Prince Saud’s Address at the Grand Banquet in the Royal Palace in Honor of the Delegations
Brothers in Islam,
I greet you, on behalf of His Majesty my father the King and in my own name, with the greeting of Islam. In your honored presence, I greet all Muslims in the East and West of the earth. I praise God, Who has granted us and you the success to perform the rites of pilgrimage—fulfilling the command of God, responding to the call of our forefather Abraham, peace be upon him, and following the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him.
God has prescribed the pilgrimage to His Sacred House as a mercy and a blessing, so that He may unite our word upon His worship, strengthen the bonds of brotherhood among us in obedience to Him, and bring our hearts together in His love. What greater benefit could there be than for the hearts of Muslims to turn toward this Ancient House, to meet one another for the sake of God, and to pledge themselves to act according to the Book of God.
In a gathering such as this, the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, called people to the oneness of their Lord and to knowledge of Him. In such a gathering he delivered his Farewell Sermon—a guiding light for all who seek guidance. His rightly guided successors followed this path after him, and so have we. His Majesty my father—may God preserve him—has always been, as we are, a caller to God in these great assemblies, where we and the Muslims exchange counsel to act according to the Book of God and follow the guidance of His Messenger.
The first thing we call to is what the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, called to: sincerity in worshipping God alone—worshipping none but Him, calling upon none but Him, and associating no partner with Him. I call upon the Muslims, in this great gathering, to abandon all that contradicts the command of God, and to enjoin one another to patience and piety. We seek help from God alone, that He may grant us victory, support us, and guide us to what pleases Him.
Glory be to You, O Lord—we cannot praise You as You deserve. We thank You for enabling us to obey You in Your Sacred House, and we praise You for granting us strength and resolve until safety was established in this blessed valley. We ask Him to grant us the power and success to do all that eases the pilgrimage for the guests of His House. We also ask Him to grant us success in serving the people of this land—those who are from our hearts, and we from theirs. We live with them as a son lives with his father, and a father with his children.
Brothers,
My heart is filled with joy when I see the multitudes of Muslims, their eagerness to obey God, and their striving to unite their word upon what pleases Him. By God, if we walk the path of faith and sincerity, and unite upon it, we shall never be overcome—with God’s help—and we shall attain all that we aspire to.
Muslims are our brothers wherever they may be, and the Arabs are our kin wherever they travel or reside. We strive for their welfare in all fields. All people, near and far, know this shared sentiment and the resolve with which we have chosen to proceed. For this reason, we ask God to aid all, so that the Muslims may regain their honor and dignity, and the Arabs their lands and homelands—so that each nation may enjoy the blessings of its own country.
God willed that the Arabs unite in establishing a League for themselves, and His will was fulfilled in the founding of the Arab League. Our hearts are with it, and we defend it and its principles with all our strength. You all know its efforts and endeavors, and we—together with the other Arab states—strive earnestly to achieve what is right and necessary.
I do not wish, in this gathering, to mention the cause of Palestine alone, for every cause of the Muslims is our cause, and every cause of the Arabs is our cause. We work tirelessly to achieve our goals.
In conclusion, I ask God to accept from us and from you, to return you safely to your homelands, and to grant us the blessing of meeting you again in this land many times. I ask Him to lift the hardship that has befallen our sister Egypt, and to gather us in this secure land under His pleasure and in the presence of His Majesty the King. May God honor the Muslims and the Arabs, and grant them victory over their enemies. Peace be upon you.