Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Lighter Side of Wahhabi Islam

Somehow I doubt that Harry Potter books top the charts in Saudi Arabia. Not that there are that many books allowed in Saudi Arabia anyway. At any rate the Arab News is carrying an extensive article on the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, the morals police of Saudi Arabia. The article includes an interview with Wahhabi / Salafi Commission President Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, (and unless my language skills have failed me, I do believe that is Arabic for "Voldemort").

Q: What is the commission doing to catch sorcerers in Saudi cities. And what is their fate after they are caught? Could you tell us how many of them were caught this year and their locations? And what about the magic spells that are thrown into the Red Sea? How are these spells broken?

A: The commission plays a large role in capturing people who practice sorcery or delusions since these are vices which affect the faith of Muslims and cause harm to both nationals and expatriates. The commission has assigned centers in every city and town to be on the lookout for these men. As for their fate, they are arrested and then transferred to concerned authorities. The commission also has a role in breaking magic spells, which are found in the sea. We cooperate with divers in this aspect. After the spells are found, they are then broken using recitations of the Holy Qur’an. We do not use magic to break magic spells, as this is against the teachings of Islam as mentioned by the Supreme Ulema. But we use the Qur’an as did the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Read the entire article here. I wonder why CAIR, in its description of the joys of Wahhabi Islam, does not publicize things such as this. And evidently, beyond witchcraft, the morals police of Saudia Arabia also closely inspect the critically important restaurant seating arrangements for possible nefarious practices that would sap the ability of any Saudi male to exercise self-restraint.
Q: What is your position on families going out together?

A: We always request restaurants and recreation area managers that they have separate areas for men and women, or separate areas for women and their children and other separate areas for men alone. Or that a place be designed where a family, women members and male members who are mahrams (brothers, sons, uncles) can sit alone. As for different families sitting together with mixed men and women, who are non-mahrams, then this is the basis of corruption.

But so much for the lighter side of Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi Islam. On a more serious note, a 20 year old woman was sentenced to 6 months imprisonment and 60 lashes for running away from home. The sentence was apparently based on the fact that she was caught outside of her home without a male family member escourting her. Read the story here. But in a world where all things are relative, the inequity of this story pales in comparison to this one, a post where you will also get a description of a Saudi judicial flogging.

At any rate, how about that religion of peace? I think CAIR and MAS could use a little more truth in advertising myself.

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