Interior Minister Prince Naif yesterday called Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden a silly intelligence agent. He also refuted Western allegations that Saudi Arabia was supporting Bin Laden and his terrorist organization. “How can the government of Saudi Arabia support an organization that targets and kills its own people,” he said while addressing a meeting of the directors and senior officials of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.| “Bin Laden is a silly person and an intelligence agent. He is not a Saudi. He came from another county and obtained citizenship...” |
Prince Naif said he would continue to support the commission and the purpose it stands for. “The promotion of virtue and prevention of vice is the basic principle of Islam,” he said, and urged the commission’s officials to be lenient with people following the example of the Prophet (peace be upon him). “I want to see this in reality.”
The commission should get rid of those officials who are ignorant and unqualified, the prince said and urged its officials to be better organized. “The Saudi government is powerful with the grace of Allah, thanks to its application of the Shariah as its constitution,” the prince said, adding that the Kingdom was targeted by its enemies “who use Arabs and Muslims as tools to try to destroy it.”
| “People who are not qualified to be Islamic propagators should stay away from that job and leave it to qualified hands...” |
Naif accused foreign Arab preachers of spreading extremism and deviant ideas in the Kingdom. “It is unfortunate that many preachers from Arab countries, whom the Kingdom supported, propagated distorted ideas and brainwashed our youth,” he explained. “Those who know Saudis of the older generation are well aware of the ethics and morals of Saudis,” he added.
He urged Saudi religious scholars not be silent and speak out against extremists and deviants. “The brainwashed Saudi extremists who took part in the latest terrorist attack in Jeddah were forcing security men to kill innocent people. Security officers took 19 hours to evacuate all citizens and residents form nearby buildings to safety.”
Naif said that any person who does not believe in the ideals of this country and its institutions, its scholars and its right methodology should leave. They should not consider themselves part of this country, he warned. “The enemies do not want Saudi Arabia to exist. This amounts to saying Islam cannot be established in a country,” the prince said.
| “How can we call the West progressive when they allow their wives to indulge in vices?. On the other hand, we are willing to sacrifice our lives and souls for the sake of our religion, morals and country...” |
Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Gaith, the president of the commission, said it handled with privacy 95 percent of the cases that were reported to the organization. He said the commission has started employing highly qualified persons as the majority of them hold master’s and doctoral degrees. “We have also expanded training programs to better prepare our officials for field jobs and to enhance their performance,” he said.