A Saudi Valentine?

Is there a Valentine Revolution beating in Saudi Arabia? Has King Abdullah had a change of heart? Apparently he is instrumental in opening the door to reform. Weekly Standard:

Not a single book proposing guidelines for a transition from Communist statism was ever published in the West, as far as we can tell; nor have we seen a useful summation of the lessons learned from the various, improvised transitions that occurred across the former Soviet bloc.

By contrast, Saudiologists may already contemplate the end of Wahhabi domination and imagine rational pathways toward normality. Nobody responsible wants the Saudi monarchy to collapse altogether; a violent disintegration would have negative consequences far beyond the oil markets, undermining what stability remains in the Sunni Muslim world. Instead, a plausible scheme would envisage the House of Saud as heads of state along the lines of the British royal family, even keeping a share of oil revenues, but with a written constitution that guarantees an independent judiciary, freedom of the press, religious liberty--and the complete and total disestablishment of Wahhabism.

Saudi Arabia has a growing number of entrepreneurs and the largest middle class in the Arab world. Recently many Saudis celebrated the "pagan" Valentine's Day, despite disapproval by the official religious militia. And foreigners were granted the right to celebrate behind closed doors. (Authorities often burst into foreigners' homes in search of liquor, which is outlawed in Saudi Arabia.)

And here's another hopeful sign, this time in Egypt---a debate on female "circumcision" (genital mutilation), though we in the West find it inconceivable there is even a debate about this barbaric practice.

On the other hand, this is why we rarely hear from moderate Muslims, even in the US. A moderate Muslim who had come here from Pakistan spoke out, urging that all Muslims condemn Al Qaeda and terrorism. He was threatened at his local mosque:

Miftah says he won't be returning to the al-Salam Mosque. He now leads his family in prayer at their home. But he still wants the mosque to apologize for calling him anti-Islamic.

"It amounts to an invitation to anyone within the Muslim world to come and get me.The more I think about it, the more I get worried about it. And that is what I wanted them to say, that 'he is not anti-Islamic.' And that is what they are not saying."

Miftah says that even in Pakistan, he was never treated so badly by his fellow Muslims. He says that if it can happen in America's heartland, it can happen anywhere.

Well, and this is what happened to a moderate Muslim who stayed in Pakistan---his head was hacked off. A schoolteacher, he had spoken out against militants. Oh, and of course they accused him of being an American spy.

But there continue to be moderate Muslims who speak out, some who have suffered and "resign from Islam", others who describe themselves as part of secular Islam (more here) and those in the West who defend them. (The latest insult hurled at Hirsi Ali by leftists in the West is that she is an "enlightenment fundamentalist" --and intolerant. How ridiculous. I heard her speak in Winnetka recently. She is very bright and personable and impressed those gathered there, many of them liberal Democrat women I know. Hitchens defends her as no absolutist.)

Since Saudi Arabia has been central to the spread of the most radical and intolerant version of Islam, by financing Wahabbi centers of learning and mosques in the US and around the world, it would be an important development if the Kingdom is rethinking this support and moving toward religious tolerance and democracy.

Related posts: Jihad Professor at Kent State, Blue Burqa Band, The Jihad Apologist Press, Hirsi Ali Speaks Up, A CAIR package, They Call Me Infidel, Burying Girls Alive, An Ancient Culture Extinguished

UPDATE: From the March 2007 issue of the American Spectator (on the newsstands now or subscribe online), a must read article by Daniel Johnson on the British and European experience with Islam, which has implications and suggestions for the US as well, "The Storks Are Landing". Key graf:

Funded largely by Saudi and other Middle Eastern oil money, Wahhabi influence is growing fast. The vast majority of British Muslims are not Middle Eastern in origin; most belong to the Sufi tradition, which is relatively tolerant. But many--probably most--British mosques are now under the control of community 'leaders" who are radically opposed to the war on terror and whose loyalty to the Muslim "ummah" takes precedence over their allegiance to the Crown. It is hard to measure the precise extent of Wahhabi and other extremist influence, but a fairly reliable indicator is the attitude toward women: If they are excluded from the mosque, or segregated in a separate prayer room, it is likely to be hard-line. More than half of the British mosques do in fact exclude women, and it is a similar story across Europe.

And in the US? Johnson also suggests this funding of extremist mosques should be cut off by Western governments if the Islamic countries who are the source refuse to permit Christian, Jewish, or other non-Muslim worship in their own countries. That is essentially true in most of the Middle East.

And of course, sincere interfaith gatherings are vital here.

UPDATE: Very interesting, in the Arab News, a forum for prominent Saudi women this month:

Princess Adila bint Abdullah will spell out her vision for Saudi woman in 2020 at the Khadija Bint Khuwalid Forum on “The Reality of Women’s Participation in National Development” to be held at Hilton Hotel in Jeddah on March 19 and 20.

The forum will bring together prominent Saudi businesswomen, academics and executives. It coincides with the launch of the Arab News Top 20 Supplement featuring a profile of companies headed and owned by Saudi women.