The industry of frustration and discontent

After the Saudi authorities busted a terror cell near Makkah recently, spokesman of the interior minister, Major General Mansur al-Turki, highlighted the “industry of frustration” among the youth and said it was the instigators’ most successful means to recruit them.

Sayyid Qutb, who has been one of the major instigators, lectured about one of his ideology’s major themes – the industry of discontent.

In an article – Schools for Discontent – published on September 30, 1946 in al-Risalah magazine, he said: “I will remain indignant. If it were up to me, I’d establish double the schools which the government has built in order to teach people one thing: discontent. If it were up to me, I’d establish a school to teach discontent over this generation of politicians and over those writers and journalists whom are said to be opinion leaders in the country ... I’d establish a school to teach discontent over those ministers.”

Let’s keep in mind that some of the terrorists who carried out operations, or who were arrested or killed, had the “human rights’ activity” tag attached to them, as was the case with the “Aid the Sufferer” campaign. This latter campaign turned out to be a gathering for al-Qaeda and ISIS. The alleged human rights’ campaign led to some the most violent acts in the history of Saudi Arabia.

Abdulrahman Al-Tuwaijri, the al-Ahsa suicide bomber, Fahad al-Gabbaa, the bomber of the Shiite mosque in Kuwait, Saleh al-Qashami, the suicide bomber of al-Qudaih mosque, Youssef al-Suleiman, the bomber of Abha, Rima al-Jreish, Hisham al-Khodeir, Hadi al-Shibani, who prepared suicide bombers to carry out their attacks, and Adel al-Mejmaj were all part of “aid the sufferer” campaign.

So can this be a coincidence?

This article was first published in Okaz on May 15, 2016.
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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.