Introduction
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is the spiritual and geographical home of the religion of Islam. As such its role is central to every aspect of life of the population. The Islamic shari’ah is the framework around which the political and judicial systems have been created. The political and judicial systems influence and shape the culture and society which is recognised as the KSA community. The political system of governance in the KSA will be the focus of this paper, more specifically how it limits the growth of diversity within the society and culture of the KSA. A brief analysis of the Basic Law of Governance (Constitution) and the Shūrā (consultation) Council Law documents will be provided, the analysis will cite specific articles within these documents and their links to their origins within the shari’ah to show how the Islamic religion through its manifestation in the political and judicial systems, inhibits cultural diversity in the KSA. Real life examples will be provided to demonstrate how controlling and oppressive shari’ah law is and how its strident application and enforcement actively limit cultural diversity but also generate fear within the population in order to deter it from taking root in the community. This brief essay aims to show the limiting effects of Islam on the diversity of culture in a country where the overwhelming majority of the population is Muslim and the system of governance is shari’ah1.
An analysis of the system of governance in Saudi Arabia
Since the unification of the kingdoms of Hejaz and Najd in 1932 to form the KSA, it has been ruled by an Islamic absolute monarchical system which is still in place today. The system of governance in the KSA is based on the shari’ah which is the fundamental religious law of Islam, it was compiled and standardised during the eighth and ninth centuries from the religious doctrines of Islam, which include the Qur’ān, the Sunnah (or Ḥadīth) and the Sīra (the biography of Mohammed). These three collections of doctrine are the ideological engine of the Constitution and the Shūrā Council Law documents which largely define the structure of the government and judicial system as well as what principles these systems will be based upon. Part 1, Article 1 of the Constitution states:
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a fully sovereign Arab Islamic State. Its religion shall be Islam and its constitution shall be the Book of God and the Sunnah (Traditions) of His Messenger…
The article limits the political and judicial systems by definition, as not being based upon or consolidating any ideologies conceived outside of the boundaries of Islam. This limitation is also one of contemporaneity in that the source guiding doctrines have remained unchanged for the greater part of 1,200 years; this restricts the evolution and development of political or judicial systems as they attempt to adapt to an ever changing scientific, technological and social world. Articles seven and eight in part two reiterate this limitation with direct reference to the governance of the KSA. There are three distinct articles in part five which reveal the same limitation however it is applied to specific areas of society, those being human rights, the judicial system, and all means of expression; Article 26 states ‘The State shall protect human rights in accordance with the Islamic Shari’ah.’, Article 38 states ‘…There shall be no crime or punishment except on the basis of a Shari’ah or a statutory provision…’, and Article 39 states:
Mass and publishing media and all means of expression shall use decent language and adhere to State laws. They shall contribute towards educating the nation and supporting its unity. Whatever leads to sedition and division, or undermines the security of the State or its public relations, or is injurious to the honor and rights of man, shall be prohibited.
Article 39 contains no direct reference to the shari’ah, however the state laws are based upon the shari’ah. In part six, Article 48 directly inhibits the judicial system by allowing only the provisions of Islamic shari’ah to be applied to cases put before the courts.
Article 5 in Part 2 of the Constitution guarantees the rule of the KSA ‘be limited to the sons of the Founder King ‘Abd al-‘Aziz ibn ‘Abd ar-Rahman al-Faysal Al Sa‘ud, and the sons of his sons.’, it then limits any decisions the ruling bloodline can make to be ‘on the basis of the Book of God Most High and the Sunnah of His Messenger…’. In an attempt to generate a broader perspective to governance, the Shūrā Council (or Consultative Council) was first appointed in 1993 in accordance with the Islamic tradition. The Shūrā Council was established to draft legislation for approval by the King ‘while adhering to Qur’ān and the Path (Sunnah)…’, thus any legislation prepared by the Shūrā Council will be constrained by the confines of the shari’ah. This limitation is duplicated in every constitutional procedure for the establishment of the political and judicial systems in the KSA. Islam seeks stability for the rule of its followers by enforcing an Islamic absolute monarchical system of governance, the absolute Islamic nature of this monarchical structure makes any political or judicial change inconsequential and highly restricted at best.
Observing the limitations to the diversity of modern Saudi Arabian culture and society
The political and judicial systems are fitting units of measurement for diversity of culture in a society, these two systems notably create and influence the environment in which culture can either flourish and diversify or it can remain static and unchanging. The judicial punishments that were set 1,200 years ago as compared with contemporary international standards (Targeted News Service, 2016) for judicial punishments illuminates a stark contrast which demonstrates the static nature of social values and human rights in the KSA.
The 2015 Freedom of Thought Report rates the KSA as a country which there are grave violations of human rights on the basis of the punishments for crimes as defined by the judicial system (International Humanist and Ethical Union (IHEU), 2015). In 2012 Raif Badawi, a Saudi entrepreneur, writer, free thinker and advocate for political and human rights reform in the KSA was arrested on charges of blasphemy and disobedience, such charges can result in a capital sentence (Donaghy & Atkinson, 2015). Raif was sentenced to one thousand lashes and ten years’ imprisonment, and as a result of cultural, social and religious pressure, both his family and his wife’s family disowned him and his wife. The level of persecution in the wider community of people who are associated with political prisoners and apostates in the KSA is so high that his wife and three children were forced to flee the KSA under threats of death and ultimately were granted asylum in Canada, and Raif’s father denounced him on Saudi national television (Nordlinger, 2016).
Cultural freedoms of expression through art, literature, music, film and gaming is strictly controlled in the KSA, a documentary broadcast by MTV in 2010 gave four young Saudis the opportunity to express the opposition they face from the government, the Islamic religious institutions and broader society about their cultural and social pursuits (True life: Resist the power! Saudi Arabia, 2010). The documentary centred around four aspects of culture which are commonplace in non-Islamic countries, women’s rights to be politically active, women’s fashion and design, segregation of the sexes and relationships between men and women, and modern music. Three of the four guests faced legal prosecution by the KSA religious police (mutaween) for appearing in the documentary (Sandels, 2010), and the fourth guest felt it necessary to change his band’s name. In July 2016, the Senior Council of Ulamā (scholars) revised a fatwa originally issued in 2001 forbidding Muslims from playing Pokémon card and video games, to include the new smartphone based augmented reality game Pokémon Go. The council banned the games citing that they promote the concept of the theory of evolution, polytheism and gambling, all of which are ḥarām (forbidden) in the KSA (Ratner, 2016).
Some of the most compelling evidence of the limiting impact of the shari’ah system of governance on cultural diversity comes from a former Shūrā Council member. In a series of televised interviews, Ibrahim Al-Buleihi describes the Islamic culture as one of tyranny (Al-Buleihi, 2006) which essentially pre-programs the population from childhood in every aspect of their lives both public and private. He makes direct reference to the Islamic-Arab culture as being antiquated and lacking ‘cultural and political pluralism’ (Al-Buleihi, 2012, p. n.p.), and that this stifling of the political and judicial systems in the KSA have created a monoculture that is ‘incapable of producing anything’ (Al-Buleihi, 2012, p. n.p.) which could be perceived as a contribution to modern culture. Ibrahim Al-Buleihi suggests that the authoritarian governance has destroyed individualism, and by supressing it with fear generated in the population by brutal public punishments it has made the majority of the population ‘incapable of independent thinking, and of benefiting from the cultures of others’ (Al-Buleihi, 2010, p. n.p.).
Conclusion
The KSA is a theocratic state that is ruled by a monarchy whose Constitution and political system are designed to support totalitarian governance. The brief analysis given2 reveals how judicial autonomy is subverted by the dominance of the monarchy (Kapiszewski, 2006) whose rule is made permanent by the Constitution as defined by the limited context of the shari’ah. The lack of cultural diversity manifests as the absence of cultural aspects which exist in predominantly non-Muslim majority countries, and although the ideology of a religious monoculture as the best way to increase social and cultural solidarity may appear logical from a ninth century perspective, the comparison with the modern non-Islamic world affirms that the ninth century Islamic perspective is outdated. By supressing individuals and inhibiting rudimentary human rights such as freedom of speech and expression, freedom of religion, and the dignity of all humanity, Islamic governance has limited the cultural diversity required for the growth of scientific, technological and social progress (Al-Buleihi, 2010) in the KSA at both a national and personal level. Many of the issues and concepts discussed in this essay will continue to be revisited by people all over the world for many years to come as they are studied and debated at all levels of society.
1 This essay provides an objective analysis of the topic. However, the author recognises there is potential for bias due to a predominantly Eurocentric education as an instrument of analysis. This potential bias is compensated for by sourcing information directly from the KSA rather than sources which may be subject to the same bias as aforementioned.
2 There are a substantial number of alternative real life examples from many aspects of life in the KSA which elucidate the limits imposed on culture and society by an Islamic absolute monarchical reign, however the size constraints of this essay prevent their inclusion as part of this discussion.
References
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Al-Buleihi, I., 2010. The Arab is incapable of individual thinking [Interview] (26 February 2010).
Al-Buleihi, I., 2012. Progress for Arab and Islamic world can only come from Western civilization [Interview] (23 July 2012).
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Kapiszewski, A., 2006. Saudi Arabia: Steps toward democratization or reconfiguration of authoritarianism?. Journal of Asian and African studies, 41(5-6), pp. 459-482.
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Targeted News Service, 2016. Committee against torture reviews report of Saudi Arabia, Washington, D.C.: Targeted News Service.
True life: Resist the power! Saudi Arabia. 2010. [Film] Directed by Heidi Ewing, Rachel Grady. United States of America: MTV.