Saudi Arabia – “The Arabia of King Saud”- is a large but lightly populated desert land. The culture of many of its eight million people hadn’t changed much for a thousand year. However, under the Arabian desert sand is the main power source for modern technology- oil, since the 1930s, this oil has brought to Saudi Arabia Europeans. Americans, and the above all, money. The products of the industrial world can be seen everywhere.
Saudi Arabia is changing, but underneath the change are powerful traditions which resist change .Ancient laws are respected and obeyed. Saudi Arabia is a kingdom, and the king rules with near-total authority. Changes in life and custom occur slowly.
In this section you’ll investigate the rules and controls that people of this kingdom.
Where do Rules come from? :
Every society has rules. There are always rules about marriage, about the responsibilities of parents to children, about education, work, dress properly- rules about almost everything, Clearly, if you want to understand a particular society, it is necessary to know what its rules are.
One important question about rules that is not asked very often is, where do rules come from. When we ask that question, we usually answer it by saying rules come “from Congress” or from “kings or rulers or other people who have power.”
But that answer misses the point of the question. The best answer seems to be that societies discover that a certain way of action causes problems. To avoid that problem, a rule is made up which prohibits the way of acting. The rule may come from an authority and be written down, or it may simply become accepted over a long period of time. The actual procedure isn’t important. It’s more important to know that rules usually begin as practical solutions to real problems.
Here are some rules generally observed by the Saudi Arabians. The rules have been followed for more than a thousand years. Since the time when the Saudi Arabians were tribes of herdsmen wandering from place to place to place on the Arabian peninsula.
As you read, think about what problems these rules might have helped to avoid.
On Drinking Alcohol :
If a Moslem Drinks wine, and two witnesses testify to his having done so. Or if his breath smells of wine or if he shall himself confess to having taken wine, or it he found in a state of intoxication, he shall receive eighty lashes, or, in the case of a slave forty lashes.
On Gambling :
They will ask the concerning wine, and games of chance. Say both are a great sin and advantage also, to men, but their sin is greater than their disadvantage.
The evidence of a gambler is not admissible in a court of law, because gambling is a great crime.
On Larceny :
If a man or woman steal, cut off their hands.
On Eating :
One should wash one’s hand, mouth and nose, give thanks to God. Eat with the right hand and with the shoes off and lick the plate when the meal finished.
On Women :
Men are superior to women because God has give n the man qualities which the woman does not have.
A women should not be seen by men not of her own family. If she appears where she might be seen by men, she must wear a veil over her face.
On Food :
All animals that seize their prey with their teeth, and all birds which seize it with their talons, are unlawful to eat. No animal that lives in the water, except fish, is lawful, but fish dying of themselves are unlawful. Animals which are not slain are unlawful to eat.
On collecting Interest On Money Loaned :
Cursed be the taker of usury, the giver of usury, the writer of usury, and the witness of usury, for they are all equal. They who take usury shall be given over to the fire of Hell, therein to abide forever.
