What are the reasons behind the Kingdom’s lowest crime rate in the world? And to which degree does the state protect human rights. To answer these questions, reference must be made to the Islamic law (Sharee’ah) which is the accepted arbitrator in effect in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This law is accompanied by a fixed belief in it as a form of heavenly legislation; in other words; a form of theocracy, religious ideology. All citizens in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia are Muslims and see Islam as a religion unifying them, the glory of their glories and the guarantor of their future. The Islamic Sharee’ah law calls for the unity of society, it protects its entity and provides the methods for achieving security and safety. It is also a means of dealing with crime in all of its forms with its provisions and controls in order to protect society from the effects and dangers of criminal behavior. The Sharee’ah calls for good manners, obligations, and propre behavior founded on the power of the relation between man and his God and between people. It also breeds the inward belief and motivation for moral conduct.

  The days before the foundation of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were full of fear and fighting between tribes for trivial reasons. When King Abdel Aziz came to power and unified the different regions of the country under the flag of Islam, security was reinstated and people were reassured of their lives and properties. For this reason whoever cares to compare the past, which was full of fear and fright, with the present, which is full of security and wellbeing, will agree with the necessity to maintain the great gains under the present system.

  The Ministry of the Interior in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, through its experiences, learned that Saudi society’s kindness and abidance to good manners as well as tolerance to other ways of thinking may tempt those with ill-intentions to exploit this type of calmness in order to obtain quick personal gains. This negative attitude has always been the course taken by criminals as their selfishness grows in their path to trespass others. Thus, the Ministry of the Interior organized itself, laid down developing plans for its security departments, established colleges and institutes to qualify security men and doubled the technical and human capabilities of its departments. These moves are in addition to providing citizens with technological equipment and advanced means which assist in the quick disclosure of crime and the immediate detention of criminals.

  From time to time, the Ministry of Interior publicly announces the criminal acts committed by citizens or even by expatriates. Among these crimes, there are some completely new to our society, such as holdups and kidnappings of children in return for ransoms. However, it didn’t take long before the criminals learned the severe punishments allotted by an efficient legal system. This system guarantees justice and equality for all. Also, from time to time, the Ministry of Interior applies punishments for crimes, which Sharee’ah condemns with deterring sentences, such as execution in retribution for capital crime or a high penalty in response to premeditated murder or to trespassing the security of society by force, violence, terrorism or narcotics.

  Reference should be made to the fact that the judiciary system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia takes place from the general and urgent courts to the cassation body, upto the higher council judicial. Under this the evaluation of punishments and penalties is done by three judges in the general and urgent court, five judges from the cassation court, who look at the verdict, then it is submitted to the Higher Judicial Council, which is the highest judiciary authority in the country, which ratifies and affirms the verdict before submission to the King for final approval. This system guarantees the sentenced person the right to plea the verdict.

  The prosecution and investigation body, affiliated to the Interior Ministry, assists the judges by conducting an investigation, scrutinizing the evidence available and taking s investigative action to expose the truth. Then, it institutes the general proceedings; the procedure before the judiciary. It also supervises the execution of sentences as well as monitors and inspects prisons, detention stations and assists innocent defendants.

  The emphasis on evidence is a basic principle of the Islamic law. The verdict is not issued unless accurate scrutinizing and review is conducted, and, on top of that, the utmost precautions are observed before execution of the sentence.

  The enforcement of Islamic Criminal Law aims at protecting the five necessities of man which are securing his soui, mind, religion, money and honor. Any transgression any of these five necessities will be met with the relevant prescribed punishment according to Islamic law. Islam stipulated that, whoever kills a soul without any right, is like one who kills all people, and whoever gives life to one soul, is like one who gives life to all people. Retribution is the fair sentence which gives relief to the relatives of the victim and, at the same time, it is the perfect means to ensure the protection of a person’s life. The strange thing is that one finds people who sympathize with the murderer without thinking how remorseless and merciless the crime might has been.

  Everybody knows well the effects of narcotics in destroying the mind and the health of people as well as its social and economic repercussions. This reality has made many governments around the world decide in favour of the death penalty on drug traffickers. What happens if a drug trafficker is not sentenced to death. Events have prove that the drug trafficker returns to his misdeals despite security hindrances and punishments. Then, there is no way to weed out this defect, evil to society, but with execution of the criminal. At the same time, this type of punishment deters anyone from being involved in drug trafficking. The sharee’ah also involves cuttig off the hand of someone who repeatedly steals as a means to protect private and public property.

  This punishment takes place after giving the thief a chance to reform himself by applying lesser penalties as a warning. His hand is not cut off, unless all attempts to reform him fail, The theory behind this punishment is that some people are not deterred by leniency and preaching, but only through severe punitive action. The punishments prescribed by Islam is not the legislation of mankind, but it is a heavenly legislation and law, laid down by the great Creator because of His wisdom, fairness and mercy on his creatures in order for people to live in safety and peace. Allah, to whom all perfection and majesty are ascribed, knows well his creatures’ affairs in their worldly tendencies and base instincts. This kind of approach, deemed by some people as severe to criminals, is the heavenly fair retribution that must be conducted to handle defects and crimes which threaten security and safety of society.

  Application of the Islamic law (Sharee’ah) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has proven efficient in fighting and in lowering the crime rate. A year or two will pass in the country without hearing of anyone’s hand being cut off for stealing. The number of those who had their hands cut off in the last half a century cannot be compared to the number of thieves victims and security men killed in one year in many Western cities. Date and statistical information, released in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and abroad, show that the crime rate in the Kingdom is much lower than of other countries.

Democracy

  Among the fundamentals of democracy is the right of peoples to self-determination. Every country in the world rules itself in its own special way. The oldest and most famous definition of democracy is “rule of the people by the people and for the people”, but the ways of representing people and selecting their rulers are clearly different throughout the democracies of the world. Thus, it is hard to determine the standard democratic model.

  It is natural that the ruling system and the selection of representatives of the people reflect the circumstances and the nature of that people. It might not be totally suitable to apply a system, which works in one country in another. Then, one must recognize the circumstances and the nature of the Saudi people in order to determine the characteristics of the pertinent system.

  Saudi Arabia has an ancient Arab Muslim society with a cultural heritage that goes thousands of years. From this land, the message of Prophet Mohamed, peace be upon him, came as a mercy to Mankind. Saudi Arabia has a consistent society with clear ties to its land, its Islamic religion and its Arabic language.

  This society is governed by moral principles taken from Islam, which ordains moral conduct. Saudi moral values are based on truthfulness, generosity, courage, assistance to others, observing the rights of the neighbor, relieving the grieved and responding to the who seeks refuge.

  Someone may ask”. How are the country’s affairs run? Is there a constitution, is there an electoral system?” To answer these questions, a very important matter must be mentioned, namely that the ruling in Islam is Allah’s ruling and the ruler is only Allah’s Caliph on earth governing with Allah’s ruling and applying his sharee’ah. This is what takes place in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The ruler and the ruled have committed themselves to the rulings of the Qura’an and to the Prophetic Sunnah. Consequently, the consultation (Shura) system is considered the basis for applying the law and for managing state affairs. Consultation (shura) means conducting deliberations among the intelligentsia, scholars and authorities, in order to exchange opinions and review at the best possible decision for the nation’s interest within the guidelines of Islamic law (Sharee’ah).

  Since the first days of founding the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, king Abdel Aziz adopted the principle of consultation (Shura). He formed the first consultative (shoura) council in the year 1346 H (1927), five years before the declaration of the kingdom’s unification. Following this example, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Fahad Bin Abdel Aziz Al Saud, issued the basic system of government, the statue of the Consultative (Shura) Council and the Areas’ System on 27/8/1412 H. These were followed by the Ministers’ Council system on 3/3/1414 H, which came to represent a characteristic move in the administration of the country.

  The Council consisted of a chairman and 120 members. Membership in the council was by selection of the experienced ad specialized people. The council probes the systems, conventions, agreements, privileges and other topics and proposes systems and laws with the people’s and the country’s interest in mind. In addition, the thirteen areas’ councils in the country involve .J(j another aspect of the popular participation in decision-making, specially in relation to internal developmental affairs. The council of each area consists of the area prince (as a chairman), his deputy (as the deputy chairman), the deputy of the principality, government departments’ heads in the area and at least ten of the experienced and specialized people residing in the area.

  The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is distinguished for its open door policy. Which means opening the door to citizens to meet the king, the Crown Prince, top officials, princes and ministers in order to submit to them their complaints and requests. If the top official cannot provide an immediate answer, then the citizen’s request is quickly forwarded to the permit department to settle it as soon as possible. During specific times reception rooms are opened for the citizens to meet the King, the Crown Prince and areas’ princes to sit in order to put forward their concerns. This fully democratic tradition is ancient, and it suits Saudi more as well as guarantees the dignity and the interest of its people. It is a unique Saudi method, nor borrowed from any other system or country and not imposed on the people. Thus, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia practises democracy in this unique manner.

Human Rights:

  First of all, we must explain that Islam grants men his basic human rights unprecedented in any other system. Man, as stipulated in the Islamic law (Sharee’ah), is absolutely the best of Allah’s creatures. Allah blessed him with reason, determined his rights and duties that guarantee his happiness in this life and in the hereafter. Allah detailed this sufficiently. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia came second to none of the Islamic countries to show its reservations to a few of the articles of the International Declaration of Human Rights, approved by the United Nations in 1948.

  Islam considers human rights the responsibility of individual and of society. This issue is not mere moral preaching. Human rights in Islam include positive aspects that are not mentioned in the International Declaration of Human Rights; moreover, the declaration contained articles contradicting the Islamic law (Sharee’ah). For this reason, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia had its reservation on about it. This stance was also taken against the International Charter for the Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, released by the United Nations which contained articles in contradiction with Islam. On the one hand, human rights as treated by the Islamic law (Shareeah), are superior to what is stated by the United Nations. On the other hand, the United Nations’ human rights are laid down by people who drew them from their present societies without recognizing that there is a large Muslim society that adopts the legislation of Allah and rejects what contradicts it. The Kingdom has worked hard to promote the human rights declaration of Islam, which was issued by the Islamic Conference Organization on 13/1/1411 (4/8/1990) and is known as the Cairo Declaration.

  The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs explained the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s stance toward the International Declaration of Human Rights and the International Charter for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the proper time. The ministry also showed the merits of human rights in Islam such as accuracy, excellence and totality. Among these merits are:

  A. The dignity of man and honoring him via the Holy Qura an verses.

  B. Setting no differences in dignity and the basic rightsofallmen.

  C. The unity of the family and that the best man is he who is most beneficent to his family.

  D. The calling for making acquaintance, cooperation and presenting all types of benevolence to all mankind.

  E. The freedom of religion and the rejection of compulsion by Islam.

  F. Barring aggression on man’s money, blood and honor.

  G. Vouching for each other in the Islamic society and the right of man to a good life Freeing man from the chains of need and poverty by requesting a known rightful portion of money from the rich to be given to the needy.

  H. Punishing those who refrain from learning or teaching the principles of Islam. This right is not found in any other legislation.

  Naturally, everything relative to human rights is applied in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since its foundation. This application is represented in laws and systems issued by the state and applied by government departments. Each of them takes over a part of the responsibilities of life. This incorporates human rights for which the government national organizations and departments are set up and join forces in order to apply the law of Allah and crystallize its merits through praxis.

  Human rights in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are based on the principle of the dignity of man and his right to freedom, knowledge, and work in order to lead a noble . and dignified life in accordance with the fair and wise provisions of Islamic law (Sharee’ah).