In an article published May 14, 2010 in the London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Saudi preacher Dr. Aaidh Al-Qarni wrote that the U.S. implements the values of Islam better than the Muslims themselves. To illustrate his point, he presented the example of a Saudi woman living in the U.S. who was abused by her husband and received no help from her family or her Saudi neighbors, but was rescued and helped by the U.S. authorities.
In a December 23, 2009 article, he wrote that many Arabs flee from persecution and poverty in their countries to find freedom and prosperity in the West, and called on the Muslims to stop cursing the West and start reforming their own countries.
Following are excerpts from translations of the articles published in the English edition of Al-Sharq Al-Awsat:[1]
"The U.S. Deals with Its [Citizens] through Systems that Look Like They [Are] Based on Islamic Teachings [of Humaneness and Tolerance], whilst Muslims Fail to Implement Such Systems"
In his May 14, 2010 article, Al-Qarni wrote: "I know that the U.S. has been responsible for the deaths of millions of people outside of its borders either intentionally, semi-intentionally or by mistake. However inside the country, things are different. The U.S. deals with its [citizens] through systems that look like they [are] based on Islamic teachings whilst Muslims fail to implement such systems.
"I will relay a story that was told to me by a Saudi professor who studied in the U.S. and witnessed these events himself... There was a Saudi family; a man who had been sent by the Institute of Public Administration on a scholarship to complete his Masters degree in the U.S., his wife, his eight year old daughter, and six year old son...
"The husband used to abuse his wife every now and then, beating her and cursing her. The wife would call on her Saudi neighbors for help and they would contact the husband and ask him to stop beating his wife. They would also call the wife's family in Saudi Arabia to help her and help solve the marital problems between the couple.
"The family then moved to Ohio and the man continued to beat and curse his wife and even though she called on her brothers and father in Saudi Arabia to intervene and put an end to the injustice she was suffering, none of her family or the husband's family intervened to help them with their problems. In fact she was rejected, insulted and threatened by them.
"Having reached a dead end, the wife decided to put a stop to the physical and psychological pain she and her children were suffering; she contacted the police and told the police about her husband. Within minutes, over five police squads arrived at the Saudi family's home and the husband and the wife were both questioned separately. The children were also questioned and as a result, the police were certain that the father had beaten and insulted the mother. Accordingly, the father was detained at the police station and the mother and her children were taken to a hotel until the investigation had been completed.
"The entire family was placed under protection, and policemen were assigned to take the children to school and to pick them up everyday, and to protect the house where the family lived and they were given financial assistance for living costs.
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"The Saudi attaché provided a lawyer for the imprisoned Saudi student who was bailed out until the investigation and the trial were completed. During this period, the police made the student sign a pledge that he would not enter the area where his wife and children live or go near the area or even think about visiting the children either at home or at school until a court ruling had been issued.
"The U.S. government also asked the Saudi woman to appoint a lawyer to defend her in court. When she asked about the costs this would entail, she was told it might cost around 6,000 dollars. The woman burst into tears and said that she did not have that kind of money and expressed her fear that she would lose the case and would be forced to return to her husband. Two American lawyers were present during the woman's outburst and they offered to take the case pro bono. After the sessions of the trial were completed and having collected evidence and eyewitness reports against the husband, the court decided that he was guilty and that the wife would maintain custody of the children if the couple were to divorce, and that is what happened.
"After the trial ended, the U.S. government provided the Saudi woman and her children with a house and paid the rent for her, and after a certain period of time she could own the house. The U.S. government also gave the Saudi woman a job that was suitable to her religious beliefs and she earned a salary of 3000 U.S. dollars per month. The U.S. government also covered the fees for the children's schooling and the Saudi woman's university fees and issued her with a credit card with a monthly allowance to cover her and her children's living costs. The government also changed her visa status to refugee status and this will facilitate her obtainment of U.S. citizenship in the future."
"How Many Women [in the Arab World] Are Beaten, Insulted and Hurt without Anybody Coming to Their Aid?"
"Now, after listening to the story, let us ask how many women are beaten, insulted and hurt without anybody coming to their aid? I am aware of many terrifying stories of the worst kind of abuse and oppression that women experience day and night. I also heard a very distressing story about a child in Saudi Arabia last year so I contacted an excellent physician from the Human Rights Authority in Saudi Arabia but I am yet to receive any news or an answer from him let alone a positive attitude. I fear that after people read this story, many women here in the Arab world would want to go to the U.S.I believe that there should be a secret police force whose task it is to intervene in order to rescue women who are being assaulted and suffering abuse. Any husbands carrying out such abuse should share the same fate as the Saudi student in the U.S. mentioned in the story above.
"Over fourteen centuries ago, Omar Ibn al Khattab, the second of the four Rightly-Guided Caliphs, defended an abused woman when he went to her husband's house with his sword and rescued the woman and taught her husband a lesson but in accordance with the principles of Islamic Shari'a.
"I remember that some colleagues and I toured 21 American states and whenever we saw the accuracy and excellence of the traffic system, and witnessed people's commitment to environment protection laws, and the way daily affairs are managed, we thought of the words we read in the Quran and the Sunna of the Prophet. Even some of the Muslim professors there once said to us, 'We swear it is as if the Americans took it from our religion word for word, whilst we ignore these great texts.'
"Former U.S. president Richard Nixon, in his book Seize the Moment says 'The U.S. is a powerful country but unfortunately, great ideas are in Islam.' Wake up Muslims and Arabs! I thank the U.S. government and U.S. President Barack Hussein Obama and the American nation as a whole for taking such a noble position."[2]
"Why Don't We Arabs Admit that Many of Our States Have Abolished the Islamic Shari'a, Discarded Justice, Confiscated Liberties, Taken over Rights, Erased Freedom of Expression and Turned the Country into a Large Jail?"
Al-Qarni's December 23, 2009 article stated: "Rationally [and] logically... Westerners are supposed to migrate to the land of the Arabs, because it is the land of Muhammad's message... However, the inverse happen[s], with many Arabs migrating to the West. In every town in Europe and America we find an Arab community filling universities, schools, factories, and mosques. Some of them have fled from repression, whipping, torture, gagging [and] confiscation of freedom, with the traces of torture still on their backs and chests. Others have [come] to look for a source of [livelihood] after being stricken by poverty, stung by hunger, and destroyed by unemployment and idleness. Others have [come] to seek knowledge, leaving behind their countries, [whose] universities are ranked last in the list of the universities of the world...
"These Arabs who have reached the West have become engineers, doctors, professors, writers, and intellectuals because the doors to knowledge, work, production, innovation, discovery, and invention have been opened to them...
"[Some time ago we visited] the city of Fort Collins in the State of Colorado, in America. A Libyan invited us. He has political refugee status after fleeing from Libya, where he was made homeless, and was hunted, tortured [and eventually] deported... He worked in [Colorado], then bought a farm to which he invited us... He was very generous to us, and he described to us his situation in his country of origin, and his current situation. We were amazed. Amazingly enough, here is a man who fled his homeland after being terribly harassed, tortured, and maltreated there. [Then he] came to a [country] that we insult day and night, and that some of us call the 'Great Satan,' a country that our preachers are cursing... This poor Muslim, who was driven out of his country [and] tortured in his homeland, becomes rich, [acquires] a home, a farm and a job, [and] enjoys a good life full happiness in an American state!
"Why don't we Arabs think about our tragedies and disasters, and admit that many of our states have abolished the Islamic Shari'a, discarded justice, confiscated liberties, taken over rights, erased freedom of expression and turned the country into a large jail?...
"Our Islamic Shari'a [speaks of] order, justice, good character... [It calls for] peace, human rights [and] respect for others... [for] seeking knowledge... [and for] fighting poverty, ignorance, disease and injustice. We notice that they are observing all this in the West, whereas... many Arabs are only paying lip service to it, in their bitter reality.
"Please, let us stop cursing and insulting [the West]... and let us preoccupy ourselves with reforming ourselves, improving our level, promoting our universities, cleaning our environment, building our land, and rectifying our mistakes. The Arabs will then return to their land, and perhaps the Westerners will migrate to the Arab land."[3]
