Saudi morality police ready to clamp down on New Year's celebrations

It isn't just Christmas they hate. There Is No Fun In Islam* Update: "Haia men ready to block New Year festivities," by MD Humaidan for Arab News, December 24 (thanks to all who sent this in):

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.

Which is doubletalk for, "Don't do it."

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

* The Ayatollah Khomeini said that.

Posted by Robert on December 25, 2010 12:48 PM

Saudi King floats idea of moving Ground Zero mega-mosque to "less controversial Manhattan location"

Pamela Geller, who is quoted in this article, explains here why this is an offer free people should view with skepticism: "The Saudi offer rings hollow -- particularly after the Wikileak bombshell -- the Saudis are the 'chief funders of al-Qaeda.' And the Saudis are funding over 80% of the mosque building in America. And the Saudis have been spreading 'pure Islam' for decades. And the Saudis fund Hamas groups like CAIR."

"King mulls hospital site for mosque: Ground zero spurs protests," by David Eldridge for The Washington Times, December 19 (thanks to all who sent this in):

King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, in an effort to quiet criticism of Muslims in the U.S., is quietly looking into moving the ground zero mosque to a less controversial Manhattan location, according to news reports Sunday.

New York City attorney Dudley Gaffin has contacted officials about the Saudi royal family's interest in moving the mosque from its site, two blocks from the former World Trade Center and within the damage zone on Sept. 11, 2001, to the shuttered St. Vincent's hospital campus in the West Village, the New York Post and other news organizations reported Sunday. [...]

The 87-year-old Abdullah has said previously he would not get involved with the ground zero mosque, but the project's biggest proponents, developer Sharif El-Gamal and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, are actively seeking funding for the project.

The Post reported that the Saudis see funding and moving the mosque project as a way to address concerns and highlight Muslim philanthropy.

The developers of Park51, the proposed Muslim community center and mosque, this month applied for $5 million in grants from a federal fund set up to aid redevelopment of the Sept. 11 attack area.

Mr. El-Gamal has said fundraising for the project is in the initial phases and is on schedule and expects construction to begin within three years, but the developer has been fighting off lawsuits for nonpayment of debt.

Pamela Geller, a blogger who has emerged as one of the leaders of the groups protesting the proposed Muslim mosque and community center, told The Washington Times that opposition to the project has not died down.

"The very idea that they would apply for $5 million from 9/11 funds is really outrageous," she said.

If the project is completed at the Lower Manhattan site, two blocks from ground zero, the mosque will represent a victory for the terrorists, she said.

"They will have stolen something sacred from the American people. Whenever someone mentions 'ground zero,' it will mean the mosque, not the site where thousands of innocent people lost their lives," she said.

"If the mosque is about healing, if that is true, we implore the imam to move it," she said. "This issue is not going to go away."

Mr. Rauf, who has been the target of some of the harshest criticism, announced last week a nationwide speaking tour on behalf of the project.

"We must retake the discourse among religions and cultures from the hands of the extremists around the world who benefit from hatred and violence," the imam said.

The imam feels that "he is in a position where his voice is being heard," said spokesman Gene Grabowski, adding that Mr. Rauf has been invited to speak on several college campuses, including Harvard and Yale universities....

Of course. What would you expect? 

Posted by Robert on December 19, 2010 7:19 PM

Saudis Sentence Man to 500 Lashes for Blackmail Attempt...

By 

• Staff

Published Saturday, October 30, 2010

An Asian expatriate in Saudi Arabia is to be jailed for two years and lashed 500 times with the whip for trying to blackmail his former girl friend, the Saudi Arabic language daily Alwatan reported on Saturday.

A Sharia (Islamic) court in Makkah found the Muslim Asian man guilty of trying to blackmail the woman by threatening to publicize her photographs unless she agrees to go out with him again, the paper said.

The unidentified woman had informed members of the feared Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice about the man’s threats.

“They asked her to meet him and when he came for the meeting, they seized him and handed him over to the police,” the paper said.

http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/500-lashes-for-blackmailing-former-lover-2010-10-30-1.310786

Wild Dogs Feast on Corpses in Saudi Desert...

By 

• Staff

Published Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Dogs feed on the dead at cemetery. (SUPPLIED)

Hungry dogs have been feeding on human corpses during night raids on a deserted cemetery in Saudi Arabia, taking advantage of its remoteness from residential areas, a local newspaper reported on Tuesday.

As the sun sets and the night begins to encompass the central town of Buraydah, herds of wild dogs advance on the cemetery and begin clawing into the graves to snatch bones and other organs left from the buried bodies, the electronic Arabic language daily Ajel reported on Tuesday.

The dogs invade the graveyard almost every night despite recurrent complains by the town residents to the authorities.

The paper said it had sent its photographer, who saw many stray dogs gathering outside the cemetery just before sunset to brace for the night raid.

“These dogs are continuing their raids on the Muslim graves almost every night although the cemetery no longer receives any dead….they are doing so undisturbed and undeterred by the authorities,” the paper said.

“Many graves have been dug by these dogs while the authorities are not bothering take any move…our photographer went to the cemetery and recorded these encroachments with the camera….one dog was seen lying too close to the graves waiting for the night to fall to enter the cemetery and get food.”

http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/dogs-feed-on-the-dead-at-cemetery-2010-10-26-1.309095