Turki Al-Dakhil

By : Turki Al-Dakhil

Riyadh’s policy is clear – it believes that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) is not representative of Islam and will fight it. When a Western journalist addressed Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Friday during a security conference in Munich and said ISIS is based on Islamic teachings, Jubeir said that if we consider the Ku Klux Klan (KKK), whose members commit murders in the name of Christ, to be Christian, then we can consider ISIS to be Islamic.

The KKK movement which emerged in the United States 150 years ago, and still has a presence today, has spread to other countries believing in white supremacy, anti-Semitism, racism and anti-Catholicism. This is why they commit acts of terrorism, practice violence and persecute and kill others, particularly minorities.

If these KKK practices represent Christianity, then ISIS represents Islam!

Saudi Arabia is ready to begin ground operations in Syria as part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS

Turki Al-Dakhil

There are extremists in all religions and sects, and there are even psychopaths, as Jubeir said.

This is why Saudi Arabia is ready to begin ground operations in Syria as part of the U.S.-led coalition against ISIS, the terrorist organization which is distorting our culture.

What is the average citizen’s stance on that?

ISIS kidnaps our sons and daughters and uses them to fuel battles which they have nothing to do with. It therefore deserves to be rejected, and it deserves that we stand against its ideas and practices which are harming us and our culture, religion, state and families. It is our problem, not someone else’s. By believing this is not our problem, we are putting our sons and daughters at risk of being recruited by these terrorists.

Turki Al-Dakhil is the General Manager of Al Arabiya News Channel. He began his career as a print journalist, covering politics and culture for the Saudi newspapers Okaz, Al-Riyadh and Al-Watan. He then moved to pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat and pan-Arab news magazine Al-Majalla. Turki later became a radio correspondent for the French-owned pan-Arab Radio Monte Carlo and MBC FM. He proceeded to Elaph, an online news magazine and Alarabiya.net, the news channel’s online platform. Over a ten-year period, Dakhil’s weekly Al Arabiya talk show “Edaat” (Spotlights) provided an opportunity for proponents of Arab and Islamic social reform to make their case to a mass audience. Turki also owns Al Mesbar Studies and Research Centre and Madarek Publishing House in Dubai. He has received several awards and honors, including the America Abroad Media annual award for his role in supporting civil society, human rights and advancing women’s roles in Gulf societies. He tweets @TurkiAldakhil.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in the Column section are their own and do not reflect RiyadhVision’s point-of-view.

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