The Kingdom and the Afghan Chaos, War on Terror, NewAgeIslam.com

War on Terror

The Kingdom and the Afghan Chaos

By Mai Yamani

Feb 20, 2010

LONDON: In his quest to stabilise his country, Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, dressed in white robes, arrived last week in Mecca on what can only be called a diplomatic pilgrimage. Although Karzai undoubtedly spent time praying at Islam's holiest site, his mission was intended to prove more than his piety.

So what diplomatic or financial gain was Karzai seeking? Why travel to Saudi Arabia at the very moment that US President Barack Obama's military surge has become operational? Can Saudi Arabia play a serious role in resolving his country's increasingly bloody conflict?

One card the Saudis can play is their severe Islamic ideology, which the Taliban shares. Indeed, the Saudis, backed by Pakistani military intelligence, nurtured the madrasas that educated the Taliban before their march to power in the 1990s.

Moreover, Saudi Arabia has been increasingly willing to use Mecca as a forum to attempt to resolve regional political disputes. In October 2006,for example, Mecca was used to host talks among Iraq's warring sectarian factions. In February 2007, the short-lived Palestinian government of national unity was created as the result of a summit there.

In October 2008, the Kingdom held mediation talks between the Taliban and the Afghan government following Karzai's request to King Abdullah, whom Karzai describes as "the leader of the Muslim world". The Taliban could not spurn an invitation to negotiate in Mecca.

http://newageislam.com/the-kingdom-and-the-afghan-chaos/war-on-terror/d/2490

Misuse of Sharia: Saudis Face Soaring Blood-Money Sums -- Tribes, Families Are Demanding Millions, Islamic Sharia Laws, NewAgeIslam.com

Misuse of Sharia: Saudis Face Soaring Blood-Money Sums -- Tribes, Families Are Demanding Millions

By Faiza Saleh Ambah

Washington Post Foreign Service

Sunday, July 27, 2008; Page A14

"Some families have become broke from these exaggerated sums being asked for diyah and live in poverty the rest of their lives," said Abdul-Aziz Qassim, an author and journalist who has written about blood money. "The families of some of the victims have turned it into a business."

To deal with the problem, the government recently set up the Reconciliation Committee, which works to lower the diyah requests and find wealthy donors to help the families of death row inmates unable to pay. Using a combination of religious preaching and mediation by influential tribal sheiks and prominent clerics, the committee says it has spared nearly 150 lives since its inception.

"Nothing is more precious to God than the sparing of a neck," said Nasser al-Zahrani, head of the Mecca office of the Reconciliation Committee. "We try to explain to these families with victims that it provides a blessing like no other."

Quoting the Koran, the Muslim holy book, Zahrani said he tells families: "He who takes a life, unless it be for murder or spreading terror in the land -- it would be as if he killed everyone. And he who saves one life, it is as if he has saved all of mankind."

http://newageislam.com/misuse-of-sharia--saudis-face-soaring-blood-money-sums----tribes,-families-are-demanding-millions/islamic-sharia-laws/d/330