Witchcraft, magic, and sorcery have been concerns of mankind around the world and, apparently, for most of human history. In some cultures, ‘witches’ were honored, as shamans or folk medical practitioners of a sort. In others, they were feared and condemned. Over time, however, cultures affected by the Age of Reason realized that there was something wrong in criminalizing acts and beliefs that could not be clearly defined, could not even be clearly identified. And so, anti-sorcery laws fell by the wayside.
Not so in Saudi Arabia. Several recent cases of ‘sorcerers’ being identified, tried, and condemned to death have been making news, as this release from Human Rights Watch notes:
Saudi Arabia: Witchcraft and Sorcery Cases on the Rise
(Kuwait City) – The cassation court in Mecca should overturn the death sentence imposed on Ali Sabat by a lower court in Medina on November 9 for practicing witchcraft, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch called on the Saudi government to cease its increasing use of charges of “witchcraft” which remains vaguely defined and arbitrarily used.
Ali Sibat’s death sentence apparently resulted from advice and predictions he gave on Lebanese television. According to Saudi media, in addition to Sibat, Saudi religious police have arrested at least two others for witchcraft in the past month alone.
“Saudi courts are sanctioning a literal witch hunt by the religious police,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The crime of ‘witchcraft’ is being used against all sorts of behavior, with the cruel threat of state-sanctioned executions.”
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The release points out the problems here: there is no clear definition or description of what constitutes sorcery or black magic; that determination is left to judges who are free to use their own judgments—or imaginations—to decide. When the judges’ power includes that of condemning someone to death, that is discretion without limit.
I’m confident that many heads in Saudi Arabia would explode—or at least see it as proof that the US is Satan’s own—in realizing that American law protects self-described witches. Not always and not under all circumstances, but still…
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November:27:2009 - 14:42
When I think of witches being condemned I think of how many epileptics were killed for being “possessed” in the Middle Ages, the power of false rumour and collective hysteria in the Salem Witch Trials, how easy it is to malign someone one doesn’t like for whatever reason and organize a public condemnation of them, and of the number of Wiccans among certain social segments today.
This is an area where the Saudi judiciary definitely needs to make progress.
November:27:2009 - 17:46
Has anyone written about he history of witchcraft in Saudi Arabia or in the Gulf ?
The literature on european witchcraft is extensive, and one of the main points is that the decline in witch trials is following the growth of empirical based knowledge and decision making.
It’s beautiful illustrated in Gustav Henningsen The Witches’ Advocate: Basque Witchcraft and the Spanish Inquisition (1609-1614.
November:27:2009 - 18:37
In this particular instance–perhaps uniquely–this clown was on TV and in other media boasting of his prowess. Sex, magic, whatever… the lesson seems to be don’t go on TV about it!
As for the typical sorcery case in the Kingdom, I basically agree with you. Add in the con man aspect, taking advantage of people’s constant desire to find outside sources for their problems, and the law as now (un)written is just a catch-all.
November:27:2009 - 18:41
I’m not aware of any books that address it specifically, but if you go back to writers like the 19th C. Richard Burton, they address it among their other observations. Their ‘other observations’, frequently about sexual practices, however, tends to keep those books on the top shelf and out of a lot of public libraries.
Burton’s translation of 1001 Nights, for instance, does talk about beliefs in witchcraft, but they’re scattered among the 16 volumes of the text, mostly in footnotes.
November:27:2009 - 20:08
When normal knowledge is suppressed, the forbidden and hidden knowledge becomes so much more attractive.
Concerning the example of Jane Doe, how unprofessional! Professing or asking one’s religion is irrelevant. People should be more concerned about whether the person is incompetent and uncorruptable two things that even “special” Saudi Muslims aren’t immune to.