Umrah and the economy of Saudi Arabia
بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمٰنِ الرَّحِيْمِ
In the name of Allah, the most Gracious, the most Merciful
Distinguished worshippers of ALLAH,
I'm Hamidah Abbas, the author of Polygamy Ijma'a
The Polygamy Ijma'a is all about the authentic agreement of all of the companions that states that a Muslim woman can decide NOT to be in polygamy.
You'll find ʽUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb, Saʽd ibn Abī Waqqās, and ʽAmr ibn al-ʽĀṣ (may Allah be pleased with them all) involved in this agreement.
To learn more about this, check Al-Mughni Volume 9 page 483 or read my A - Z letter here.
So to my Umrah story.
AlhamduliLLAH, I just returned from Umrah, AlhamduliLLAH.
And for the first time in my life, I paid attention to Saudi Arabia’s economic diversification game.
I must say — I have never seen any game being played so wrongly.
Before we get into the economy of Saudi Arabia, I’d like to share what Umrah felt like. I wrote about the experience in this personal reflection — you can read it here.
Now, let's talk about the economic diversification game of Saudi Arabia.
To paint a picture: I am a niqab-wearing Muslim woman from the Southwest of Nigeria.
And,
This image is the inside of the Kaaba, that is, if they open the Kaaba 🕋, this is what you'll see. Normally, people aren't allowed here. When you go for Hajj and Umrah, you'll enter into a mosque to do Tawaf, the mosque you enter is called Masjid-l-Haram. And inside the Masjid-l-Haram, we have the Kaaba 🕋 AlhamduliLLAH, my grandfather has been inside the Kaaba, AlhamduliLLAH.
Why? Well, because Almighty ALLAH allowed him. He is also a descendant of Aláàfin Aládé Sẹsẹfun (Emperor) Àjàgbó, the first royal to wear the Sẹsẹfun crown in the entirety of Yorùbá land.
And this is my late grandfather — the Aláàsá of Ìbàdàn Land and founder of UMB Central Mosque, Agodi Gate, Ìbàdàn: Chief Ash-Shaykh, Al-Imam, the Ewì King, Mas’ud Ọláńrewájú Adépọ̀jù (may the peace of ALLAH be upon him) 😍.
I must have inherited some of my grandfather's love for knowledge so I'll tell you a little bit about how Saudi Arabia is getting everything wrong about their economic diversification game.
You see, oil was discovered in Riyadh and Dammam which are significantly far away from Makkah and Madinah.
Nonetheless, this wealth of oil has had a significant impact on the well-being of the entire Kingdom including Makkah and Madinah.
However, the problem with oil is that it is a non-renewable resource.
It will be gone one day.
So it is completely reasonable to be extremely focused on diversification.
Therefore, all these years that everyone has been talking about Bin Salman and how he is doing so much haram, I've never really said anything because at the end of the day, his efforts to diversify shows that he cares. And also it is inevitable not to make mistakes so I haven't been bothered nor too concerned.
However, all of that changed the moment I landed in Madinah.
SubhanaLLAH, I saw their immigration officials in such tiny Niqabs that beautifies and attracts instead of covering — it was so bad, I have never seen such sophisticated abuse of Niqab in my entire life.
In addition to that, they were raising their hands without any guard or concern over the fact that most of their arms are exposed in the course of duty.
SubhanaLLAH. To say I was shocked would be an understatement. Let's just say I was disoriented.
I perfectly get the need to diversify the economy.
However, when you want to make such moves you have to pay attention to the greatest resources that you've got and then leverage it with a surgical optimal precision. Let me start by saying there's no problem with women being immigration officers and there's absolutely no problems with raising hands during duty. But there's a Niqab type that you wear that makes work easy and it's also not beautifying. It is actually covering. Also, it is possible to raise the hands without exposing the arms if you wear certain types of clothes. Saudi Arabia used to have regard for these types of stuff. Now the regard is completely gone. It is very clear that they are trying to appeal to non-Muslims.
I have a tiny and expired certification in marketing from HubSpot Academy, Cambridge MA, USA. And I'm telling you that it doesn't matter the amount of centuries Saudi Arabia uses in appealing to secular customers who have been under billion dollar propaganda — they'll never win.
Saudi Arabia is better off focusing on the people who already visit their land.
The people who don't need to be convinced before they come to the land.
The people who love the land and will never believe anything bad said about the land.
The people who are aspiring to come to the land.
The people who will sell their properties to visit the land.
So what is the point of trying to convince enemies who will never be convinced when you can leverage friends who will never stop loving you?
In trying to appeal to a non-Muslim demographic that'll never be satisfied, Saudi Arabia is repulsing pilgrims with disorienting disappointment upon landing into their land.
I cannot tell you how much I hate travelling and especially how much I can't stand certain types of hot weather, yet I travelled voluntarily and with excitement so as to visit the highest house of ALLAH on earth, and what did I get at the airport?
The most sophisticated abuse of the Niqab that I have ever seen on earth.
I don't think Saudi Arabia understand what it has.
The greatest Islamic site on earth.
Over a billion Muslims.
And instead of leveraging it, they are completely destroying it.
I don't think the government gets it at all.
No matter what they do and how long and how strongly they work they will never be able to get rid of the Islamic identity that Saudi Arabia has.
Never.
And that calls for celebration instead of desperation.
What comes next should be “how can we make this one of the most economical success that the world will see.”
Instead of focusing on appealing to secular tourism.
There should be an intense focus on spiritual one.
There's a science to this thing.
Saudi Arabia is not UAE.
UAE had to build the Burj Khalifa to have something worth visiting.
Saudi Arabia doesn't have to do that.
They already have what no land will have.
I can see that they've asked the question: “How can we make money from this Islamic sites that we've got?”
But I am beyond certain that they haven't stayed with that question long enough to figure out what is so apparent to everyone else.
I'll give one tiny example.
There's absolutely no thriving commercial poetry industry on the surface of the earth as we speak.
And Saudi Arabia, with its unmatched Islamic advantage is so ripe to launch that into the world.
It doesn't matter how much money Saudi Arabia makes from music, they will still be leaving so much money on the table because the world will never ever see them as music authorities.
Never.
Not possible.
That's for the Kpop and those that are ahead of them.
Even if they pioneer any globally appealing music type, they'll always be second to those who have been before them.
The question is, why try to ride a horse when you can invent a car?
It doesn't matter how well you ride a horse, you'll never stop people in their tracks as you'll if you invent a car or a train. In fact, anything else that serves the purpose of a horse without being anything like a horse would work.
What they're doing is like trying to create other brands of smartphones after Steve Jobs had already invented smartphones.
The only case that hyper-modernisation would work for Saudi Arabia is if they were the first to be known for modernisation in the region.
Since they can't be the first, then they are better off inventing a new type of invention.
The kind the world has never seen.
There's a starving market that no one is paying attention to.
You can go on any educational video on YouTube that has a background music playing, there will always be a significant number of people in the comments section lamenting seriously about how irritating the music is.
Non-Muslims.
Humans.
People who can't stand instruments.
They exist.
And they exist significantly.
They go through significant stress to convert any music they like its lyrics into acapella.
Stress upon stress.
Nobody meeting their needs.
Imagine if Saudi Arabia rise to meet the need of those who need lyrics without beats?
Imagine that.
I know that there a lot of lyrics of melody without beats. But they aren't thriving as they should be. And how will they thrive when they're not ready in a language that the world speaks.
Dr Zakir Naik isn't an english man but he speaks english language in his Da'wah and through that, Almighty ALLAH has granted him the success of being global.
When I say that Saudi Arabia should pioneer a global commercial poetry industry, I am not trying to say they should force what the world will never accept, rather they should optimise what's already moving.
So make melody in a global language with a global message. The keyword is, global.
I keep emphasising global because, actually, in 2005, Japan already invented phones that could be referred to as smartphones, way before Steve Jobs. However, they weren't known for it globally because they didn't target the global audience.
Saudi Arabia already has a rich poetry culture. But they are missing three keys to dominate: Commercial. Global language. Industry.
They have a poetry culture. That won't do. We need a Poetry industry. Industry. Industry. Industry. Underline that word, industry.
A lot of youth exist in the world today without certainty. They don't know whether they are going or coming. They are so lost. Their emotional pain is so strong, they can almost feel it physically.
How sweet will it be if there could be a melodious poetry in english language soothing these people with words that make them feel seen and understood?
A lot of people now go to silent concerts, a type of musical concert where there's no noise. Where everyone is wearing headphones. Where everything is calm and peaceful. Those people want something subtle. Something gentle. And at the same time, full of depth, meaning, and answers.
In addition to the fact that there are people who love melody but hate music,
People want answers that satisfies more than they want noise that distracts for a while.
Imagine if Saudi Arabia lead the world in providing answers.
Just a melodious poem about uncertainty spreading from Saudi Arabia to the global youth population in a language that the world understands. Bi ithniLLAH, that will do more for Saudi Arabia than struggling to move into the music industry.
The poems do not have to be Islamic; they only need to be ḥalāl.
A melodious poem that speaks calmness into the heart of troubled youths.
A poem without beats. No noise.
Just a powerful message and melody.
A simple life transforming effect.
How soothing will that be?
Imagine a melodious Malcom X
A melodious Dr Maya Angelou
A Melodious Ibn Qayyim
Those are the people that speak from their hearts.
These are the people that provide answers to questions that people do not even know that they have.
These are the people that speak and decades later people pause in the middle of doing dishes just to reflect on the words they heard aeons ago.
Burda — a poem of Imaam al-Bursi, although filled with haram and shirik, it has remained, probably the most recited melody after the Qur'an for about 800 years.
If Saudi doesn't want to be Islamic. At least, let it be halal. Maybe you don't want something hardcore “Islamic” like Burda, however, how about something halal like a poem titled “Uncertainty”?
Dr Zakir Naik does his Dawah in English language and the entirety of the earth hears him.
Instead of non-Muslim musicians taking over the stages in Saudi Arabia in so many languages other than Arabic, why don't you invent and engineer a commercial thriving industry that the believing visitors of your land will be more than excited to attend?
Why don't you fill a gap that is so obvious. It is beyond a gap, it's a mighty valley.
Fill the gap and be a leader instead of being a follower in a race you'll never lead.
Lean into your stereotypes and build strength from it instead of fighting against it.
It's a losing battle.
It's like a bicycle fighting a truck. You'll never win in all these industries that you're desperately trying to enter.
I don't think you get it.
Looking in from the outside, the Islamic identity of Saudi Arabia is impossible to eliminate.
And instead of trying to eliminate it.
Leverage it!
I know you think you've been trying to leverage it but I promise you that you haven't even made a move yet compared to the mighty treasures that's so close to you, yet you can't see.
Stop trying to join industries that you can never lead.
Instead of racing leading horses, leave the horses completely. Put your head down and build a car!
Give the world, what it has never seen.
Create a culture!
Lead the world!
Fill the gap that the world doesn't even realise it has.
Sincerely,
Hamidah Sẹ̀gílọlá Abbas (HSA•👑) | Author, Polygamy Ijma'a
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Afterthought: We all know that the government of Saudi Arabia is currently doing a lot of haram stuff to make more money.
The truth is, it is very easy to judge their government and complain about the evil of what they are doing but the truth is, if you've studied the reality of Saudi Arabia and the rate at which they are depleting their Non-renewable oil reserve, fresh water reserve, and how scary it is that they almost absolutely only depend only on oil unilaterally for their massive de-Stalinization plants that they're using to create water, you'll understand why they're aggressively diversifying their economy without caring about halal too much.
Let's be honest.
We're all humans.
We've all done things that aren't completely halal.
The only difference between the people of hell-fire and the people of paradise is that the people of paradise repent while the people of hell-fire insists.
So may Almighty ALLAH make the government of Saudi Arabia a government that repents. If only they know how much they can literally change the world if they create a commercial poetry industry.
I've had this industry in my head for a year+ now and I'm very sure that I'm not the only one thinking about it.
Someone is going to create it. So what a shame it would be if it's not the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
KSA is doing a lot of good. So we shouldn't totally write them off because of the haram that they're into now. Rather, we should make duaa for them so that they can see the advantage that they have that no one else on earth will have.
They're trying to go against ALLAH to make more money. Forgetting that the richest man in the history of all humans is a believing man, The Prophet Suleiman (May ALLAH increase him in peace).
Everything is with ALLAH. Trying to enter already established industries in sports and entertainment won't give them the leverage that pioneering new industries will.
It doesn't matter how hard they try, they're playing a losing game. It'll be so much better for them to create that which the world has never seen.
They need to fill a gap that the world desperately needs.
I swear by ALLAH that it is possible for the government of Saudi Arabia to diversity their economy without transgressing the boundaries of ALLAH
With their Islamic advantages, they can literally create a mighty poetry industry.
We all need to make duaa for them to see what they have that no else have on the planet.
Interestingly, the empty chambers of the deserts of Saudi Arabia are among the rarest places on earth.
That place is absolutely quiet.
Audible wind doesn't even blow in those areas.
It is one of the only places on earth where you can hear nothing.
Like complete silence.
Some people have spent decades looking for perfectly quiet places on earth and they haven't found anything completely quiet.
This area in Saudi Arabia is sitting completely quiet.
It is vast.
It is open.
It is clean.
Again, it is vast.
There's a pleasant and majestic feeling you get upon witnessing the majesty of the rolling desert.
Of course, there are deserts everywhere.
However, Saudi have such mountainous deserts, you won't find those types in most places.
While those places can be dangerous with extreme temperatures and humidity if you stay too long, they are actually safe during certain parts of the years.
They induce such a feeling, it's incredible.
So many halal treasures.
So many gems.
It's so unfortunate that shaytan has busied them with haram.
May Almighty ALLAH defeat shaytan.
Make duaa for the government of Saudi Arabia, may Almighty ALLAH guide them to see the superior halal that's waiting to be tapped.
Sincerely,
Hamidah Sẹ̀gílọlá Abbas | HSA
