WHAT AWAITS SAUDI ARABIA

In news most favorably in the Anglo-American press for so many decades because of the constant wooing of this oil rich nation, Saudi Arabia is known as the land from which Osama bin Laden hails. As the citadel of Wahabi Islam this country is identified with most fundamentalist of Sunni versions of Islam. For Muslims all over the world it is the land of Mecca and Medina going where annually on a Haj pilgrimage entitles one to the title Haji.

It is only now, after the 11 September 2001 WTO disaster in New York, that a hesitant accusing finger is being pointed at Saudi Arabia though the Anglo-American cousins have not found either an alternative source of energy to Arab oil on which their dependence is very heavy, nor have discovered any new oil fields from where they could get their huge demands for oil met.

Another reason is, for Saudi Arabia the overstay of US troops and the use of Prince Sultan airbase for more than a decade has to end. Used to end the rule of Saddam Hussain in Iraq by US troops, Saudi Arabia has been made to look like a parasitic country which cannot be militarily self reliant and needs US support to save itself from the wrath of Iraq. But for the rulers there will be greater internal danger now as the mass hero for Saudis, Osama bin Laden, has been humiliated or even destroyed.

And , Saudi Arabia, in turn, continues to haunt the western mind , like Pakistan, as the favourite haunt of terrorists whom USA has to continue to woo for some time for its own sake, for the sake of its commercial and military interests.

President Bush has made a promise to wipe out terrorists from the face of this globe of ours but has not said a word against Saudi Arabia which has supplied the philosophy of terrorism through its Wahabbi Islam and huge funds to the terrorists.

If Pakistan has supplied training and intelligence (through ISI), Saudi Arabia has contributed the philosophy and funds for such activities. How long can the US-Saudi honeymoon last now?

Historical compulsion must lead to the severance of relation of USA with Saudi Arabia in the coming years when it suits the strategic interests of USA. Till then the love-hate relation must continue.

A look at the horoscope of Saudi Arabia becomes relevant for an astrological discussion.

Among the different dates for the horoscope of Saudi Arabia, the most accepted is the one of 21 September 12 LMT, Riyadh.

The prosperity and religious attitudes of Saudi Arabia are well reflected in this horoscope.

1. The second and fifth lord, Jupiter, joins the eighth and eleventh lord, Mercury, in the tenth house. Here the second lord is vargottama showing the economic prosperity of the nation.

2. The tenth lord is in the eleventh house.

3. There are two good exchanges: between the seventh and ninth lords and the tenth and the eleventh lords.

4.There is an excellent Gajakesari Yoga involving an exalted Moon with Jupiter in Simha which is joined by Mercury and also Ketu which has a special significance in view of the fact that Muslims all over the world look upon Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia as their most sacred place.

5.Saudi Arabia is known as a blatantly theocratic state as explicitly stated in its constitution. (see the provisions quoted here).

6. The nation took birth in abhijit muhurta.

7.Some features giving to Saudi Arabia its exalted religious status strike the eye.

a) The ninth lord is exalted.

b) The ninth house has the seventh lord together with the lagna and the sixth lord, Mars aspected by Saturn which will explain why Saudi Arabia is accused slyly of exporting Islamic fundamentalism of the Wahabbi variety. (CNS News.com - Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Israel’s secret service revealed this week that militants in Saudi Arabia were helping to fund the development of a Hamas’ missile project, which was locally produced in the Gaza Strip, but planned for expansion into the West Bank.

c) Jupiter and Ketu in the tenth house, being part of a good Gajakesari yoga, adds to its attractiveness as a religious Muslim country for followers of Islam all over the world.

The importance of it can be understood if the historical fact that the rise of Al Saud is closely linked to Muhammad Ibn al Wahhab (died in 1792) the founder of the Wahhabism, is remembered.

From the Saudi Constitution

Article 1

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is a sovereign Arab Islamic state with Islam as its religion; God’s Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet, God’s prayers and peace be upon him, are its constitution, Arabic is its language and Riyadh is its capital.

Article 3

The state’s flag shall be as follows:
(a) It shall be green.
(b) Its width shall be equal to two-thirds of its length.
(c) The words "There is but one God and Mohammed is His Prophet" shall be inscribed in the center with a drawn sword under it.

Article 6

Citizens are to pay allegiance to the King in accordance with the holy Koran and the tradition of the Prophet, in submission and obedience, in times of ease and difficulty, fortune and adversity.

From Moon

1. There is an exchange of the first and the third lord and the fourth and the fifth lords.

2. The ninth house has Saturn, ninth lord placed there aspected by Mars and Venus which again gives to it its fundamentalist Islamic character repeated in the Constitution of Saudi Arabia in many places.

Wahhabism is well reflected in the aspect of Mars on the ninth lord Saturn with all such rigid and aggressive which the differences between Shias, who worshipped shrines and Imamas and visit their graves were not acceptable as orthodox and true Muslims, highlights. The emphasis was on "the Muslim principle that there is only one God, and that God does not share his power with anyone—not Imams, and certainly not trees or rocks."

Wahhabism was a neat political instrument available to the rulers of Saudi Arabia to forge unity among warring tribes and give to the nation an identity through the enforcement of outward discipline which lingers even today though after 1992, the clear identification with is said to have been less.

It remains "tangible in the physical conformity in dress, in public deportment, and in public prayer. Most significantly, the Wahhabi legacy was manifest in the social ethos that presumed government responsibility for the collective moral ordering of society, from the behavior of individuals, to institutions, to businesses, to the government itself."

Political advantage of this doctrine was taken and Shias became enemies of Saudi Arabia and non-Muslims were greater enemies. The militancy generated by Mars here has always been at the root of Saudi Arabian policies be it donations to seventy countries where the money sent by it is not spent on welfare activities like modern educational institutions and hospitals but on mosques and madrasas where Wahhabism is encouraged.

It was this aggression which led to attack on Karbala the Shia shrine in 1801. Such aggression and consequent wars on Muslim neighbouring countries led to the identification of political loyalty to religious obligation which has been an unbroken tradition of Saudi Arabia for more than two centuries now.

This horoscope and historical necessity demands that Saudi Arabia must remain a custodian of Islamic faith which having an Arabic origin has been described by Anwar Sheikh in his website as Arab nationalism.

Some events

1. On 25 March 1975 when King Faisalas was martyred in Jupiter-Moon-Sun (see the dashamansha) Saturn was in Mithuna, the eighth house of this horoscope aspecting the tenth house and Mars was in Makar also aspecting the tenth house.
Note: Saturn is to enter that area again very soon.

2) The beginning of Saturn mahadasha saw Saudi Arabia getting involved in the conflicts of neighbouring countries. Here the aspect of Mars, as the sixth lord on Saturn made Saudi Arabia an aggressive supporter of the Mujahadeen action in Afghanistan against Soviet occupation and led to the rise of Osama bin Laden as a national hero some years later. It was also in this period that the Iran-Iraq war took place.

3) On 20 November 1979 in Saturn-Saturn- Venus the holiest Muslim place, Mecca was attacked. All these dasha lords are connected with the ninth house and are associated with Mars.

4) In Saturn-Moon (Moon is in the seventh house) Saudi Arabia was affected by the Iraq-Kuwait war with USA rushing to its aid with huge armaments by selling which the US armament industries benefited immensely, a war with Iraq seemed imminent but was staved off.

5) On 13 June 1982 when King Fahd became the leader of the kingdom it was period of Saturn-Mercury. The change in leadership is denoted by the eighth lord here.

Saudi Arabia has entered the twenty first century with the Wahhabi legacy which Osama bin Laden and his Al Quaeda used for an Islamic dream of world conquest and destruction of USA. The huge moneys given to Osama and Taliban is part of this legacy.

In the present dasha of Mercury, also the eighth lord in the tenth house and with Ketu , how can Saudi Arabia not witness chinks in this legacy now and escape world attention as exporter of fundamentalism is the question not being debated openly, though it does engage the attention of political scientists.

Saudi Arabia is on the verge of a big change in the next six years which will begin in Mercury Mars and in Mercury-Rahu such changes will acquire revolutionary tones.

Saturn in Mithuna will initiate the change, with the pro-west regime being thrown out first and later, internecine war will lead to many bloody changes in what today is one of the stablest and prosperous nations of the world.

In 2002, Saudi Arabia is passing through the second phase of saadhe saati. When Saturn enters Mithuna, and last phase of saadhe saati, it will also be aspecting the tenth house from where most unexpected changes will take place which can be violent overthrow of the present pro-western regime which uneasily appeals to Wahhabism that is two centuries old, backward-looking and antiquated from the western angle.

Liberal Islam must become a dominant theme in most of those Muslim countries where the mullah-guided populace nurses its grievance against their pro-west rulers. That such an uneasy and uncomfortable turn of historical events is staring the world now in the post-Taliban 2002 AD is difficult to accept and more difficult to reject.

That uneasy choice lies before Saudi Arabia now when Saturn enters Mithuna in June 2002. The transformation that is to occur in Saudi Arabia will have been completed by Saturn from Mithuna to Simha in seven to eight years.