The Address of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Saud at the Banquet Held for the Pilgrims of the Sacred House of God (Dhu al‑Hijjah 1366 AH)
I greet you on behalf of His Majesty the King, and in my own name. I greet you with the greeting of Islam, and in your honored persons I greet the Muslims in the East and West of the earth. I praise God who has enabled us and you to perform the rites of Hajj in obedience to His command, in response to the call of our master Abraham, the Friend of God—peace be upon him—and in following the Sunnah of our Prophet Muhammad, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him.
God has prescribed the pilgrimage to His House as a mercy and a favor, 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: “That they may witness benefits for themselves and mention the name of God during known days over what He has provided them of livestock.” And what benefit is greater or more exalted than that the hearts of Muslims yearn toward this Ancient House, to meet one another for the sake of God and pledge themselves to act according to the Book of God.
In such a great gathering, the Messenger of God—peace be upon him—called people to the oneness of their Lord and to knowing Him. In such a gathering he delivered his Farewell Sermon, which became guidance for all who seek the right path. Likewise did his rightly guided successors after him. And thus have we followed their example. His Majesty my father—may God preserve him—has always been a caller to God in such noble positions, advising the Muslims 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. We worship none but God, we call upon none but God, and we associate no partner with Him in His worship: “Indeed, my prayer, my sacrifice, my life, and my death are for God, Lord of the Worlds. No partner has He. With this I have been commanded, and I am the first of the Muslims.”
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 to 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—for You have made it easy for us to obey You in Your Sacred House. We praise Him for granting us strength and resolve until the paths of this blessed valley were made secure. We ask Him to grant us strength and success in doing all that eases the pilgrimage for the pilgrims of His House. And we ask Him to grant us success in serving the people of this land, who are from our hearts and we from theirs. We live with them and they live with us, as a son lives with his father and a father with his sons.
O brothers: My heart is filled with joy when I see the multitudes of Muslims, their eagerness to obey God, and their unity upon what pleases Him. By God, if we remain steadfast upon faith and truth, and unite our word upon them, 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 people wherever they travel or reside. We strive for their welfare in all fields. The near and far alike know this shared sentiment among us, and this firm resolve upon which we have determined 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 homelands and countries—so that they may belong to them and not to others, and so that every people may enjoy the blessings of their own land.
God has willed that the Arabs unite upon establishing their League, and His will was fulfilled in its formation. All of us look upon it with our hearts, defending it and its principles with all the strength we possess. You all know its work and its efforts, and we, along with the other Arab states, strive earnestly behind it to achieve what we seek and desire.
I do not wish to single out the cause of Palestine alone in this gathering, 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, to grant us the blessing of meeting you again in this land many times, to lift the hardship that has befallen our sister Egypt, and to gather us in this secure land under the pleasure of God and in the presence of His Majesty the King. May God strengthen the Muslims and the Arabs and grant them victory over their enemies. Peace be upon you.