Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Prince Charles visited the academic heart of Saudi Islam on Saturday and urged a tolerant and flexible approach to religion, but although many students welcomed his visit, most rejected his views.
In a speech before Saudi scholars and officials at Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Charles argued against a rigid interpretation of religious texts and said other "children of Abraham" -- Jews and Christians -- had much to learn from Islamic teachings.
"What is so distinctive of the great ages of faith surely was that they understood, as well as sacred texts ... the meaning of God's word for all time and its meaning for this time," Charles said in his speech. He was the first non-Muslim foreign dignitary to visit the university.
"I feel, and you must forgive I'm no scholar ... it was Islam's greatness to understand this in its full depth and challenge. This is what you ... can give not only to Islam but by example to all the other children of Abraham."
The university has been key to Riyadh's mobilisation of clerics in its campaign against hardline militants sworn to topple the ruling monarchy. The authorities are keen to win Saudi hearts and minds to back a cautious reform drive under King Abdullah.
Graduates of the university work in the government, mosques, courts and in the religious police force which patrols all Saudi cities and towns to enforce Islam-oriented public order. All students and university employees are male.
Charles voiced similar views this week at al-Azhar University in Cairo and has long argued for better understanding and tolerance among religious faiths.
STUDENTS DISAGREE
The Saudi university students, most of them bearded and wearing white robes and sandals, were kept from the prince by a large security deployment.
Saudi Arabia's powerful religious establishment imposes the strict Wahhabi school of Islamic law which applies almost to the letter the text of the Koran. Some Western critics of Saudi Arabia say such a strict interpretation of Islam fuels intolerance and has been the ideology behind al Qaeda violence.
Many students at the university welcomed the prince's visit. "It will help change wrong ideas about the university and Saudi Arabia, accused of terrorism," Abdulaziz al-Aoufi, 20, said.
Asked to comment on the prince's call for a flexible interpretation of Islamic texts, student Maher al-Sehili said: "Charles and the West don't understand the true Islam. We are the ones that suffer prejudice, look at Iraq and Palestine."
Another student shouted: "There's nothing to change. Haven't they read the Koran: 'You have your religion and I have mine,'" he said, citing a Koranic verse.
Abdulaziz al-Jaaidi agreed. "Islam can adapt to any era and any place, but there are no two interpretations to its sacred texts," he said.
Abu Dijana, 21, added: "He (Charles) should remember that Koran is sacred. I don't trust them (Westerners) and the Koran says it clearly -- Jews and Christians will not be satisfied until you follow their path."
Prince Charles arrived in Saudi Arabia on Friday with his wife Camilla. He is to meet King Abdullah and Crown Prince Sultan later on Saturday.