Page 62 - Protestant Missionary Activity in the Arabian Gulf

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was at least a religious unbeliever and not a complete wild
pagan. 115 When Dr. Dame visited Riyadh fifteen years later

he experienced the same sort of reaction, and this time Ibn

Sa’ud went a surprising step further and actually praised the

missionaries for their evangelistic efforts - the very reason

he had used to Dr. Mylrea nineteen years earlier for not per­

mitting permanent missionary settlement in Saudi Arabia. Tet

in 1933 we find him introducing the missionaries (one man and

three women) to his household 0 9 0
n
0 0 9 by telling them we were the only Christians
he would invite to Rijradh, that we were real true Chris­
tians, missionaries, whose purpose is to spread their
religion, and that we were doing everything we did in
the service of God. He had met Dr. Harrison and Dr.
Dame before, and that we were all the same. That he
admired us for our noble lives, zeal and honesty.” 116
!

Ibn Sa’ud’s remarks to Dr. Dame go far beyond the mere
politeness of a gracious Arab host to his guests and far be­

pi yond the traditional Islamic tolerance of other "peoples of
fo

the Book." He had referred specifically to that part of

non-Muslim endeavor that was not included in Islamic religious

tolerance: proselytization. That was something that was

reserved for the followers of the prophet Muhammad. Muslim

permissiveness towards Christians and Jews had always been

limited to permission to follow the religious beliefs into

which thejr had been born. Conversion from Islam to Christian-

ity or even from Judaism to Christianity had never been per­

mitted. Yet here we see the Saudi King praising Christian

missionaries for evangelistic efforts against Muslims. This

can only be interpreted as a remarkable testimonial of his

A
(2 . .