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JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia -- The royal family of this embattled kingdom announced a one-month amnesty Wednesday for Islamic insurgents, framing its offer in the language of religious redemption and hinting at harsh punishment for those who refuse.

In a speech that reflected the delicate politics of confronting an Islamic uprising in a land that has in the past tried to co-opt or reform militants, Crown Prince Abdullah promised fair treatment under Islamic law for those who turn themselves in. Surrendering insurgents would be spared the death penalty, said Abdullah, the kingdom's defacto ruler, who spoke on behalf of ailing King Fahd.

"If they are wise and they accept it, then they are saved," Abdullah said on state TV. "And if they snub it, God isn't going to stop us from hitting them with our force -- which we get from our dependence on God."

The amnesty appears to be a peace offering for young, fringe members of the outlawed militant groups that have bombed buildings, shot foreigners and beheaded an American hostage last week.

But it is also a threat from a government trying to maintain momentum after gunning down extremist leader Abdelaziz Muqrin, who claimed responsibility for killing the American. Abdullah didn't specify what the government would do after the one-month period passed, but suggested that the militants would be treated harshly. Fighters with blood on their hands will not be pardoned, Abdullah said.

Abdullah's speech was also a stark reminder of the struggle in Saudi Arabia between a ruling family that bills this nation as the world's purest Islamic state, and bands of extremists who say it isn't Islamic enough.

Saudi forces strike back violently after attacks by militants. Dozens of troops and extremists have been killed over the past year. But extremism is often handled more carefully by authorities here than by secular regimes such as Egypt, Syria and Algeria. Saudi radicals who espouse violence are treated -- and widely seen -- not as criminals, but as lost boys who can be brought back into the fold with a dose of proper religion.

Fiery clerics are removed from the pulpit and browbeaten in extensive religious debates with government-friendly scholars -- and then returned to their jobs. Extremists are imprisoned and subjected to religious education. Once they repent, militants and clerics film testimonials for state television, describing the error of their ways and the ideological changes they've undergone.

"God is merciful," Abdullah said. "For the last time, we are opening the door to repentance for everyone who has gone out of the righteous way and who has committed a crime for religion, which is in fact a corruption on earth."

Muqrin, the leader whose pursuit of bloodshed in the name of Islam culminated in the beheading of American engineer Paul M. Johnson, Jr., last week, had already passed through Saudi prisons. He was arrested for plotting to assassinate Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, memorized the Quran and was set free after a few years behind bars.

"The Saudi government always tried to tolerate these people," said Interior Ministry spokesman Saud S. Musibeeh. "People make mistakes, but at the end of the day, they come back to the right way. The best way to kill these ideas and this movement is to put them on the air, to drag them out into the sun."

Critics have long warned that the ruling family is in a bind. The kingdom will have a hard time stamping out the armed radicals, they say, because to attack the austere Wahhabi branch of Islam at the root of the insurgents' ideology would undercut their own authority. The kingdom is a theocracy; without the backing of Wahhabi clerics, the House of Saud could lose its legitimacy in the eyes of the people.

"The government fights in a religious way because they don't want to lose their legitimacy," said Adel Toraifi, a Saudi researcher and writer who specializes in militant movements. "The difference is so slight between the government and the terrorists, so they can return to society without major problems."

Although they concede turning a blind eye to extremism in their schools and mosques before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Saudi officials insist there is a very clear difference. This kingdom where liquor is banned, women are shrouded and capital punishment is meted out according to Islamic law is intensely conservative, they say, but not violent.

The bloodshed plaguing the kingdom traces not to Wahhabism, but to the "university of Afghanistan," Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal said. Young Saudis were broken down and brainwashed when they traveled abroad to fight, he said.

"In Afghanistan they were put in harsh conditions," Prince Saud said. "They were being mentally reformed and turned into killing machines. When juveniles are used and taught violence, they can be a very menacing threat to society."

The major rift between the government and the insurgents is the question of jihad, or holy struggle. Jihad is a religious duty, the kingdom's sheikhs preach, but a war against the Saudi regime does not qualify. The king's official title is Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, a reference to the sacred shrines in Mecca and Medina; officially, a revolt against the government is an attack on Islam itself.

But militants consider the government corrupt and immoral, and believe the battle against the ruling family, the oil industry and the millions of foreigners living here is justified under Islam. The debate spins quietly in Saudi society -- is it all right to attack Westerners so long as Muslims aren't harmed? Have Americans become legitimate military targets because of the invasion of Iraq?

"You can try to be strong in your religion, but religion can make you get lost," Musibeeh said. "Religion, it's a very risky business."

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