'Reform from the Royal & Clerical Heights of Power!'

(the fatwa forgot to add, Sublime Power) Don't you just love the Saudi vernacular? It sounds so ...so, ...so preternatural.

"The official Saudi religious scholars' fatwa banning mass demonstrations, issued on 6 March, is a lengthy but, for the Muslim reader, a transparent document. It embodies the balancing act that has become necessary for the royal family to maintain its authority. Saudi subjects desire social reform profoundly, and most of them trust King Abdullah to lead them on the path of change. The Saudi monarchy and the religious authorities with which it is allied must channel such demands through existing "Islamic" means of redress, generally consigned to the heading of "consultation".

But the sixth paragraph cites a hadith, or oral comment, of the prophet Muhammad that includes a severe threat against internal dissent: "The Prophet again said: 'He who wanted separate affairs of this nation who are unified, you should kill him with [the] sword whoever he is' (narrated by Muslim)." "Muslim" was Muslim Ibn Al-Hajjaj, an early collector of hadith, recognised by Sunnis as authoritative....

... the meat of the matter:

"The council hereby reaffirms that only the reform and council that has its legitimacy … may bring welfare and avert evil, whereas it is illegal to issue statements and take signatures for the purposes of intimidation and inciting strife … Since the kingdom of Saudi Arabia is based on the Qur'an, Sunnah, the pledge of allegiance [to the ruler], and the necessity of unity and loyalty, then reform should not be by demonstrations and other means and methods that give rise to unrest and divide the community."

The meaning is clear: reform measures may proceed, but will be dictated from the royal and clerical heights of power, while dissident discourse and circulation of petitions will be treated as inimical to order and incitement to disorder...."