Seeing red on roses … Group warns on Valentine’s Day
KUWAIT : Thawabet Al Umma, an Islamic group, has condemned the celebration of Valentine’s Day and warned the media against misguiding Muslims by “glorifying such pagan practices.” The media is playing an important role in popularizing such celebrations and leading Islamic nations on the path of disbelief, the group added. “Such traditions are imported from the West, and people blindly follow them without looking into the good and bad aspects. Participating in such celebrations will tarnish the image of Islam.” In its statement, the group also mentioned that the Valentine’s Day is actually the commemoration of a Christian saint, which makes it a Christian festival, “and has red as its theme color.” This Western tradition has spread to many Muslim countries backed by the media including TV and radio, influencing people’s minds to accept it as normal, the group said. “Valentine’s Day corrupts and misguides the youths. The information ministers of all Muslim countries have the responsibility to ensure that this culture does not take root in their countries, as it can lead societies back to the pre-Islamic days of ignorance,” the group added.
As opposed to the post-Islamic days of wisdom in breast-feeding co-workers?
Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine’s Day, forcing couples in the conservative Muslim nation to think of new ways to show their love.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice has ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet, which is widely seen as symbolising love, newspapers said. (So scarlet is bad, but regular red is ok?)
“They visited us last night,” the Saudi Gazette quoted an unidentified florist as saying.
It is not unusual for the Saudi vice squad to clamp down ahead of Valentine’s Day, which it sees as encouraging relations between men and women outside of wedlock, the newspaper said.
Saudi Arabia imposes an austere form of Sunni Islam which prevents unrelated men and women from mixing, bans women from driving and demands that women wear a headscarf and a cloak.
Relations outside marriage are strictly banned and punishable by law.
http://www.arabtimesonline
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