Saudi Shura Council Member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi Criticizes Arab Society: All We Want Today Is to Regress Further

Saudi Shura Council Member Ibrahim Al-Buleihi said that Arab society has become "even more backward than it used to be." Speaking on Rotana Khalijiyya TV on November 3, 2016, he said: "In the past, we did not create organizations like Al-Qaeda and Taliban. At least we had aspirations and dreams of change."

Ibrahim Al-Buleihi: "When I read, in books of European history, about Copernicus, Martin Luther, Galileo, or Descartes, their ideas did not catch on quickly. Instead, wars broke out for the sake of... But no [intellectual thinker] remained alone. When we consider Arab society on the other hand--we see that pioneer intellectuals – like Averroes – had no followers. On the contrary, he was rejected.

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"Look around you. We have been building universities for over two centuries, and we have been filling our cities with intellectuals and doctors, yet we are even more backward than we used to be. In the past, we did not create organizations like Al-Qaeda and Taliban. At least we had aspirations and dreams of change, but what is happening today is the opposite. All we want is to become even more backward. We believe that further regression is the right choice."