DAMMAM: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the Hai'a, proposed Saturday the creation of a higher council for intellectual security during a two-day meeting of the Hai'a's regional chiefs at the M?venpick Hotel in Al-Khobar. Prince Jiluwi Bin Abdul Aziz Bin Musa'ed, Deputy Emir of the Eastern Province, said at the launch of the meeting that “nations that do not look after their intellectual security leave their youth susceptible to invasion from enemies.” He hailed the defeat and arrest of terror suspects at the hand of security men. Society also needs to take firm against terrorism, he said, citing Prince Naif, Second Deputy Premier and Interior Minister as saying ‘the citizen is the first security man'. The meeting of Hai'a chiefs sought to improve knowledge in intellectual security, which officials described as an “essential element in promoting virtue and preventing vice.” Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Humayyen, general president of the Hai'a, said that the Saudi identity derived from the true teachings of Islam has helped people live in peace of mind from deviant ideologies and belief systems. Confused identity is the result of a lack of intellectual security, he added in his speech. He stressed that every individual in the society should cooperate with security men in maintaining the country's security and countering deviant thought of terror suspects. Several Hai'a members are participating in the advisory and rehabilitation program aimed at deviant groups, Al-Humayyen said. The first day of the meeting heard four working papers which proposed tasking specially assigned bodies to carry out a strategy for intellectual security. Ibrahim Al-Zahrani, a member of the teaching staff at King Fahd Security College, stressed the necessity to prevent the mind from deviation and to protect its thoughts and creativity from confusion. Intellectual security is developed through the practice of religion, he said. Saad Al-Otaibi, a researcher, said “intellectual security is a form of promoting virtue and denouncing deviant thought is a form of preventing vice.” When this belief is established, it safeguards thoughts from being too lenient and negligent or too extreme. Khaled Al-Shafi, assistant professor at Al-Majma'ah University and director general of Legal Affairs at the Hai'a, stressed that the existence of a body concerned with the promotion of virtue and prevention of vice contributes in preventing those promoting deviant thought from poisoning the minds of young people. Faleh Al-Sagheer, a member of the Shoura Council, dealt with the effect of intellectual security in achieving interests and preventing what is harmful and evil. He also touched on the relationship between “enjoining virtue and preventing vice” and intellectual security as well as achieving the people's interests.
