enemy-of-satan · 2 years ago

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Brief News for the Peoples of Mankind..

I Swear by the Truth [Allaah] that it is impossible for the deceased King Salman and his Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to give a live and audiovisual speech at the Gulf Summit in July 2022AD, until Abdulaziz Al Saud [known in the West as Ibn Saud] gets out of his grave. I truly say nothing about Allaah except for the truth by the decisive word that is not to be taken for amusement.

Imam Mahdi Nasser Mohammed al-Yamani.

__________

Imam Mahdi Nasser Mohammed al-Yamani

05-Duh’l Hijjah-1443AH

04-July-2022 AD

11:03 AM

(According to the Official Time of [Mecca Mother of Towns])

__________

Translator’s note:

*Ibn Saud is the former King of KSA who died in 1953 AD. He is the father of the dead King Salman bin Abdulaziz and the grandfather of the deceased Crown Prince Mohammed bin*.

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disparitymatrix · 4 years ago

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Former Saudi King Established a School for Royals, Overlooking the Financial Conditions of Poor Citizens

Saudi Arabia inhabits around 33 million people, out of which maximum employed people work in oil and gas sector, leaving just 18 percent of the employed population working in labour force. As of last year, Saudi Arabia’s unemployment rate was 12.3 percent.

However, this year, the world’s largest oil exporter has been facing a dual crisis because of the pandemic, energy output cuts and lower crude prices, which have together derailed a fragile economic recovery from the last oil-price rout. This financial jerk sparked the unemployment rate to 15.4 percent in April to June.

Saudi Arabia has one of the largest GDPs among the GCC countries. Yet, the Gulf giant’s economy contracted by seven percent in the second quarter of 2020. Can it be blamed on the education inequality lurking around the region? A country’s economy, employment rate and education rate go hand in hand. All three factors are co-related to each other.

While educational attainment is expanding in Saudi, only 31 percent of 25-34 year-olds had attained less than upper secondary education in Saudi Arabia as per a 2017 data. 46 percent of 25-64 year-olds had below upper secondary education. Saudi Arabia reports the lowest rates of female participation in tertiary education alongside India, Mexico, Switzerland and Turkey.

Saudi Arabia is the land of the riches, where the Royals have all the power. The kingdom’s former King Ibn Saud founded the Princes’ School in 1937 for the members of House of Saud and other important Saudis. The goal was to make it easier for the sons of the Royal family and other foremost Saudis achieve quality higher education.

The school was only conducted in the Royal Court, thus, allowing only the members of the monarch to participate in the school activities. Saudi King Salman and his predecessor King Fahd bin Abdulaziz Al Saud have both been the prodigies of the royal school among other princes.

A school just for the royals and other prominent Saudis deeply reflects the power of money invested in the hands of the aristocrats. While the royals have always been on the receiving end of quality education, what about the common people? What is the Saudi government doing for the betterment of the poor people who cannot bear high costs of education?

#SaudiArabia #unemploymentrate #SaudiRoyals

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healtproblems · 4 years ago

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Why is Mohammed bin Salman afraid of him?

The fact that the rascal of king Salman's writing saves him when he was the prince of Riyadh was seven pages and he called him from tomorrow and told me

The truth means your words are good and mentioned that he sent to a group of officials and I remember that the word nothing modified and I am responsible for your words will be part of my project twelve years ago are just words said by Prince Salman to the preacher Salman when the prince became king in prison Did not write a tweet. If one could understand a certain meaning, I would have avoided it. They say they are seeking to execute him for a tweet in which he sympathized with Qatar, Saudi Arabia responded with thirty-seven charges and demanded the death of his brother, and he said with regret they arrested him and they also imprisoned him and his son sympathized with him so they canceled his scholarship and prevented him from renewing his passport. In the world of his motto who does not apply to me, he is the Saudi reformist cleric classified among the 200 figures who are the most influential in the world. Salman al-Awda why Saudi Arabia registers him. Look at Sheikh Salman today, this beautiful and creative sheik who takes young people and brings them into the world. Salman al-Awda was born in The City of Buraida in the Saudi Province of Qassim in 1996. He received his religious education at Imam Mohammed Bin Saud University, where he received his Ph.D. in Sharia. The oud originated in circumstances in which Saudi Arabia opened up to Islamists and a historic moment in which the Arab scene witnessed national periods. Nasser was the first enemy of political Islam for years, informing people of the ideas of Muslim brotherhood sympathizers under their considerable control over the education sector at the time with the full support of the authorities. I pray to be strong and raise the issues of Islam. Regional and international circumstances were not far from the man in the communist tide threatening America in the region. He had to extend a counter-Islamic tide that the Two Holy Mosques would of course sponsor the Soviet Union of Afghanistan in 1999. Global jihad campaigns are launched under American auspices to drive out infidel invaders. There is a general mobilization and the call will triumph the Islamic revolution with a Shiite character in Iran, offset by a Saudi need for Sunni Islamist currents that enhance their political legitimacy. In such circumstances, Sheikh Salman's star will emerge back and shine with him the sun of a current that will completely change the face of Saudi Arabia and the awakening, his control must remain noticeable to us, we must pay the price of this false proposition experienced by the rich countries of the Islamic world is a revolutionary Islamic current based on traditional Wahhabi ideology but with a revolutionary tendency. His speech is enthusiastic, listens to the street, and is accepted by the authority and adopted by King Fahd bin Abdul Aziz personally. Our Islamic world today was influenced by the ideas of sheiks who came from neighboring Arab countries, such as The Syrian Sheikh Mohammed Sorour Zain al-Abidin, who was authorized to criticize the crown prince, and this current of the current carries very famous symbols, people who are today considered to be among the greatest opponents of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Mohsen al-Awaji, Safar al-Faqih, Saad al-Faqih, Mohammed al-Maasar, Awad al-Qarni, and Salman al-Awda, but before returning to the story of Ibn Salman's rising hostility to this current, come to know the big event that will lead to a clash between the Sahwa and the Saudi authorities. The events of the collapse of the Soviet Union, the invasion of Kuwait, the invasion of Kuwait, the Saudi invasion of Kuwait at that time, and the events began to dim the star, there is no longer an American need for a religious ally who fights communist infidels and the Islamists became a domestic burden and a heavy voice on the ears of power. The kingdom's biggest nightmare sought the popular awakening stream of King Fahd to implement political reforms through a petition known as the Demand scare. Salman Al-Awda was one of the signatories. The petition refused to return to the book of sermons and lectures and tightened the noose on the Awakening. But the nightmare is not over. This current will once again face the authority by refusing to bring American troops to Saudi Arabia following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, which will criticize the government's policies and the street. Salman al-Awda will come out with a video entitled Reasons for the Fall of States attacking the idea of using non-Muslims, Jews, and Christians as enemies of the Orient and enemies. Unfortunately, his enmity with these people often turns into brothers and allies. pro-reform demonstrations will break out and there will be limited clashes with security forces. The authority responded violently to the Awakenings and imprisoned their leaders, and the oud was given five years of imprisonment between 1,940,000 and ninety-nine.99 99 years. What tasted the taste of freedom that came out the symbols of awakening to freedom and seemed that their revolutionary ideas changed and began to appear on the media channels that they were criticizing yesterday and became Sheikh Al-Awda guest of MBC Saudi Channel in a Ramadan program named cornerstone got the songbook or Alfred or khatib or wrote stories and read everything that happened. The old awakening stream has changed or, rather, it has died irreversibly. That's what everyone seemed to be. Some were interested in returning and his companions were so interested in them that he published a special book entitled The Islamic Awakening in Saudi Arabia, and hardly a page passes without mentioning Salman al-Awda's name. This person is accused of masterminding the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and was the most important official in the Saudi Royal Court, the arm hiding behind electronic flies named Saud al-Qahtani. During the 10 years of King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz's rule, he has shifted from confronting the black terror of al-Qaeda and its sisters. There is a need to restore the entire people of Egypt without excluding anyone. Neither a Muslim nor a Christian, my brothers, nor my predecessor, has been warned of the government, which has not yet taken a decisive position on the Arab revolutions. Hamas has not reached the point of declaring jihad as Mohammed al-Arifi did, and all the Awakening movement itself will push much more dangerously.

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mideastsoccer · 4 years ago

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Indonesia: A major prize in the battle for the soul of Islam

By James M. Dorsey

Saudi support of religious ultra-conservatism in Indonesia contradicts Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s promotion of an undefined form of moderate Islam intended to project his kingdom as tolerant, innovative, and forward-looking. It also suggests that Saudi Arabia is willing to work with the Muslim Brotherhood despite its denunciation of the group as a terrorist organization.

An initial version of this story was first published in Inside Arabia

A podcast version of this story is available on Soundcloud, Itunes, Spotify, Stitcher, TuneIn, Spreaker, Pocket Casts, Tumblr, Podbean, Audecibel, Patreon and Castbox.

Java’s mosque landscape resembles a map dotted with flags marking outposts of various warring parties.

Mosques with three-tiered tiled roofs reflect traditional Javanese cultural houses of worship. They outnumber the rapidly growing number of Saudi-funded mosques that sport a little dome rather than tiles as the third tier of their roof that were built by the Prosperous Justice Party (Partai Keadilan Sejahtera or PKS).

A plaque on the construction site of a mosque in a village in Central Java tells the story.

The plaque features the Saudi flag as well as the emblem of Vision 2030, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to reform and diversify the kingdom’s economy.

The plaque thanks the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) for the funding. WAMY is one of the government-controlled non-governmental organizations the Saudi government has used for almost half a century to globally fund the spread of Islamic ultra-conservatism.

The story the plaque tells however goes beyond charitable Saudi support for the construction of houses of worship in the world’s largest Muslim majority democracy.

It suggests that Indonesia is in a category of its own in a global rivalry for Muslim religious soft power in which Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the southeast Asian state are major players.

It also calls into question Prince Mohammed’s shift away from religious legitimization and massive global funding of ultra-conservative religious institutions. Finally, as in the case of Yemen, it casts doubt on the sincerity of the Saudi government’s labelling of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization.

It further shines a spot light on religious soft power competition between the kingdom and the UAE and the two countries’ different approaches in harnessing faith in a bid to define what it stands for and how it is utilized to project the state as tolerant, pluralistic and forward-looking.

To be sure, Prince Mohammed, since rising to power in 2015, has significantly curbed almost half a century of Saudi funding of ultra-conservative mosques, cultural and educational institutions, scholarships, and media across the globe which was implemented in an effort to cement the kingdom’s leadership of the Muslim world and counter Iranian revolutionary ideology.

The crown prince has also nurtured a sense of nationalism as a pillar of Saudi identity, curtailing the power of the kingdom’s religious establishment and religion as a major legitimizer of the rule of the Al-Saud family.

Indonesia, however, is the exception that confirms the rule.

Welcomed by tens of thousands lining the streets of Jakarta, King Salman made the importance of religious investment in Indonesia clear on a visit to Indonesia in 2017, the first by a Saudi monarch in almost half a century, as part of an Asian tour that also took him among others to Malaysia, Japan, and China.

The monarch disappointed Indonesian leaders with the degree to which he was willing to invest in the country’s economy but was more generous when it came to spending on religious soft power.

Media reports suggested that the kingdom committed to building five mosques for the military and three new satellite campuses of the Saudi-funded Institute for Islamic and Arabic Studies (LIPIA) in Indonesian provinces.

Bahasa Indonesia, Indonesia’s official language, is virtually non-existent on the grounds of LIPIA, a bastion of Saudi ultra-conservatism in the Indonesian capital affiliated with the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh. LIPIA is dedicated to the teaching of Arabic.

LIPIA’s more than three thousand students study tuition-free in gender segregated classes. The institute frowns upon factotums of social life that are denounced as forbidden innovations by Muslim ultra-conservatives such as music, television, and fun.

Driving Saudi proselytization interests in Indonesia is far more than the kingdom’s long-standing support for religious ultra-conservatism.

Like in the case of Iran, it aims to counter a challenge, this time around not from a militant rival but from one that threatens to bypass the kingdom as well as the UAE as a result of its moderation.

The renewed Saudi drive came two years after Indonesian President Joko Widodo first endorsed a concept of humanitarian Islam that propagates tolerance and pluralism and endorses the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights put forward by Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), widely viewed as the world’s largest Muslim movement.

Mr. Widodo (also known as Jokowi) chose Ma’ruf Amin, a leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, founded almost a century ago in opposition to Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia’s strand of Islamic ultra-conservatism, as vice-president for his second term.

Speaking three years after his initial endorsement at the laying of the ground stone of the International Islamic University (UIII) in West Java, Mr. Widodo laid down a gauntlet by declaring that it was “natural and fitting that Indonesia should become the (authoritative) reference for the progress of Islamic civilization.”

Mr. Jokowi saw the university as providing an alternative to the Islamic University of Medina, that has played a key role in Saudi Arabia’s religious soft power campaign, and Al Azhar, the citadel of Islamic learning in Cairo, that is influenced by financially-backed Saudi scholars and scholarship as well as Emirati funding.

The university is “a promising step to introduce Indonesia as the global epicentre for ‘moderate’ Islam’,” said Islamic philosophy scholar Amin Abdullah.

Saudi and Emirati concerns were initially assuaged when Mr. Jokowi’s aspirations were thwarted by critics within his administration.

A six-page proposal to enhance Indonesian religious soft power globally put forward by Nahdlatul Ulama at the request of Pratikno, Mr. Widodo’s minister responsible for providing administrative support for his initiatives, was buried after the foreign ministry warned that its adoption would damage relations with the Gulf states, according to the author of the paper.

That could have been the end of the story.

But neither Saudi Arabia nor the UAE anticipated Nahdlatul Ulama’s determination to push its concept of humanitarian Islam globally, including at the highest levels of government in western capitals as well as in countries like India.

Nor did they anticipate Mr. Widodo’s willingness to play both ends against the middle by supporting Nahdlatul Ulama’s campaign while engaging on religious issues with both the Saudis and the Emiratis.

Nahdlatul Ulama’s success in accessing European leaders as well as the Trump administration left the Saudis and the Emiratis with two choices: co-opt or be seen to engage.

While the UAE opted to co-opt with pledges of massive economic investment and religious cooperation, Saudi Arabia, pressured by influential figures in the West, put up a botched effort to be seen as engaging.

In an unprecedented move, Mohammed al-Issa, the secretary general of the Muslim World League (MWL), a prime Saudi vehicle for the global projection of religious ultra-conservatism that Prince Mohammed converted into a tool for the promotion of his concept of moderate Islam, visited the headquarters of Nahdlatul Ulama in February in Jakarta.

It was the first visit to one of the world’s foremost Islamic organizations in the League’s almost 60-year history. Although active on social media about their various engagements, neither the League nor Mr. Al-Issa referred on platforms like Twitter to their meeting with Nahdlatul Ulama.

Mr. Al-Issa had turned down an opportunity to meet two years earlier when a leading Nahdlatul Ulama cleric and he were both in Mecca at the same time.

Mr. Al-Issa had told a Western interlocutor who was attempting to arrange a meeting that he had “never heard” of the Indonesian scholar and could not make time “due to an extremely previous busy schedule of meetings with International Islamic personalities” that included “moderate influential figures from Palestine, Iraq, Tunisia, Russia and Kazakhstan.”

Saudi Arabia was forced several months later in the run-up to the 2019 Indonesian presidential election to replace its ambassador in Jakarta, Osama bin Mohammed Abdullah Al Shuaib. The ambassador had denounced in a tweet—that has since been deleted—Ansor, the Nahdlatul Ulama young adults organization, as heretical and he had supported an anti-government demonstration.

During his February visit, Mr. Al-Issa signalled his intentions by taking with him to the group’s headquarters Hidayat Nur Wahid, a leader of the Indonesian PKS, the Muslim Brotherhood aligned-political party, and a staunch rival of the National Awakening Party (or PKB) that is closely associated with Nahdlatul Ulama.

Mr. Wahid is also a Muslim World League supreme council member and on the advisory board of the Saudi-funded King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) in Vienna.

However, Mr. Widodo’s office barred Mr. Wahid from attending Mr. Al-Issa’s meeting with the president.

Tellingly, pleading commitments in Indonesia, Mr. Wahid had bowed out of a ground-breaking visit to the former Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz by 25 prominent Muslim leaders headed by Mr. Al-Issa, weeks before the Muslim World League chief travelled to Indonesia, according to sources familiar with the arrangements for the visit.

Critics suggested Mr. Wahid, who had criticized an earlier visit to Jerusalem by a Nahdlatul Ulama leader at the invitation of the American Jewish Committee, would have been going out on a limb by joining the delegation in Auschwitz.

“This is the Saudis playing a double game,” said a leader of the Nahdlatul Ulama.

PKS’ links to the Muslim Brotherhood and its apparent reluctance to buy into Saudi Arabia and the Muslim World League’s agenda of a nominally tolerant and pluralistic Islam that engages with powerful Jewish communities as well as Israel has not prevented the kingdom from ensuring that the party benefits from its financial largesse.

Back in Javanese villages, PKS’ building of mosques with Saudi money is paying off.

Contrary to Javanese tradition, the mosque in the Central Javanese village was named after the Saudi benefactor who funded the construction through the World Assembly of Muslim Youth. “We don’t name mosques after human beings,” complained a Nahdlatul Ulama villager.

A Palestinian flag fluttered suddenly from the roof of the village’s pickup truck hub from where farmers transport their produce to market with few residents recognizing what it represented.

Rather than taking the flag down, Nahdlatul Ulema changed the tenor of its religious education and events in the village reverting back to the nationalistic and militaristic themes of Banser, the five-million-member militia of Ansor, its young adults wing. It potentially set the stage for a confrontation if the PKS continued its agitation.

The 2019 elections were nonetheless proof of PKS’ Saudi-backed success.

The party won more than 20 percent of the vote in a village in which historically one could count its votes on the fingers of one hand.

“The war songs and events attended by Banser members in uniform are sending a message. It’s a message that is being heard by the other side. Banser was always strong in our area but now people are lining up,” said a prominent Nahdlatul Ulama member in the village.

He suggested that the parties were for now keeping the peace in the village but that could change if and when Nahdlatul Ulama decides that its militia has no choice but to step in. It would not be the first time the militia has successfully confronted more militant hard-core Islamist groups on the streets of Java.

Warned Indonesian home affairs minister Tito Karnavian: “The real challenge of Indonesia today is the rise of intolerance, intolerant groups or intolerant ideologies,”

Speaking in a soon to be published video of a webinar hosted by the Religious Freedom Institute. Mr. Karnavian pointed to strands of religion that have “inherent teachings of intolerance such as Salafism. It’s not an Indonesian strand of Islam, of course, being imported… This is happening today in Indonesia… They want to envision the establishment of Indonesia as an Islamic state… Sharia being implemented (would be) the breakup of the country.”

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an award-winning journalist and a senior fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore. He is also a senior research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Middle East Institute and co-director of the University of Wuerzburg’s Institute of Fan Culture in Germany.

#indonesia #saudi arabia #uae #islam #Muslims #Muslim Brotherhood

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khalilhumam · 5 years ago

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As a global economic crisis wreaks havoc on Saudi Arabia, the kingdom should reduce military spending

New Post has been published on http://khalilhumam.com/as-a-global-economic-crisis-wreaks-havoc-on-saudi-arabia-the-kingdom-should-reduce-military-spending/

As a global economic crisis wreaks havoc on Saudi Arabia, the kingdom should reduce military spending

By Bruce Riedel A perfect storm of difficulties has gripped Saudi Arabia. Some, such as the pandemic and the crash in global demand for oil, are outside its control. Others, such as the war in Yemen and unrest in the royal family, are the result of the reckless policies of the Crown Prince Muhammed bin Salman (MBS). The kingdom needs to undertake significant changes in its policies, beginning with a drastic cut in military spending. The next U.S. administration should push the Saudis in the direction of downsizing an expensive military that provides very little bang for their bucks. Like many countries, Saudi Arabia has been hit hard by the coronavirus. According to the government’s not-always-reliable figures, the country has around 70,000 cases. It has been under lockdown orders for weeks, with curfews during Ramadan and Eid. The minor pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina has been cancelled, and the annual hajj is probably going to be shut as well, in July. Mosques are closed for worship. The shutdown costs the kingdom millions in tourism revenue, especially for the Hejaz region. Meanwhile, the Saudis promise to start opening up soon, but have provided few details. The virus has spread within the royal family. The governor of Riyadh is reported to have been infected, and dozens of other princes and princesses are ill. The king and crown prince have cut back their schedules to avoid infection. Foreign workers are particularly vulnerable amid poor work and living conditions, accounting for roughly two-thirds of infections in the kingdom. Tens of thousands have repatriated home, especially to South Asia. The steep fall in oil prices has decimated the economy. Saudi Arabia needs oil to be priced at around $85 per barrel to fund its budget, but prices have been well short of that mark for years. Now, prices are roughly $25 per barrel, down from about $65 a barrel six months ago. They have been spending down on reserves for five years to make up for budget shortfalls, and reserves are down from $750 billion to about $500 billion today. Amid a major economic crisis, prices are unlikely to rebound until the global economy recovers. The king has responded by tripling value-added taxes, cutting subsidies, and imposing austerity measures — all of which hurt the poor disproportionately. The prospects for social unrest are high, especially when the curfews are lifted. Amidst all this, the quagmire in Yemen has not gone away, despite the repeated Saudi calls for a ceasefire. All of the Saudis’ allies have abandoned the cause — even Bahrain, which the Saudis still occupy and fund. The Houthi rebels control most of the north, southern separatists have Aden, and the fighting continues to flare intermittently. The Saudis’ military performance has been abysmal, despite the billions spent. The virus is out of control in Yemen. Five years of war and Saudi bombing have crippled the health infrastructure of the poorest country in the Arab world. Now the United Nations says the health system has “in effect collapsed.” There is no way to stop the disease from spreading, and Aden is especially hard-hit. Given the porous nature of the Saudi-Yemeni border, the disaster in Yemen will impact the Saudi struggle with the pandemic. The Yemeni imbroglio is part of the kingdom’s regional rivalry with Iran. The Saudis’ critical oil facilities at Abqaiq were attacked last September by Iranian missiles, and the Saudis were unable to respond to the unprecedented violation of their sovereignty. It was a further demonstration that the hundreds of billions spent on kingdom’s military have been wasted. In March, MBS had his predecessor Prince Muhammad bin Nayef and his uncle Prince Ahmed bin Abdulaziz arrested. Detaining members of the royal family is highly unusual in Saudi Arabia, especially when one (Ahmed) is a son of the modern kingdom’s founder, King Ibn Saud. Other princes have also been confined. There have been persistent rumors that Nayef is seriously ill, or even dead. The arrests suggest that MBS is worried that elements of the family want to see him deposed. There is no doubt that many in the family had their fortunes stolen when he rounded them up at the Ritz Carlton for an old-fashioned shakedown. MBS’ deployment of a Saudi hit team to murder journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul also antagonized some, by recklessly tarnishing the kingdom’s image. The pandemic and the oil price crash will doom the crown prince’s ambitious effort to reform the Saudi economy by 2030 and to build a new city, NEOM, in the northwest of the kingdom. The Saudis will need to concentrate on austerity measures, end the war in Yemen, and cut their bloated defense budget. Saudi Arabia has ranked among the top five for largest national military expenditures, worldwide, for years. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute reports that the Saudis spent over $60 billion in 2018 on their military, actually a small reduction from the year before. Only the United States, China, Russia, and India spent more; Saudi Arabia spent more than France, Germany, or Japan. It spent three times the military expenditures of Israel. The Trump administration has encouraged Saudi arms sales, and it has consistently exaggerated how much it is selling to the Saudis. President Obama actually made the single biggest arms deal with the kingdom. Both administrations have backed the disastrous war in Yemen. The next administration should cut off military assistance to Saudi Arabia until it ceases all military operations in Yemen and withdraws its forces from any Yemeni territory. Only a clear acknowledgment that the Saudis are leaving will convince the Houthis to call off their attacks. We should encourage the Saudis, Emiratis, and others to pay for the humanitarian catastrophe they created (although they are unlikely to follow through on pledges to do so). But the next administration should do more. It should also sponsor a global and regional effort to reduce military spending in the region. Working with other arms suppliers like the United Kingdom, France, and Canada, Washington should encourage fewer arms sales, not more. The region has far too many weapons, it needs to reduce. The region faces the deadly virus, with a depressed economy, and it is long past time to focus on making peace. The cost of lost arms sales will be marginal next to the potential gains in slowing down tensions and conflict in the region.

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dailykhaleej · 5 years ago

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Dr. Mahdi bin Ali Al-Qarni, new head of the University of Bisha

How Saudi Arabia’s King Fahad Nationwide Library is preserving Islamic historical past for posterity

RIYADH: The massive fact about historical past is that it inevitably fades into the previous, however historical past can be captured and preserved for posterity.

In reality, it may be housed and lovingly nourished and tended to resist the onslaught of time.

Saudi Arabia’s King Fahad Nationwide Library has been enterprise this endeavor for the previous three a long time, enjoying a seminal function in the preservation of Islamic heritage and making certain that current and future generations proceed to learn from Islam’s contributions to civilization.

Established in 1990 in Riyadh, the library is residence to greater than 6,000 authentic manuscripts — many of them uncommon and historic, together with the beautiful Kufic Qur’an, courting to the ninth century CE — and a complete of 73,000 paper and digital transcripts.

King Fahad Nationwide Library has been enjoying a key function in making certain that current and future generations proceed to learn from Islam’s contributions to civilization. (Provided)

“The King Fahad National Library has been interested in preserving manuscripts and heritage since its establishment in 1989, to a point where a royal decree has been issued to the library for the preservation of manuscripts,” Abdulaziz Nasif, the head of the manuscript division, instructed Arab Information.

“The library estimates the manuscript’s value and sets its price when we receive it. Regarding the possession of manuscripts, we welcome everything that is presented to us and everything that is worth owning.”

The Kufic Qur’an at the library, distinguished by its Kufic calligraphy, has one of the oldest scripts in Arabic, a extremely angular type of the Arabic alphabet utilized in the earliest copies of the Qur’an.

FASTFACT

King Fahad Nationwide Library has 6,000 authentic manuscripts and almost 73,000 photocopied transcripts, with 7,000 of them digitized for on-line readers.

It originated in Kufa, a metropolis in southern Iraq, an mental hub throughout the early Islamic interval, now often known as Baghdad, the capital of Iraq.

“It’s not written on paper but on deer skin,” Nasif stated. “Having holy verses written on leather is a form of honoring the text. But the cover is new.”

The Kufic Qur’an was purchased from the southern half of the Arabian Peninsula virtually 20 years in the past and just lately rebound to extend its longevity.

The library has different Qur’an manuscripts written in historic script, moreover particular books resembling the poetic works of Al-Ahnaf Al-Akbari, a well-known poet in Baghdad who died in 995 CE.

King Fahad Nationwide Library has been enjoying a key function in making certain that current and future generations proceed to learn from Islam’s contributions to civilization. (Provided)

It additionally has a replica of Ibn Daqiq Al-Eid’s guide “Ahkam Al-Ahkam,” written in the late-14th century. Al-Eid is counted amongst Islam’s nice students in the fundamentals of Islamic regulation and perception.

As well as, the library additionally owns “Yatimat Al-Dahr,” a guide by Abu Mansur Al-Thaalibi, a author of Persian or Arab origin well-known for his anthologies and assortment of epigrams.

As soon as the library acquires a manuscript, a rigorous and exacting strategy to its conservation and upkeep is adopted.

“Each manuscript is first sent to the restoration and sanitization department and then returned to our department to be indexed,” Nasif stated.

Nonetheless, not each manuscript is distributed for restoration “because, sometimes, it can ruin (it),” he stated.

The restoration is adopted by the indexing course of, which is an intensive train.

Nasif defined: “To fill the index card, we use information that is listed on the first page, starting with the title, the author’s name, the manuscript’s sizes (height and length), the transcriber’s name (the person who wrote it), and what is written at the end of the manuscript, so that we are able recognize one manuscript from the other having the same specifications.”

Given the age and pricelessness of the manuscripts, their preservation methodology — which is at the core of library’s mission — is equally essential.

“Manuscripts should be kept in cold temperatures, to prevent insects and bacteria from surviving, because they can damage the paper and even the animal skin that was used in some manuscripts,” Nasif stated.

The manuscripts are sterilized yearly or each six months to forestall their deterioration.

King Fahad Nationwide Library has been enjoying a key function in making certain that current and future generations proceed to learn from Islam’s contributions to civilization. (Provided)

The age of digitization locations its personal calls for on repositories of data resembling libraries with their bodily wealth of historical past, and the King Fahad Nationwide Library is protecting tempo with these calls for.

It’s working to finish the digitization of all its manuscripts. “Most of the transcriptions are still on microfilm but we are working on digitizing them on CDs and hard disks,” Nasif stated.

The library additionally allows researchers, historical past lovers and common readers to entry its treasured assortment although a variety of digital providers.

Customers can log in and flick through the huge assortment and place their necessities. Researchers can request a selected manuscript, a uncommon guide or {a photograph} to help of their work.

King Fahad Nationwide Library has been enjoying a key function in making certain that current and future generations proceed to learn from Islam’s contributions to civilization. (Provided)

The service is obtainable to all members of the group from inside and out of doors the Kingdom.

King Fahad Nationwide Library has additionally obtained microfilm pictures of one of the most vital Arabic manuscript collections in US libraries, the Princeton University Library.

It additionally possesses 1,140 photocopied manuscripts on movie slides from the Library of the Jewish University.

Final however not least, the manuscripts of the Riyadh Library “Dar Al-Iftaa” — a complete of 792 paperwork — have been transferred to the King Fahad Nationwide Library on the orders of King Salman when he was the governor of Riyadh and common supervisor of the library.

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blaze8403 · 5 years ago

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Terry Lee Kauffman Hawkins

SAUDI or AUDIS not AUDIO -

Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud has been the King of Saudi Arabia and Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques since 23 January 2015. He was the deputy governor of Riyadh and later the governor of Riyadh for 48 years from 1963 to 2011. He was then appointed Minister of Defense. WikipediaBorn: December 31, 1935 (age 84 years), Riyadh, Saudi ArabiaHouse: House of SaudSpouse: Sultana Bint Turki AlSudiari (m. ?–2011), Fahdah bint Falah bin Sultan, MoreChildren: Mohammad Bin Salman Al Saud, Hassa Bint Salman Al Saud, MoreSiblings: Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, Fahd of Saudi Arabia, Faisal of Saudi Arabia, MoreParents: Ibn Saud, Hussa bint Ahmed Al Sudairi

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upshotre · 5 years ago

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Atiku Frowns at Buhari’s Critics on Economic Diplomacy

Gov. Atiku Bagudu of Kebbi has condemned critics of the ongoing efforts of President Muhammadu Buhari to attract more foreign investments into the country. The governor, who made his position known when he fielded questions from the Makkah, Saudi Arabia, said the president should rather be commended for his untiring efforts to boost the nation’s economy through massive influx of foreign capital. Bagudu, who reacted to the recent trips of the president to Japan, Russia and Saudi Arabia, frowned at critics of the trips, saying they were being unfair to the president and Nigerians who would eventually be the direct beneficiaries of such economic diplomacy. He, particularly, described the president’s trip to Saudi Arabia, where he participated in the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, as a very successful outing for Nigeria. He said: “It is an excellent outing for Mr President, President Muhammadu Buhari and us are honored to be part of his entourage to the conference which is tagged; Future Investment Initiative (FII) organized by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, which is their Sovereign Wealth Fund equivalent to Nigeria’s Sovereign Fund, only that whereas ours is under three billion dollars theirs is in excess of 400 billion dollars. “Mr President was invited by King Salman bin Abdulaziz, Custodian of the two whole Mosques, and that shows the respect with which Mr President is treated around the world and the honours he brings to Nigeria. “Mr President in addition to participating in the summit, was also hosted by King Salman ibn Abdulaziz and he was visited by the Crown Prince, Muhammed ibn Salman, who showed unprecedented respect for Mr President, because rather than Mr President visiting him he decided to visit Mr President and agreed to invest in Nigeria. “So, this is a very, very successful outing for Nigeria and it is consistent with our call for Mr President to be more active in economic diplomacy. “It is noteworthy that Mr President has visited Russia, Japan, all in a bid to secure investments for Nigeria. “This is the kind of activism – Mr President is not travelling to enjoy himself or on holiday but to bring investments for Nigeria. “He (Buhari) just took a day off to come to Makkah and perform the Umrah and we are quite honoured that we participated with him in the Umrah. “He was very, very energetic, very healthy as he displayed during the movement between the Safa and Marwah.’’ The governor expressed the hope that Kebbi would benefit immensely from the Saudi and other trips. “Any benefit to Nigeria is a benefit to Kebbi State government; two, the promise of more investments by Saudi Arabia, the promise of more support to our security issues will also have direct benefit to Kebbi state. “The fields of cooperation will include many things that Kebbi state has ability to compete in, like mining, agriculture and even futuristic investments like Information Technology where our abled youths will be able to participate and compete,’’ he added. President Buhari’s four-day visit to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came to an end on Saturday. During the visit, the President participated in the Future Investment Initiative, which was christened “Davos in the Desert”. “Apart from attending the summit, which had a debating format for global leaders, investors and innovators to compare notes and share ideas, President Buhari held extensive talks with the Kingdom’s rulers, King Salman bin Abdulaziz and his son, the powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. “The Presidents meetings with the two prominent rulers marked an important upswing in relations between Nigeria and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia,’’ Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s spokesman said in a special write up in Abuja on Sunday. On the sidelines of the conference, President Buhari also held strategic meetings with the leadership of Saudi Oil and Gas group, the country’s Sovereign Wealth Fund and Public Investment Fund. Read the full article

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batproma · 5 years ago

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House cleaning company

Keep in mind in November 2017 when Crown Prince Mohammed receptacle Salman propelled his enemy of debasement battle and gathered together individuals from the legislature, affluent representatives, and even individuals from the Saudi imperial family شركة تنظيف منازل بالرياض and detained them in the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh – which he transformed into an alternative jail? It is reputed that the hostages were just discharged once they consented to sign their benefits – money, land, and business stakes – over to the legislature. The all out recouped during that range was accounted for to be $107 billion.

That strategic maneuver finished many years of unwritten principles inside the unbelievably undercover House of Saud. It likewise drove any of the Crown Prince's rivals to the side in one extremely effective move. That made Mohammed receptacle Salman both the hypothetical beneficiary to the tossed and the very rich person manager of a family with more cash than about some other tradition on the planet.

There are around 15,000 individuals from the Al Saud family. Their aggregate fortune is accepted to be more than $100 billion, which would make them the fourth-most extravagant family on the planet. All things considered, $100 billion is an exceptionally traditionalist gauge of the family's total assets. It's just founded on the imperial stipends that the ruler's office disseminates. The last time the measures of the month to month stipends were discharged in 1996, they extended from $800 to $270,000 and altogether, $2 billion every year. The $100 billion family total assets depends on this figure. Assuming, in any case, the stipends expanded at the pace of expansion or Saudi oil incomes – the House of Saud could be worth $1 trillion.

Ruler Abdulaziz container Saud established current Saudi Arabia in 1932, the year prior to the marking of its first concession bargain, with Standard Oil Co. of California. Thinking back to the 1930s and 40s, oil truly hadn't been found in huge amounts outside of the United States. Be that as it may, there were gossipy tidbits and nearby legends about oil leaking out of the ground in remote towns in Saudi Arabia. In this way, the House of Saud went to look at it. Oil was found on March 3, 1938. This was uplifting news, yet the royals still had no clue how much oil they may discover. For all they knew, the oil in the remote town of Dammam would be their lone disclosure.

Oil is the premise of the House شركة تنظيف منازل بالرياض of Saud's fortune. Today, the state-claimed Saudi Arabian Oil Co. controls one fifth of the world's oil assets. The House of Saud controls actually trillions of dollars of oil and money. Since 1948, the imperial family has changed the nation and carried it from the dull ages to the cutting edge of current human progress and innovation. The House of Saud is amazing to such an extent that they can send world economies into mayhem with the push of a catch.

On account of oil, Saudi Arabia developed into one of the wealthiest and most dominant nations on the planet in only 50 years. As per the Saudi law of progression, the crown must go to an immediate relative of Ibn Saud's children. Lord Salman is 81 years of age.

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