Quick Facts About Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a land of contrasts and contradictions. Camels and bedouin tents exist in a land of modern highways, hotels, and water desalinization plants. Traditional values of hospitality and family closeness co-exist with modern technology, air conditioning, and satellite TV sets in cities. Saudi Arabia is a land striving to be part of a modern, technological world, yet it holds on to rigid religious views that keep its people closed off from knowing that there is a God who loves them, that He gave Himself for them, and wants a saving, personal relationship with them.
Saudi Arabia is important to Muslims because it is the ancestral home of the founder of Islam, a world religion that embraces over one billion people. It is the home of two of Islam's most holy sites, Mecca and Medina. The sands of Saudi Arabia hold 1/4 of the world's oil reserves, the money from that source of income funds mosques and Islamic schools all over the world. Some of the world's largest printing plants produce millions of copies of the Qur'an, Islam's holy book, for export all over the world. Like Christianity, Islam is a religion on mission.
Bounded on 3 sides by the waters of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, and the Arabian (Persian) Gulf, Saudi Arabia occupies the largest portion of the Arabian Penninsula. It is almost entirely a desert land with only 2% of the land considered arable. There are no bodies of water within Saudi Arabia and the temperatures often soar above 110°F for much of the year.
Saudi Arabia's main source of income is oil production, intially discovered in the late 1930s and developed commercially after World War II. This marked the entry of Saudi Arabia into the modern day world, making the modern day history of Saudi Arabia less than 75 years old. This fact makes it easy to understand why such extreme constrasts and contradictions exist in Saudi Arabia today. The founder of the Saudi Kingdom, King Abullazziz al Saud, was known to be a generous, but poor man prior to the discovery of oil. Since, this commodity has driven the economy and development of this desert kingdom.
Saudi Arabia's form of government is a monarchy. There are no elections or elected officials. The present king, Fahd, and the crown prince, Abdullah, are both sons of the modern day founder of the country who united most of the peninsula's tribes 1932. They rule with the consent and support of the country's conservative religious figures. The royal family, consisting of several thousand princes, comprise the ruling class. Religious figures and wealthy businessmen are influential. Laborers, many of whom are expatriates (foreigners), and religious minorities, such as Shi'a Muslims, occupy the lower class. Saudi law, known as Shar'ia, is based on the Qur'an, the sayings of Muhammed known as the Hadith, and Islamic tradition.
Education in Saudi Arabia is free. Yet the forms of education which would expose students to independent thinking, emphasize religion instead. Little of what is needed in a modern society is available, especially for women. As a result of this coupled with a high population growth rate, job opportunities in esteemed positions are limited and unemployment is high. This creates a generation that is ready for change.
No other religion is permitted in Saudi Arabia. While there are some Christians among the expatriates working in Saudi Arabia, there are very, very few believers among the Saudis themselves. A Saudi arab who converts to Christianity is likely to be executed by beheading. Still, God reveals Himself to Saudis through encounters with believers and in dreams and visions. Christian media and Christian literature are finding their way into Saudi Arabia and many Saudis are inquiring as a result.
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