Saudi GazetteToday the Saudi people celebrate the seventh anniversary of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah's accession to the throne, with greater hopes for a more ambitious and prosperous future. King Abdullah's most significant reforms addressed three major challenges that stood in the way of modernizing Saudi Arabia, mainly, combating terrorism, confronting extremism and the hard-line position against women, reforming the judiciary and reforming the educational system. Upon his ascension to the throne King Abdullah initiated political reforms to confront the danger of terrorism and the deviant ideology that was threatening the security and stability of Saudi Arabia. He supported the global war on terror and was also able to save the country from a plot to brand it as a terrorist state to be targeted and attacked. He succeeded in diffusing an international media campaign to implicate Saudi Arabia and distort the image of its people the world over. King Abdullah wisely led a counter offensive by reaching out to all leaders around the world calling for peace and global prosperity. Many international journalists were invited to have first-hand information about the culture and the peaceful nature of the Saudi people. The Monarch welcomed foreign investments to contribute to the country's development plans and he initiated the intercultural dialogue to bridge the divide between Islam and the west. King Abdullah combated extremism and propagated moderation. In August 2010 he decreed that only officially approved religious scholars would be allowed to issue “fatwas”, putting a stop to many spurious fatwas that did not represent the true spirit of Islam. King Abdullah boldly defied the extremists' hard-line position marginalizing women and received accomplished women in his court, encouraging them to excel and contribute. The King has also taken major steps to enforce regulations that support the role of women in society. In 2006 he ordered that women should get ID cards, despite the uproar by the Ulema because it would include the woman's photo. Accordingly ID card was required for all government and business transactions. In 2008 a ban on single woman renting hotel rooms was lifted, and women could travel freely within the Kingdom. In 2011 the ban on women working in lingerie stores was also lifted creating jobs for women across the Kingdom. In 2011, the King announced that women will be allowed to vote and run in Municipal elections in 2015 and they will become members of the next session of the Shoura council in 2017. In his inaugural speech to the Shoura Council, he strongly rejected any marginalization of women and welcomed their participation in the decision-making process. King Abdullah's reformist ideas addressed the extremists control over the curriculum that was being taught in schools spreading a culture of intolerance toward other cultures and religions. Schools were monitored to curb the development of extremist ideas. The Ministry of Education changed the Islamic studies curriculum with more moderate interpretations of the Qur'an and greater emphasis on research and sciences. Elementary and middle school curricula was revised to include more English, science, history and social studies. Mathematics and science subjects were improved.Three major projects were established to raise the quality of education, mainly to develop creativity and excellence of faculty members, establishing centers for research and scientific excellence and promoting a scientific research culture among students in order to raise the quality of higher education. Training programs were provided for teachers to implement innovative methods in teaching and learning new techniques in the classrooms to support critical thinking and inspire students to be creative and alert. Mentoring programs were also introduced to build character and confidence, help students discover their capabilities and potentials, and keep up-to-date with global trends and developments. King Abdullah launched an SR81.5 billion budget this year to boost higher education programs across all regions of the Kingdom. New universities were established in each region and a university branch at each governorate in order to provide all citizens educational opportunities.Large spending went on grants for scientific research projects and the establishment of technology incubators. King Abdullah University of Science and Technology offered doctoral degrees in chemical and biological engineering, applied mathematics, environmental, chemical and computer science.The King Abdullah Scholarship Program provided an opportunity for 120,000 students to study in the best universities around the world. The initiative was to raise the standard of Saudi graduates and expose a large number of Saudis to other cultures promoting intercultural relations and global coexistence.Reforming the judiciary is a major positive initiative toward modernizing the country. In 2007, King Abdullah allocated a budget of SR7 billion to upgrade the judiciary. A new supreme court was established, as well as regional appeals courts, specialized courts, and family courts, to provide better services and expedite the rulings in many court cases. The Ministry of Justice has funded training programs to improve the performance of all its employees. It also increased the number of judges at some courts by 150 in an effort to expedite court proceedings. One of the most significant developments in 2012 was the decision to allow only the senior members of the Ulema to issue religious edicts, Fatwas. This rule put a stop to the embarrassing Fatwas that were being broadcast on satellite channels which were illogocal and irrelevant and were not based on any authentic Hadith or Qur'anic verse. Moreover, the Council of Senior Religious Scholars has submitted a project to codify and document the verdicts issued by the Kingdom's Sharia Courts for the consideration of higher authorities, according to Dr Abdul Rahman Al-Sanad, who is a professor at the Department of Comparative Jurisprudence at the Higher Institute of Judiciary. This positive initiative to codify verdicts according to a consensus by senior Ulama would give more credibility to the verdicts issued in Saudi courts and it would allow citizens to have more faith in the Saudi justice system. Notably comparative studies were conducted on the developments in international laws and Sharia laws with due consideration to social, psychological and security and economic global factors.The significant political, judicial and educational reforms initiated by King Abdullah have influenced change and development in Saudi Arabia. King Abdullah will go down in history as a reformer who paved the way toward building a 21st century prosperous state. The writer is a senior radio broadcaster. She can be reached at [email protected]. __
