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STRONG>Inside the kingdom – Osama videos – The Saudi connection
As I turned to the last pages of Carmen
bin Laden’s book “Inside the kingdom”, I read in the news paper about the
new video released by Osama bin Laden.
Carmen was married to one of Osama’s older brother Yeslam and lived in Saudi Arabia for 9 years. It’s horrifying to read about the lives of women who lived veiled in the desert of Saudi Arabia, a place which is not a natural habitat for civilization. Even then, people continue to live there, practicing the strictest form of Islam, profiting from oil sale and flaunting their money.
Last week saw a lot of news paper articles on Osama and his new videos– professors of Islamic studies trying to suggest a connection between the colour of Osama’s beard and his plans for new attacks, people trying to crack his next moves etc. Carmen mentions in her book that the familial and religious ties in Saudi Arabia are so
strong that it is almost impossible to believe that the bin laden family would under any circumstance disown Osama. The Bin Ladin family, owners of the biggest construction company and believed to have strong ties with the royal family, respected and regarded Osama for his strong religious beliefs. His rigid attitude towards change and disagreement to anything outside Islam has been mentioned in the book as well.
The last article I read was regarding the investments made by a Saudi Arabian entrepreneur Khadim, in the Indian market. Even though he denies any support provided to Osama, you can’t help but think about his hidden motives. Such is the impact of fear and terror! A few years ago, Saudi Arabia was just a country feeding the oil needs of the world and today, a slight twitch by a Saudi denizen comes under global scrutiny.
If what the book says is correct about the strict laws, in accordance to which every Saudi citizen lives and the strong desire and target of the followers of Islam in Saudi to spread the strictest form of Islam (and supposedly the holiest form of Islam as Mecca, muslims’ holy place of worship is in Saudi Arabia) in the entire world, it is very difficult to negate the idea of support being lent to Osama by Saudi Arabia.
As a global group fighting terrorism all that we can do is hope for the best and prepare for the worst. As individuals, we can pray for peace and harmony.