Majlis Ash-Shura, 1363 A.H.

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

From Abdul Aziz bin AbdulRahman AlFaisal:

To glorious Chairman of The Shura Council , our son, Faisal,

Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon you:

We read the annual report of The Shura Council for its affairs in the year 1362 A.H. which was referred to us in the number 93 in 12/1362

We wish that you convey the Council and its members our acknowledgement as well as our good trust in them for their efforts, and that this trust is what makes us extend their work for a further year, starting from the beginning of Muharram 1363 A.H.

May Allah guide and protect you.

On behalf of the Council , Sheikh Ahmad Ibrahim AlGhazawy, member of The Shura Council then delivered the following speech:

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful

Your Highness:

The Council received so proudly and happily the favor of his Majesty, and his precious trust that has always stimulated the spirit of hard work to handle matters correctly and mindfully.

When taking the reins of our mission, and receiving this blessed new session in the name of Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, we deeply feel that we have a lot of duties and responsibilities that require most our time and entails us to exert the most of our efforts in all that we are required to discuss and handle the interests of the country and its public affairs.

Your Highness:

This honored Council under your presidency could not let this opportunity pass expressing its gratitude for the trust it receives from your Highness, being its president on one hand, and a president of the government on the other hand. Thanks that is worthy of the care of your Highness, and of your support of its precise and exalted decisions, not to mention the precious advices, valuable instructions and correct guidance which is still heard in this room whenever sessions are renewed and rituals of inauguration are repeated, with you presiding its sessions. In return to this support and trust, your highness would receive from us the utmost interest, hard work and persistence in our duties. We would spare no effort in trying everything that leads to the goodness, advancement and success you seek for all classes of people and the interest of the country as much as circumstances help us and specialized bodies and public departments cooperate with us. Needless to say that the best to meet this superior care, and fulfill thanks for this noble grace is through double action towards our authorized tasks, deeds and projects that are related to the benefits of people and develop its facilities and drive it gradually towards perfection, advancement and reform.

Of course we don’t deny that the exceptional circumstances imposed by general necessities of war have a good effect in adapting all constructional procedures that the government of glorified Majesty of the king intends to do and achieve for the sake of reforming constructional, scientific and economic aspects. Despite all that, what has been achieved in this country by virtue of accurate policy and adopted wisdom by the government of his Majesty, presided by the Highness of our glorified prince is mostly the purpose that could be achieved in current crises undergone by all countries worldwide, which results could not be eliminated in either near or remote countries.

Your Highness:

We received greatest honor and pride by your blessed journey to uttermost parts of, crossing most remote distances on air, among the evident adverse events and dangers of war.

Mentioning that in this occasion, this long hard journey a new evidence of the burdens your Highness bear for the sake of the glory and welfare of Arabs, and bring them highly in great international mediums. Moreover they are bright proofs for the eternal achievements of his Majesty that always decorate the pages of history and set every Arabian in position of dignity and pride. Whatsoever in short I speak, it is the duty of the nation and the Council in specific to thank Allah, glorified and exalted be He, for what He led those in charge successfully to achieve comprehensive security, general goodness, organized caterings, and increasing education that is growing along times

Your Highness:

The Shura Council is ready and aware to be at the good opinion of glorious Majesty. It would be as careful as possible to handle everything within its authority. It wishes and believes that all departments and bodies of the governments are collaborating in performing their duties the best way for the benefit of commonweal, considering in all that the most precise ratified regulations to be followed, which have no escape to be applied as long as they are in charge with that and responsible of it.

Your Highness:

The government in total is a big machine that has various parts, some are big, and others are small. It is collaborating and cooperative in its course; so any failure or malfunction in any part of them would impact all of its action. Therefore, the Council wishes that all central and secondary departments, and that every employee and official assumes responsibilities of his job as if this job would have direct benefit upon him in case of being good and excellent in doing it.

Finally, we thank your Highness for this honor. We pray to Allah that He extends the life of our glorious Majesty of the king, and the Highness of his crown prince as well as your beloved Highness, and to achieve under his Majesty the uttermost targets for the nation and the country, Allah is All-Hearing, Hearkener.

His Highness prince Faisal Ben Abdul Aziz, may Allah support, delivered the following word;

In the name of Allah, most gracious, Most Merciful

We Ask Allah that He leads us successfully to goodness. There is no doubt that what sheikh Ahmad Ibrahim AlGhazawy said on behalf of the Council is sufficient and enough. All of us are required to work and it is great for all of us. Man is subject to deficiency and mistakes. Yet if good intention goes hand in hand with quality of work, it will have a good base.

Our colleague talked about the governmental department, and that it is like a big machine that has many parts, and I believe that to be true. In another position, he asked all governmental bodies, and departments in charge to cooperate and collaborate for the public interest. This is the most important and holy duty for man. No work is destined to succeed, or a purpose to be achieved without collaboration and cooperation. Allah, glorified and exalted be He, urged in his holy Book to cooperate and collaborate in all works. Hadith of our Prophet all insist on this purpose. If we look at all world countries, we will discover that any work that is not based on collaboration, cooperation and sincerity is unfruitful. Duty is imposed on everybody without exceptions. It is a mutual duty between the old and young people, the farthest and nearest ones.

It is not allowed for any man to give up claiming that he is not responsible or not in charge. When man looks around at world countries, he will find people wondering why these countries reached this degree of prominence

No doubt that everyman thinks about that. He, who did not see or got informed, might understand a little from criticism. Yet he, who went in touch or could get informed, will understand that what made them reach this great degree of gratitude is:

  1. - Sincerity and hard work
  2. - Each member considers himself responsible and in charge of the biggest duty towards the nation and the country


These two reasons are the basis upon which advanced nations built their glory, rise and civilization. If we look at ourselves, we will find a more solid and firm grounds than theirs, which is the spiritual one, yet did we achieve what they did? This is what we should account ourselves for. There are many people, who might not be in our country, think that religion is one thing that impedes advancement and development. This is untrue; religion that Allah makes legitimate for mankind is not special for a nation and not for the other, nor is it for a time and not for another time. The Creator is aware of the past and of what would be. It is impossible that He imposes anything that does not match with any time or any nation, especially the Islamic religion of Prophet Mohammad PBUH, the last Prophet, which is for all nations. If there would be religion or a mission that would be on earth later, Mohammad would not have been the last Prophet. Out of that we conclude that religion is for every nation and time.

If we fulfill what religion imposes, nothing will be needed.

Religion necessitates that we equip ourselves with good manners, and from every civilization and advancement, and to restrain ourselves. People longing to evil don’t view religion that way. If we restrain ourselves and give dominance to interest, we will find that religion urges us to do all goodness even in our souls that only Allah knows. So If we were lucky and knew how to reckon ourselves, we would benefit again from what our religion entails and we would worship Allah loyally. Loyal worship is more than mentioning Allah a lot, or praying day and night.

This is not useful unless built upon sincerity and awareness of worship.

To be loyal to Allah is to be loyal to our trusts and ourselves, to be loyal to each other, to exchange advices and cooperate according to what our religion commands. If we follow what is in Quran, and in holy Hadith, and the manners of companions of Prophet Mohammad PBUH, we would find all of them built upon this basis.

Worldly actions- does religion prevent us from being strong?
Does religion prevent us from being strong?
Does religion prevent usfrom being aware of everything?
No.

Everyone who views religion as an obstacle in the face of advancement, he is then, no doubt, unfair to himself, challenging what Allah imposes, and denying all divinely laws.

I heard from a lot of people, and I don’t’ say this is in our country, that all Muslims are behind because of religion. Yet nobody has a single proof or evidence for that.

There is just one thing that could decrease the responsibility of people, who view religion incorrectly; it is the responsibility of scholars.

People of religion are those who inspired people of that, and imposed upon them things that Allah did not reveal. They gave up the basis that should be followed. Making people understand that religion imposed these worships, and made them committed to apply them. Allah, glorified and exalted be He, did not impose these worships on people, this pressure is what caused this explosion.

People who are ignorant of the entire truth and have these things before its eyes is excused in attributing all delay to religion since scholars and people of religion are the reason of the calamity of religion. Purposes are turned into personal ones, and benefits become just material. They imposed the non-limiting in religion and left the truthful spirit of religion, hiding them from people, which led to relapse.

Visiting Islamic countries, one sees worships, traditions and habits and find in these worships aspects and superstitions that the sound mind deny. Yet it can’t be blamed since it does know the truth.

Yes it is excused, yet we have to seek the truth. If we understand that, we need to study the reality of ourselves at first. We need to believe that this country, from which the Islamic light was emerged to the whole world, should be the basis to be returned to for the sake of that light. I don’t deny the presence of good people, and maybe most of us did really think about that. Yet we have to work because thinking alone is not enough. If man thinks but is unable to work, then he is excused. On the other hand, if he was capable of working then he is not excused. We have to work to purify convictions that were harmful to people and destroyed Islam. The delay we witness is not caused by religion rather by the heresies inserted into it.

We can’t attribute any deficiency to religion; rather we have to liberate ourselves from this responsibility to do some duty. Achieving the utmost duty is something we can’t claim. To liberate ourselves fro this responsibility, we have to exchange advices, study and learn the real spirit of religion. None of us claims he is aware of everything. Yet if he faces something he does know, let him go back to his brothers, and to those who know more than him. This is the basis upon which we should build up our work. If we reached this high level, we would think then about worldly aspects to strengthen our religion.

If we were weak, we won’t be able to achieve our religion.

Prophet Mohammad and his companions were poor, but their souls were rich. We can’t reach their level but we have to learn from them as much as possible. We have to train ourselves and make it accustomed to overcome difficulties. Success is not a must in every project. On the contrary, every project is subject to success and failure. We should not let our belief fail, we should be strong and ready to do goodness, and we should cooperate in this field and exchange advices, both as members and groups. On the other hand, what our colleague noted: the government in total is like a big machine that has various parts. This machine is a group, where every member is part of it. It should be out of nation and back to nation. Sincerity, action, activity, persistence and insight etc should be available in the governmental tool.

If we fail in this, our sin is bigger because that way we are sinful towards ourselves, our nation and country, and successors, so responsibility is not little.

If man views his job as a merely action in which he finishes some papers, I can’t say he is unfaithful, rather deficient and responsible before Allah, people and his conscience. He should think of the content of these papers, and of what theses papers yield, did we achieve that? Is there anyone among us who views his work that way?

I don’t say that we are bad, but if man thinks about himself and what he should be, we find ourselves in a bad status. We are the reason of that. We are not subject to external ruling that is controlling us. Only Allah rules us, and the Majesty of the king. Is it possible that we attribute deficiency to his Majesty! Humans could be right and could be mistaken. But if we look at the purpose of his Majesty, and his demands and what we hear and see from him, is it possible that we say he is not loyal?

Did we consider his Majesty as our model in our deeds? I am not talking about someone specific rather about everybody and me in the first position. I am the first one to be deficient. The most favorite to me is the person who tells me frankly that I am deficient. The difference between us and the hypocrite people is that they don’t speak the truth. So if someone describes me as the best, being aware of myself, then he is deceiving me and unfaithful to his nation. So I ask myself at first, then you and every member in the nation to tell me frankly of every fault or shortage he sees from my. I swear in the name of Allah that the most blessed time for me is when I receive someone who tells me I am mistaken and in short. I don’t mean to curry favor by saying that. I fear none of you, and I only seek the satisfaction of Allah, and that of his Majesty.

It is not honest at all that you see shortage and not telling me. I am one of you. My deficiencies would be reflected upon you and good deeds would be for your sake. For me I am just like other people. If you were deficient, unfaithful, or careless, then it is for yourselves. Show me the pure truth and face by right every dissentient. If you fix this rule, I guarantee you success. We were harmful to ourselves is that we see the offender and praise him, we see the unfaithful and attribute him as honest, we see the thief and tell him he is the faithful. This is the reason of our delay and weak manners. To say it again: if you tell any person he is deficient in his work, he would fear to lose the source of his means of living. While the believer knows that he would receive what Allah allocates for him. Yet it is the weakness of belief and manners are what led to that. I see a lot of people who commit dishonest deeds that you know, and if anyone of them comes in, we overestimate him. If we follow the rule of offending those offenders and committers of dishonest actions, and showing disgust of all bad actions, nothing of that would have happened.

If we be honest with one another, no deficient, unfaithful, careless people would be found among us. Yet unfortunately, we voluntarily defend them saying he is loyal and that one is honest, and the other is creative, which in fact the biggest disaster. Is that one of the duties? This is the real disloyalty, deficiency and carelessness. All of us know that, so did we try to resist it. We are walking in darkness. You have to work for the sake of Allah at first and for the sake of your nation and country then. Establish your basis solidly if you want success, otherwise follow the steps of these you see and you would move backwards. This is not specific to a person and not the other, or a body and not another. Each member is responsible. I talked yesterday with the head of Commission of Alms. He clarified that if he authorized somebody of investigation, he apologizes to display the truth least their means of living are discontinued. Is it possible to expect goodness form such a man? It is a stab in the heart. We saw people and nations who stand publicly and denunciate the head of their government as disloyal, deficient and careless. Is that viable here?

Somebody might say that freedom of opinion does not exist here. This is refused. There is no country that has freedom of opinion as much as we have. Any member of people could stop the king of the country in the street and complain to him; is there a further freedom of opinion? Freedom of opinion does not mean personal slander and exchanging insults. One should be loyal in his opinion he is uttering. Could anybody say that he displayed his opinion and was punished for it? I am ready to be fair with him if that happens.

Every man seeks to maintain his dignity and rights. Others ask for the same too. We don’t differentiate, Thanks be to Allah, between a superior or a subordinate in general rights. All people are alike before right, whether an ordinary man or the most superior one.

We lack bravery and loyalty. If we know the illness, all of us have to resist it. Otherwise it would be to the group and for the successors; the sin would be great against us and against our successors.

The critical point is what should be handled first. For me, I don’t like to talk about dealings since they are secondary. The most important is that one purifies himself at first and makes it the basis of his works. If we do that, the building would always be fixed and would always lead us to the desired purpose. We ask Allah, glorified and exalted be He that He achieves hopes and makes us sincere and hardworking to do what the greatest duty requires us to do.

I did not like to thank you, because I don’t like the exchange of thanks. We have to thank each other. I am still ache in my soul because of some wishes that are not achieved yet.

Now, in the name of Allah, and on behalf of his Majesty the glorified king, I inaugurate the first session of your Council in its new session. I ask Allah that He makes it good and blessed for the nation and the country, and to be kind enough to make us do what should be done.