Saudi Intellectual: “If it were not for the accomplishments of the West, our lives would have been barren”

From Averroes Press
By Tarek Fatah

It is rare today to read of Saudi intellectuals or Arab thinkers who are willing to reflect on Western civilization and its contribution to all of humankind. Dr. Ibrahim Al-Bulehi is one such individual. In an interview with the Saudi newspaper Okaz, Al-Bulehi states without reservation that “Western Civilization Has Liberated Mankind.”

When asked by the reporter about the Muslim contribution to Western Civilization, Dr. Al-Bulehi responds with a clarity that is almost unheard of in the Arab world. He says:

“When we review the names of Muslim philosophers and scholars whose contribution to the West is pointed out by Western writers, such as Ibn Rushd, Ibn Al-Haitham, Ibn Sina, Al-Farbi, Al-Razi, Al-Khwarizmi, and their likes, we find that all of them were disciples of the Greek culture and they were individuals who were outside the [Islamic] mainstream. They were and continue to be unrecognized in our culture. We even burned their books, harassed them, [and] warned against them, and we continue to look at them with suspicion and aversion. How can we then take pride in people from whom we kept our distance and whose thought we rejected?”

In the interview published April 23, 2009 Dr. Ibrahim Al-Buleihi calls on the Arabs to acknowledge the greatness of Western civilization, and to admit the deficiencies of their own culture. He states that such self-criticism is a precondition to any change for the better.

Ibrahim Al-Buleihi is a member of the Saudi Shura Council, the national consultative body whose members are appointed to advice the Saudi King and his government.

Following are excerpts from the Okaz interview as reproduced in the Arab web magazine, Elaph

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