By: Sheikh Ahmad Hassan Al‑Baqouri, Egyptian Minister of Awqaf
The Arabs possess powerful forces—capable of uniting them, guiding them, and ensuring their success. Indeed, these forces are capable of granting them sovereignty and elevated authority, if only they knew how to direct them wisely, employ them skillfully, place argument where argument belongs, and the sword where the sword belongs; if they knew when imitation is proper and when self‑assertion is required; if they awakened reason, subdued desire, despised selfishness, honored selflessness, and approached matters with patience, deliberation, and a sharp gaze toward the distant horizon.
Had they done so, their glorious history, unifying language, and steadfast religion would have revived their youth, placed in their hands the power that protects, the hope that propels, and the path that ultimately leads to freedom, dignity, and glory.
His Majesty King Saud is among those upon whom hope is placed and in whom aspirations are anchored. I saw him when he was Crown Prince during the life of his great father, and I saw in him a man whose noble face radiated the dignity of Arabism, whose great heart held the majesty of faith, and whose council was surrounded by the hearts of thousands of pilgrims to the Sacred House of God—coming from every corner of the earth.
They all loved him—a love of esteem, not of fear; they revered him—a reverence of respect, not of domination; they trusted him—a trust born of insight, not deception; and they cared for him—a care born of conviction, not compulsion.
I realized then that these qualities in His Majesty were not only a safeguard for the state and a security for the nation, but also a refuge for Arabism and a beacon for Islam. I realized, too, that His Majesty—endowed with such noble attributes—is truly the best successor to the best predecessor, and the greatest heir to a great legacy.
When I served as Amir of the Hajj last year, I observed certain actions of His Majesty that revealed a pure nature and a sound disposition—just as a weary wanderer in the desert recognizes the presence of a generous spring by the circling of birds overhead.
One day, when he was still Crown Prince, I said to him: the intense crowding between al‑Ṣafā and al‑Marwah distracts pilgrims from the reverence required in this act of worship. I suggested that the government consider installing a barrier to separate the path of those going from those returning, to ease congestion and encourage decorum.
The next day, as I walked between al‑Ṣafā and al‑Marwah, I found workers laboring with utmost diligence and speed to erect this barrier. Within a few hours, they had completed a temporary structure—pending the implementation of the major project that had long been under King Saud’s consideration, aiming to make the entire sa‘y area part of the Sacred Mosque.
The lesson is clear: this is a man deeply committed to anything he believes benefits the people. Great matters do not distract him from small ones. A mind attentive to all circumstances, and a concern encompassing all affairs—within human capacity—are among the qualities that ensure sound governance and achieve the public good.
I recall that a resident of the Prophet’s City once sent a telegram complaining that the governor had wronged and insulted him without cause. King Saud’s response was swift and decisive: all people in the state are equal; the authority of the law reaches those in palaces just as it reaches those in huts. If the complainant was truthful, justice must be served—without hesitation or doubt.
It was later revealed that the complainant had lied, and that no one had wronged him—for no one in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia can assault another without right. The man fled, fearing the just punishment that spares neither a tyrannical ruler nor a deceitful subject.
The lesson here is that justice is not a word uttered by a ruler to flatter the people or stir their imagination. True justice is that the ruler be a balance between himself and the people, between the people and one another, and between the people and those who govern them. If he sees injustice, he prevents it; if he senses oppression, he removes it—regardless of the status of the oppressor or the oppressed.
A ruler who excessively indulges his close associates out of trust in their loyalty, or excessively courts those distant from him out of desire to win their affection, abandons the firmness that is the pillar of kingship and the safeguard of authority.
It was once asked of a statesman whose fallen empire had collapsed: what was the main cause of its downfall? He replied with a truth untouched by falsehood:
“We distanced our friends out of confidence in them, and drew near our enemies out of desire to win them. Thus we lost the loyalty of our friends and never gained the sincerity of our enemies.”
Thus, King Saud was just—in the truest sense of the word—when he declared in response to the complaint that he would not favor a governor who wronged, nor spare a subject who lied. His justice was not mere sentiment; it was the result of a correct understanding of justice and a sincere commitment to applying it.
For these reasons—his sound knowledge of justice and his earnest desire to uphold it among his people, between ruler and ruled—I returned from the Arabian Peninsula to beloved Egypt after performing the pilgrimage with a tranquil soul, deep reassurance, and great confidence in the future of the brotherly Saudi people, advancing toward their promising destiny under the generous shade of the reign of His Majesty King Saud bin Abdulaziz.
May God preserve His Majesty and envelop him with His care and abundant protection, granting him and the noble House of Saud continued success in elevating Arabism and upholding the word of Islam.