System of Education in Saudi Arabia
Khalid Al-Khalifa
Abstract
Saudi Arabia and its system of education have been a controversial issue, especially after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The Saudi educational system is mostly based on Islamic precepts. King Abdulaziz, the first king of Saudi Arabia, was a religious person; therefore, he planned for a religious state called Saudi Arabia. He searched for a strong Islamic leader to head the educational system of Saudi Arabia. Mohammed bin Abdulwahhab, the leader of the Wahhabi movement, was the best person for King Abdulaziz’s plan. King Abdulaziz united with Abdulwahhab, which resulted into two axes: a political axis by the king and a religious axis by Mohammed. This paper shows the effects of the religious axis, which was based on the Wahhabi movement. The United States government blamed the Saudi government with regard to its educational system on many levels, saying that education in Saudi Arabia mostly encourages the students to engage in violent actions such as Jihad. Changing the educational system in Saudi Arabia is not an easy task for Saudis as Americans think, because education is associated with Islam. In fact, education in Saudi Arabia has never supported any acts of violence or terrorism. Therefore, this paper analyzes case studies regarding education in Saudi Arabia from the following entities: Library of Congress, the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), and the American Jewish Council (AJC). In addition, this paper is guided by the cultural separation theory, which is when the individuals reject acculturation with the dominant culture and choose not to be influenced by another culture. Therefore, it is hypothesized here that Wahhabism is not the cause of any terrorist attacks; it is the feelings of individuals who do not want be influenced or acculturated by any other culture, which is the Western culture in this case.
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