Ibrahim Al-Buleihi

Who is Ibrahim Al-Buleihi?

Ibrahim Albleahy is a Saudi liberal writer, thinker and philosopher who is currently a member of the Saudi Shura Council.

Albleahy has held a range of positions in government and business throughout his life. Aside from his position on the Shura Council, he is involved in a variety of organizations in Saudi civil society. While he is a devout Muslim, he is highly critical of the way Islam is publicly practiced and the degree to which modern Muslim societies are governed by it.

The central concern of his writings is the relative decline of Arab and Islamic civilization, compared to the other civilizations of the world. From his studies he has concluded that Western Civilization has several deep cultural principles that make it more dynamic, more open-minded and therefore able to develop faster, through empowering individuality and independent thinking. These principles developed in the West over centuries, beginning in Ancient Greek philosophy and gaining power in the Age of Enlightenment.

He concluded that other cultures, such as Japan, were able to advance to a high level of development and freedom only by taking and incorporating these crucial principles from the West. By incorporating these principles in their culture, countries such as Japan managed to actually invigorate their culture and prevent it from stagnating, while simultaneously matching the West in power, freedom and standard of living.