Word: feisal
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...Feisal must be the world's hardest-working King. Like many executives, he suffers from ulcers, which have forced him to pare his workday from 18 hours to 14 hours. When asked about his health, he sometimes replies: "Still living." He rises at dawn, prays-one of five daily prayer sessions-and rides in the front seat of a Chrysler New Yorker from his unostentatious villa to his small, paneled office in the green-roofed presidential palace in Riyadh. He never uses the sprawling $60 million palace built by the profligate Saud. When an interior decorator had a sumptuous...
Every Thursday morning Feisal conducts a majlis, an ancient ceremony common in the Arab world, at which any male subject-rich or poor, high or low-can present the King with a request; it is usually referred to a minister for action or denied on the spot. Feisal has also been known to stop his car on the street, and step out to receive petitions from women. At noon every day, government officials, repairmen and anyone else allowed within the gates of the King's villa can join him there at a long, 40-seat table for lunch (usually...
...Feisal rules his people like a tribal chief, relying for advice on a small circle of ministers and halfbrothers. There are no elections, no political parties and no legislature and no constitution besides the Koran. Religion permeates public life, and the only law of the land is the law of Islam. The Mutawa, or religious police, patrol the streets to make sure that Saudis observe their prayer times and close their shops when they do so. Harsh penalties for crime remain on the books-stoning to death for adultery, beheading for murder, cutting off a hand for thievery-though they...
Slowly and cautiously, Feisal has been nudging Saudi Arabia into the 20th century. He abolished slavery early in his reign. He introduced television over the protests of religious leaders, who called TV"the work of the devil." Saudi Arabia now has eight stations and about 300,000 sets. Government censors scissor out any scenes of drinking, smoking or passionate kissing. Saudi viewers have a particular fondness for American programs like I Love Lucy and Bonanza...
...Under Feisal, Saudi Arabia has spent billions of riyals (about four to the dollar) on roads, public health and education, including the first schools for girls. Today more than 100,000 girls are in school, yet women remain last-class citizens in Saudi Arabia. They must wear veils in public, cannot drive cars or hold jobs that bring them into contact with men. Saudi Arabian Airlines has to recruit Lebanese and other foreign women as stewardesses...