Sheik Muhammad bin Sa'd Aal Mufrih, Member of Founding Committee of Saudi Arabia's Islamic Umma Party, Protests the Arrest of Founders of His Party and Calls for Demonstrations

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Sheik Muhammad bin Sa'd Aal Mufrih, member of the Founding Committee of the Islamic Umma Party in Saudi Arabia. The address was posted on the Internet on March 6, 2011.

Sheik Muhammad bin Sa'd Aal Mufrih: To the peoples of the Islamic world, in general, and in our Arab world, in particular, and especially to the people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the peoples of the Arab Gulf, I address these words, out of duty and responsibility. As it says in the hadith, "religion is advice."

Brothers, our nation has lived through decades of political oppression, political tyranny, backwardness in the economy and in development, weakness in the military and security aspects, as well as a resounding failure in all aspects.

It got to the point that the external enemy has taken control of the entire nation. It wages its wars against our nation, undeterred, and robs it of its resources with no one to stop it.

The nation's situation has gotten so bad that the enemy itself eulogizes it. The nation almost despaired of reforming its situation, and almost lost hope of healing its illnesses, when along came relief and victory at the hand of the youth, with the explosion of these blessed revolutions from the [Atlantic] Ocean to the Gulf.

Thus, the nation has embarked upon a new era of freedom, honor, and security, after which it will gather its power and build itself, in order to proceed along the path of unity, revival, and civilization, restoring its caliphate upon the land, at the hand of all the nation's peoples, as well as its governments, which will represent the nation in the best way.

Oh, the free youth and the beloved peoples in the Arab Gulf countries, in general, and in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, in particular, the nation has its eyes set upon you, expecting you to fulfill your role in the required reforms.

Political and financial corruption in the region have reached the point at which the peoples are forbidden, by Islamic law, to remain silent. The countries in the Arab Gulf suffer from despotic rule, from monopolization of resources, and from financial, administrative, and judicial corruption, as well as from social and class injustice.

All this requires that we take the initiative of immediate reform, before it is too late.

Among the rights denied the people of the Gulf are the right to elect their government, their right to elect their representatives, their right to supervise the public funds, their right to hold the corrupt accountable, and their right to justice, equality, and equal opportunities for all, as well as their right to preserve their resources.

The people of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are first among the nations, and they are the most worthy of supporting what is right, maintaining justice, and rejecting injustice. They are the peoples of the Two Holy Mosques and the defenders of Islam.

Corruption has reached an unprecedented level, and this requires that the divine scholars, the faithful preachers, the shapers of public opinion, and all the young men and women fulfill their religious, national, and human duty, by confronting all the manifestations of deviation, corruption, injustice, and despotism.

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The declaration of the establishment of the Islamic Umma Party was a step in the path of the peaceful, popular political reform. The party's founding committee has submitted an official document to the royal chambers, but the government was quick to arrest them and throw them into prison, thinking that these irresponsible acts would stop the wheels of change and reform.

We, in the Islamic Umma Party, call for the immediate release of the party's founders and the reformists, who fill the prisons.

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Oh, the believing youth, who care about their country's interests and prosperity, may your actions be for the sake of Allah, for the sake of truth and justice, freedom and honor. Your actions and your protests should be peaceful, and refrain from harming private or public property.

They should express your rejection of the current reality, as well as your vision of a better future for you, your country, and your nation.