Looks like Shiites make up 15% of the Saudi population.....
gulfnews.com
Opinion | Region
Published: 3/3/2005, 07:11 (UAE)
Shiites trying to make a mark in Saudi Arabia
By Scott Wilson
As thousands of Iraqis braved the threat of attack to vote last month, more than a dozen men gathered in Mohammad Mahfoodh's spacious salon in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. Lined with sofas and lit by a glass chandelier, the room is a frequent meeting place for the leaders of a Shiite Muslim community that for decades has been subjected to neglect.
Recalling the scene later, Mahfoodh said his neighbourhood was noisy with celebration that evening as many people returned from the Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah. But the main event was on the television screen in his living room, which remained on most of the night.
"There was something there that appealed to us here," said Mahfoodh, 38, who edits a cultural magazine called the Word that can only be distributed underground.
In Iraq, he said, "they are struggling to build a new state, with equal rights for all, while radicals are trying to defeat them. This idea, this kind of struggling, is happening here".
It is also about to show tangible results. For the first time in 70 years, the Shiites of eastern Saudi Arabia, the only part of the kingdom where they are a majority, are preparing to win a small measure of political power. Inspired by the Shiites' success in Iraq's elections, Shiite leaders say they intend to sweep to victory in municipal voting and begin using the authority of elective office to push for equal rights.
The voting also will likely result in at least some Shiite representation on two nearby councils. The prospect of even incremental Shiite political gain has alarmed many across the Middle East, who fear that Shiite communities such as this one astride the kingdom's lifeblood oil industry will push for an ever-greater influence.
Forming a crescent
Sunni heads of state have warned the Bush administration that the democratic reform it is encouraging in Iraq and Saudi Arabia could result in a unified "crescent" of Shiite political power stretching from here through Lebanon, Iraq and into Iran.
Shiites make up roughly 15 per cent of Saudi Arabia's 25 million people; the vast majority of Saudis are Sunnis.
In a kingdom founded on one of the most conservative branches of Sunni Islam, religious prejudice has given the highly organised Shiite community strong incentive to vote after years of sometimes violent activism.
About 40 per cent of Qatif's eligible voters registered in recent weeks, twice the percentage that did so in Riyadh, the capital 200 miles to the west, where the first phase of municipal elections took place on February 10. About 150 candidates, some of whom spent years in exile because of their civil rights activities, are competing for five seats on Qatif's 10-member council. The other half will be appointed by the government.
Although the councils have little political power, they will provide a public venue for discussing employment discrimination, government-imposed limits on the construction of Shiite mosques and schools and reforms that could give Shiites a greater share of political influence.
Shiite leaders say they will proceed with caution, fearing they may overstep the kingdom's invisible lines of permitted speech and give the authorities a reason to roll back the modest democratic reforms implemented in recent years.
"People here are ready to participate, even though this is still not up to their expectations," said Jafar Shayeb, a leading Shiite civil rights activist, who returned from exile in the United States 12 years ago and is seeking a council seat. "But we all realise we must work through this in order to gain even more."
The twin minarets of an enormous Sunni mosque loom over the old centre of this city, a government gift that dwarfs the crumbling mud fortress and concrete homes around it. But only a few of the faithful walk through the mosque's arched doors for evening prayer.
In its shadow is the Shiite mosque, a shop-size jumble of tin, wood planks and masonry capped by a tiny minaret. Shiites worship inside its mouldering brick walls and in the dozens of other antique mosques across the city.
Though thousands of Shiites work in the area's oil refineries, they have never risen much at Saudi Aramco, the behemoth state oil company whose headquarters are a few miles south of Dhahran.
Social unrest has often been triggered by outside events, making Iraq's recent elections particularly worrisome to some leaders, who political analysts say opposed the American invasion of Iraq partly because of its potential effect on this region. Saudi officials acknowledge that the Shiites, whom they rarely mention unless asked, are registering in higher numbers than voters in Riyadh did because they have more specific reasons to vote.
Prince Mansour Bin Mutaab bin Abdulaziz, a grandson of the founding king who was responsible for setting up the municipal elections, said, "In any society, the minorities are motivated."
"I don't like to use the words majority and minority," said the prince, a professor of public administration at King Saud University.
"But I think minorities are more consolidated to have their opinions expressed through the vote."
Opinion | Region
Published: 3/3/2005, 07:11 (UAE)
Shiites trying to make a mark in Saudi Arabia
By Scott Wilson
As thousands of Iraqis braved the threat of attack to vote last month, more than a dozen men gathered in Mohammad Mahfoodh's spacious salon in Qatif, Saudi Arabia. Lined with sofas and lit by a glass chandelier, the room is a frequent meeting place for the leaders of a Shiite Muslim community that for decades has been subjected to neglect.
Recalling the scene later, Mahfoodh said his neighbourhood was noisy with celebration that evening as many people returned from the Haj, the annual pilgrimage to Makkah. But the main event was on the television screen in his living room, which remained on most of the night.
"There was something there that appealed to us here," said Mahfoodh, 38, who edits a cultural magazine called the Word that can only be distributed underground.
In Iraq, he said, "they are struggling to build a new state, with equal rights for all, while radicals are trying to defeat them. This idea, this kind of struggling, is happening here".
It is also about to show tangible results. For the first time in 70 years, the Shiites of eastern Saudi Arabia, the only part of the kingdom where they are a majority, are preparing to win a small measure of political power. Inspired by the Shiites' success in Iraq's elections, Shiite leaders say they intend to sweep to victory in municipal voting and begin using the authority of elective office to push for equal rights.
The voting also will likely result in at least some Shiite representation on two nearby councils. The prospect of even incremental Shiite political gain has alarmed many across the Middle East, who fear that Shiite communities such as this one astride the kingdom's lifeblood oil industry will push for an ever-greater influence.
Forming a crescent
Sunni heads of state have warned the Bush administration that the democratic reform it is encouraging in Iraq and Saudi Arabia could result in a unified "crescent" of Shiite political power stretching from here through Lebanon, Iraq and into Iran.
Shiites make up roughly 15 per cent of Saudi Arabia's 25 million people; the vast majority of Saudis are Sunnis.
In a kingdom founded on one of the most conservative branches of Sunni Islam, religious prejudice has given the highly organised Shiite community strong incentive to vote after years of sometimes violent activism.
About 40 per cent of Qatif's eligible voters registered in recent weeks, twice the percentage that did so in Riyadh, the capital 200 miles to the west, where the first phase of municipal elections took place on February 10. About 150 candidates, some of whom spent years in exile because of their civil rights activities, are competing for five seats on Qatif's 10-member council. The other half will be appointed by the government.
Although the councils have little political power, they will provide a public venue for discussing employment discrimination, government-imposed limits on the construction of Shiite mosques and schools and reforms that could give Shiites a greater share of political influence.
Shiite leaders say they will proceed with caution, fearing they may overstep the kingdom's invisible lines of permitted speech and give the authorities a reason to roll back the modest democratic reforms implemented in recent years.
"People here are ready to participate, even though this is still not up to their expectations," said Jafar Shayeb, a leading Shiite civil rights activist, who returned from exile in the United States 12 years ago and is seeking a council seat. "But we all realise we must work through this in order to gain even more."
The twin minarets of an enormous Sunni mosque loom over the old centre of this city, a government gift that dwarfs the crumbling mud fortress and concrete homes around it. But only a few of the faithful walk through the mosque's arched doors for evening prayer.
In its shadow is the Shiite mosque, a shop-size jumble of tin, wood planks and masonry capped by a tiny minaret. Shiites worship inside its mouldering brick walls and in the dozens of other antique mosques across the city.
Though thousands of Shiites work in the area's oil refineries, they have never risen much at Saudi Aramco, the behemoth state oil company whose headquarters are a few miles south of Dhahran.
Social unrest has often been triggered by outside events, making Iraq's recent elections particularly worrisome to some leaders, who political analysts say opposed the American invasion of Iraq partly because of its potential effect on this region. Saudi officials acknowledge that the Shiites, whom they rarely mention unless asked, are registering in higher numbers than voters in Riyadh did because they have more specific reasons to vote.
Prince Mansour Bin Mutaab bin Abdulaziz, a grandson of the founding king who was responsible for setting up the municipal elections, said, "In any society, the minorities are motivated."
"I don't like to use the words majority and minority," said the prince, a professor of public administration at King Saud University.
"But I think minorities are more consolidated to have their opinions expressed through the vote."
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