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Saudi Arabian media often attacks Jews in books, news articles, and mosques with what some describe as antisemitic satire. Saudi Arabian government officials and state religious leaders often promote the idea that Jews are conspiring to take over the entire world; as proof of their claims, they publish and frequently cite The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as factual. [1] [2]
Barring people with either Israeli passports or Israeli stamps in their passport from visiting Saudi Arabia, has been a long-established practice. [3] When in February 2004, Saudi Arabia started issuing visas to non-Muslims for the first time, in order to attract more foreign visitors, the website of the Saudi Arabian Supreme Commission for Tourism initially stated that Jews would not be granted tourist visas to enter the country. [4] [5] The discriminatory stipulation was widely reported and drew strong criticism, renewing the notion of Saudi Arabia being a "backward country". [3] Subsequently, the Saudi embassy in the U.S. distanced itself from the statement, apologizing for posting "erroneous information", which was later removed. [6] [7]
Members of religions other than Islam, including Jews, are not permitted to practice their religion publicly in Saudi Arabia; according to the U.S. State Department, [8] religious freedom "does not exist" in Saudi Arabia. Islam is the official religion of Saudi Arabia, and the tenets of that religion are enforced by law. [9]
Saudi textbooks vilify Jews (as well as Christians and non-Wahhabi Muslims): according to the 21 May 2006 issue of The Washington Post , Saudi textbooks claimed by them to have been "sanitized" of antisemitism still call Jews apes (and Christians swine); demand that students avoid and not befriend Jews; claim that Jews worship the devil; and encourage Muslims to engage in jihad to vanquish Jews. [10]
The Center for Religious Freedom of Freedom House analyzed a set of Saudi Ministry of Education textbooks in Islamic studies courses for elementary and secondary school students. The researchers found statements promoting hatred of Christians, Jews, "polytheists" and other "unbelievers," including non-Wahhabi Muslims. The fictitious Protocols of the Elders of Zion was being taught as historical fact. The texts described Jews and Christians as enemies of Muslims, and the clash between them was described as an ongoing fight that will end in victory over the Jews. Jews were blamed for virtually all the "subversion" and wars of the modern world. [11] A "38-page overview" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2007-09-25. (371 KB) of Saudi Arabia's curriculum has been released to the press by the Hudson Institute.
Saudi Arabian media often attacks Jews in books, news articles, and mosques with what some describe as antisemitic satire. Saudi Arabian government officials and state religious leaders often promote the idea that Jews are conspiring to take over the entire world; as proof of their claims they publish and frequently cite The Protocols of the Elders of Zion as factual. [1] [2]
One Saudi Arabian government newspaper suggested that hatred of all Jews is justifiable. "Why are they (the Jews) hated by all the people which hosted them, such as Iraq and Egypt thousands years ago, and Germany, Spain, France and the UK, up to the days they gained of power over the capital and the press, in order to rewrite the history?" [12]
Even during the height of the Saudi crackdown on extremism in 2004, a Saudi IQRA TV "man on the street" segment on feelings toward Jews, was entirely antagonistic. Interviewees described Jews as "our eternal enemies", "murderous", "the enemies of Allah and His Prophet," "murderers of prophets," "the filthiest people on the face of this earth", etc. [13] [14]
In 2001, Arab Radio and Television of Saudi Arabia produced a 30-part television miniseries entitled "Horseman Without a Horse", a dramatization of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. [15] One Saudi Arabian government newspaper suggested that hatred of all Jews is justifiable. [16]
Antisemitism is common within religious circles. Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, the imam of the Grand mosque in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, has been described as an antisemite [17] [18] for publicly praying to God to 'terminate' the Jews. [19]
The BBC aired a Panorama episode, entitled A Question of Leadership, which reported that Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, the leading imam of the Masjid al-Haram located in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, [20] [21] referred to Jews as "the scum of the human race" and "offspring of apes and pigs". Al-Sudais further stated: "the worst [...] of the enemies of Islam are those [...] whom he [...] made monkeys and pigs, the aggressive Jews and oppressive Zionists and those that follow them [...] Monkeys and pigs and worshippers of false Gods who are the Jews and the Zionists." In another sermon, on 19 April 2002, he declared that Jews are "evil offspring, infidels, distorters of [others'] words, calf-worshippers, prophet-murderers, prophecy-deniers [...] the scum of the human race whom Allah cursed and turned into apes and pigs [...]" [22]
Antisemitism has increased greatly in the Arab world since the beginning of the 20th century, for several reasons: the dissolution and breakdown of the Ottoman Empire and traditional Islamic society; European influence, brought about by Western imperialism and Arab Christians; Nazi propaganda and relations between Nazi Germany and the Arab world; resentment over Jewish nationalism; the rise of Arab nationalism; and the widespread proliferation of anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist conspiracy theories.
Scholars have studied and debated Muslim attitudes towards Jews, as well as the treatment of Jews in Islamic thought and societies throughout the history of Islam. Parts of the Islamic literary sources give mention to certain Jewish groups present in the past or present, which has led to debates. Some of this overlaps with Islamic remarks on non-Muslim religious groups in general.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is an Islamic absolute monarchy in which Sunni Islam is the official state religion based on firm Sharia law. Non-Muslims must practice their religion in private and are vulnerable to discrimination and arrest. While no law requires all citizens to be Muslim, non-Muslim foreigners attempting to acquire Saudi Arabian nationality must convert to Islam. Children born to Muslim fathers are by law deemed Muslim, and conversion from Islam to another religion is considered apostasy and punishable by death. Blasphemy against Sunni Islam is also punishable by death, but the more common penalty is a long prison sentence; there have been 'no confirmed reports of executions for either apostasy or blasphemy' in the 21st century.
Sunni Islam is the state religion of Saudi Arabia. The kingdom is called the "home of Islam"; it was the birthplace of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, who united and ruled the Arabian Peninsula. It is the location of the cities of Mecca and Medina, where Prophet Muhammad lived and died, and are now the two holiest cities of Islam. The kingdom attracts millions of Muslim Hajj pilgrims annually, and thousands of clerics and students who come from across the Muslim world to study. The official title of the King of Saudi Arabia is "Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques"—the two being Al-Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Al-Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina—which are considered the holiest in Islam.
The Muslim World League is an international Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes what it calls the true message of Islam by advancing moderate values that promote peace, tolerance and love.
Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz al-Sudais, better known as Al-Sudais, is one of the nine imams of the Grand Mosque, Masjid al-Haram in Makkah, Saudi Arabia; the president of the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques; a renowned Qāriʾ ; he was the Dubai International Holy Qur'an Award's "Islamic Personality Of the Year" in 2005.
A Hajj passport was a special passport used only for entry into Saudi Arabia for the purpose of performing hajj. This passport is no longer used, as Saudi Authorities have required ordinary passports since 2009.
The Saudi Arabian textbook controversy refers to criticism of the content of school textbooks in Saudi Arabia following the September 11 attacks.
Articles related to Saudi Arabia include:
The history of the Jews in the territory of modern Saudi Arabia begins in Biblical times, at least as early as Solomon's Temple.
The article describes the state of race relations and racism in the Middle East. Racism is widely condemned throughout the world, with 174 states parties to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by April 8, 2011. In different countries, the forms that racism takes may be different for historic, cultural, religious, economic or demographic reasons.
Jami Mosque is a mosque in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located just east of High Park, it is the oldest Canadian Islamic centre in the city and dubbed "the mother of all the mosques in Toronto".
The Saudi government does not conduct a census on religion or ethnicity, but some sources estimate the Shia population in Saudi Arabia to make up around 20% of the approximately 34 million natives of Saudi Arabia.
Both Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims agree on the three holiest sites in Islam being, respectively, the Masjid al-Haram, in Mecca; the Al-Masjid an-Nabawi, in Medina; and the Al-Masjid al-Aqsa, in Jerusalem.
The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a fabricated antisemitic text purporting to describe a Jewish plan to achieve global domination. The text was fabricated in the Russian Empire, and was first published in 1903. While there is continued popularity of The Protocols in nations from South America to Asia, since the defeat of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan in World War II, governments or political leaders in most parts of the world have generally avoided claims that The Protocols represent factual evidence of a real Jewish conspiracy. The exception to this is the Middle East, where a large number of Arab and Muslim regimes and leaders have endorsed them as authentic. Past endorsements of The Protocols from Presidents Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat of Egypt, Iraqi President Arif, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, and Colonel Muammar al-Gaddafi of Libya, among other political and intellectual leaders of the Arab world, are echoed by 21st century endorsements from the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri, and Hamas, to the education ministry of Saudi Arabia.
Racism in the Palestinian territories encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in the Palestinian Territories, of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, irrespective of the religion, colour, creed, or ethnic origin of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status. It may refer to Jewish settler attitudes regarding Palestinians as well as Palestinian attitudes to Jews and the settlement enterprise undertaken in their name.
Masjid al-Haram, also known as the Sacred Mosque or the Great Mosque of Mecca, is a mosque enclosing the vicinity of the Kaaba in Mecca, in the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia. It is among the pilgrimage sites associated with the Hajj, which every Muslim must perform at least once in their lives if able. It is also the main site for the performance of ʿUmrah, the lesser pilgrimage that can be undertaken any time of the year. The rites of both pilgrimages include circumambulating the Kaaba within the mosque. The Great Mosque includes other important significant sites, such as the Black Stone, the Zamzam Well, Maqam Ibrahim, and the hills of Safa and Marwa.
Ahmadiyya is a persecuted branch of Islam in Saudi Arabia. Although there are many foreign workers and Saudi citizens belonging to the Ahmadiyya movement in Saudi Arabia, Ahmadis are officially banned from entering the country and from performing the pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina. This has led to criticisms from multiple human rights organizations.
Abdullah ibn Abdur-Rahman al-Ghudayyan was a Saudi Arabian Islamic scholar, a leading proponent of the Salafi form of Islam and a member of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars. His ancestry was of the tribe of Banu Anbar.
The General Presidency of Haramain, is a Saudi government agency responsible for the development and administration of the Islamic holy sites of the Masjid al-Haram and the Masjid an-Nabawi, facilitated by its religious, technical and administrative departments. The agency was founded on 8 May 2012 by a royal decree from King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. Headquartered in the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca, the agency is overseen by the President who is appointed by royal order.
Visas will not be issued for the following groups of people:
* An Israeli passport holder or a passport that has an Israeli arrival/departure stamp.
* Those who don't abide by the Saudi traditions concerning appearance and behaviors. Those under the influence of alcohol will not be permitted into the Kingdom.
* There are certain regulations for pilgrims and you should contact the consulate for more information.
* Jewish People
1=The Canadian Government has decided to prevent the entry into the country Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, the Imam of the Great Mosque of Mecca, because of his preaching of hatred of the Jews.... The decision to ban the Imam's entry into Canada is part of the authorities' campaign against antisemitism, in the light of recent events in Toronto and Montreal, and against racist incitement in general.
1=The issue of Sheikh Al-Sudais' visit was raised during the question hour at the Canadian Parliament recently. A Canadian legislator, Jason Kenney, called on the government to block the entry of the Islamic scholar to Canada on the grounds that some of his sermons were anti-Semitic.
1=Some anti-hate groups are outraged that a Saudi cleric who called on God to "terminate" the Jews and urged Muslims to shun peace with Israel is the invited keynote speaker at an Islamic conference scheduled this month in Osceola County.
