Abeer Mishkhas, writing in Arab News, has an interesting piece following up on the ’scandal’ that some saw in a video clip of a senior religious authority dancing at a wedding. Mishkhas asks where these people get these ideas—and she knows quite well the answer to that. She asks that people back off their dogmatic either/or positions and find a middle ground.
Dancing to Our Own Tunes
Abeer Mishkhas, abeermishkhas@arabnews.comIt started with a clip on YouTube of the prominent Saudi religious scholar, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, dancing Ardah, a traditional Saudi dance with swords. A flood of comments followed. Most were from people who did not like the clip and thought the act of dancing inappropriate for a scholar. Others went further by denouncing the act as shameless.
The surprise came as the sheikh then launched an attack against his critics in the local press. He said that there are those in Saudi Arabia who want to transform weddings into funerals; they are, he said, simply against joy. He went on to say, “There is no report from the Prophet (peace be upon him) or any of the early Islamic leaders saying that they turned weddings into occasions for preaching.â€
He went further by illustrating his point about the legitimacy of dancing, especially the sword dance, by saying that the Prophet and his wife Aisha witnessed a similar event in Madinah inside the mosque — which certainly proves his point.
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10:13,
First let me say these are the same people who will be upset if they see you smiling or laughing. Haram…If one is not in a pissy mood, then there is something to be suspicious of. And you know what I do not know or want to serve a God that has put me on earth to punish me and make me miserable. Sorry but you can call me a disbeliever but if God is that horrible then I would not respect him. Why would he want to do that? It is against all logic? In that case I can see why people would sign up to blow themselves to pieces because their life is full of sh_t anyway.
That sounds like an evil and a sadistic God.
The poor scholar was doing a nice little traditional dance and celebrating a nice occasion called marriage…
He wasn’t bumping and grinding in the local pub! That would be Scandalous!
12:49,
Hey is the same guy who works at the Ministry of Justice? The same guy who said the Qatif girl was doing dirty deeds while she was in the car?
If so Oh Man…What goes around comes around. How does it feel being accused of being guilty when you know you are innocent? Allah who Akbar!
God teaches us in many ways it is up to us to open our eyes and see…
13:08,
Yep it is him. I found out when I when to youtube. I couldn’t find the clip of him dancing but found a reminder of what he said concerning Qatif sister.
Reminder:
Avoiding the words “rape†or “adulteryâ€, Sheikh Al-Obeikan blamed the girl for “what has happened†and underscored the court’s belief that she committed a crime of illegal affair and “stained the matrimonial bed†and thus deserved the punishment she received.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page
13:09,
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=104020&d=27&m=11&y=2007
17:29,
Nice catch Sparky!
By all means, flog him for public indecency! Sword dances are but the first step to total meltdown of society.
19:36,
Haraam! Dancing and music!!! Stone him!!!!
That’ll teach him! Good to know, God punishes after all!
Good work Sparky!
STONE HIM!!!!
21:48,
Eliot Spitzer got caught dancing with his sword recently. I wonder if this Sheikh will suffer a similar fate.
01:31,
And here I thought I had already seen all the bad puns possible:)
02:48,
With Ekiot Spitzer I was watching that it is alleged he spent around 80,000 UDS on his sex cal girl addiction. He should have to pay that money back to the city perhaps a donation to organizatons that help troubled teenage girls!
07:46,
Spitzer,a multi-millionaire before taking the job, used his own money and doesn’t need to pay back anyone. There are unanswered questions at the moment about whether he may have used state funds for his own transportation, but that’s about it.
Nor were his actions involving the poor or drug-addicted. The girls with whom he was transacting business had made a rational decision that earning $2,000/hr on their backs was preferable to other kinds of work that demanded more and paid far less. These were call girls, not street walkers.
Of course, troubled-teen programs can always use more funding, if they’re spending it usefully. That is a category of NGO that is quite open to abuse, unfortunately.
08:36,
As a side note, the woman at the center of this scandal may be in embarrassed seclusion for the moment, but she is quite the winner: over 900,000 downloads of her music, netting her over half a million dollars!
09:33,
I think he needs to pay back the state in my opinion. He did his deed while on the government’s clock. I disagree with you John.
I saw how he went before congress and acted like an idiot 8 hours after meeting the whore! He hadn’t even prepared himself for the speech. Disgusting!
09:49,
On the government’s clock only in the sense that many gov’t employees are supposed to be available 24/7. If you read the documents published so far, ‘Client #9′ asked for an appointment at 10pm, well outside normal office hours.
12:13,
Wonder how many hours he spent with her? I felt sorry for his wife…he looked kinda of like “Whatever”. Like the whole event didn’t shake his core unless he is a good actor. His wife looked shattered.
On a lighter note: I can teach his wife my own sword dance and it is called penile execution! No kidding…
12:27,
Sparky, have you met Lorena Bobbitt?
12:46,
Yes, and I think she affected the hearts and minds of men and women throughout the world in an unforgettable way! Never forget it!
17:34,
Solomon2 brother, if you would like to witness an execution of a meatstick kindly follow this link available at youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zg4iS00-wG4
In America, a woman can hack off her husbands weenie and get off the hook but in Saudi Arabia a few incantations against a man’s weenie gets her head chopped off…
Hmmm I SAY: Liberty or Death…
04:53,
These are the same people who think that telling jokes, playing games and recreational sports are haraam.
BTW, Aafke’s post reminded me of the stoning scene from “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”!
“All right, no one is to stone *anyone* until I blow this whistle. Even… and I want to make this absolutely clear… even if they do say, Jehovah.”