Saudi Arabia: Haia men ready to block New Year festivities (Religious Police)

By MD HUMAIDAN | ARAB NEWS

Published: Dec 24, 2010 23:06 Updated: Dec 24, 2010 23:06

JEDDAH: The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) has directed all its branch offices to be on the lookout for any year-end celebration, the director general of the Haia in Makkah province Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi said in a statement to Arab News on Friday.

"The Haia will immediately dismantle any form of preparations for the celebrations but if these preparations are out of its jurisdiction, it will take up the matter with the authorities concerned," he said, pointing out such prohibitions apply to the celebration of the Hijra new year or the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).

Sheikh Al-Ghamdi asked the parents to consolidate the Islamic identity of their children and said Saudi citizens and Muslim expatriates should stick to the calls of their Islamic identity.

"This, however, does not prevent Muslims from participating in the celebrations of the non-Muslims on condition that this participation should not touch the basics of the Islamic faith," he said.

The Haia representatives and other authorities concerned are checking markets these days to check for goods with a New Year theme and confiscate them.

Though the authorities are continuing the random checks, it is common to find holiday decorations for sale in some commercial outlets.

The Saudi Permanent Committee for Ifta and Research has said in a fatwa attributed to its chairman Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh that it was against Islam to memorialize the births of prophets, the advent of new calendar years or other holidays.

Many of the reader comments at the original article site are quite.....'interesting" as well.

Many thanks and a tip of the stoat hat to Weasel Zippers for providing the link which alerted me to this story.

Weasel Zippers » Blog Archive » Saudi Morality Police Ready to Stop New Year’s Celebrations

"I summon my blue-eyed slaves anytime it pleases me. I command the Americans to send me their bravest soldiers to die for me. Anytime I clap my hands a stupid genie called the American ambassador appears to do my bidding. When the Americans die in my service their bodies are frozen in metal boxes by the US Embassy and American airplanes carry them away, as if they never existed. Truly, America is my favorite slave."

King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz, Jeddeh 1993

("At Any Price: How America Betrayed My Kidnapped Daughters for Saudi Oil" By Patricia Roush)

For the source of that quotation, visit the link below (copy and paste if necessary), go to page 272 and scroll to the bottom of the page.

http://tinyurl.com/28sn557

I guess their oil is the only POSSIBLE reason to shed American blood for these people. It begs a question: WHY THE HELL AREN’T WE USING OUR OWN?? ARE WE MAD? (Don’t answer that.)

The religious police keep making the Saudi on the street angrier and angrier.

They are mostly uneducated rural peasants, given government jobs and brought to the “big city”, with the idea that they can lord it over the “city folk”. As you can easily imagine, the city folk are not too keen on that idea, especially paid for with their tax money.

Back in the 1920s, there was a great deal of very specific annoyance by poor rural people in the US against the big city dwellers. Some preachers embraced some very hypocritical paths in support of this.

For example, the machine made cigarettes consumed by city folk were “sinful”, but chewing and pipe tobacco, favored in the backwoods, was just fine. They also had a big down on big city “brown whiskey”, but would never dare criticize moonshine. And they saved their biggest criticism for the immoral “wild women” of the big city, who they said was less righteous than some unmarried country gal with three kids at the age of 16.

So you can imagine what it would be like, to be shopping in some mall, when some buffoon starts berating your wife or daughter for “dressing like a whore”, because they are wearing slacks and tennis shoes, instead of overalls and boots.

Like leftists everywhere, Muslims vice cops will pitch a major snit because they fear that someone, somewhere, may actually be having a little fun. Sounds like "IFTA" will suck all the oxygen out of a room (and I do me SUCK!)

Regards,
GtG

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