February 18, 2004

Valentine the infidel

The times of Oman reports:

Saudi Arabia's religious police arrested more than 200 workers from Bangladesh and Myanmar as they celebrated St Valentine's Day outside the holy city of Makkah, where the traditional event for lovers is banned by fatwa.

The kingdom's grand mufti and highest religious authority, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, condemned the party-goers.

"What these workers did in a holy place by celebrating and singing and drinking alcohol is a very grave sin," he told the daily. "Committing a sin in a holy place is doubly sinful. Valentine's is an infidel tradition that has no place in Islam, " he said.


In my view, those who drunk alcohol, committed commited a crime under local law. But for singing and Partying? My gosh! Is that a place to live? And I have heard that the wealthy Arabs like to drink and partying and they do them discretely. I guess there is a different law for them. Those poor workers, who are only exploited and have nothing to cheer about in life get the axe.

If Valentine's tradition is infidel, then how do Saudis express love? Keeping their loved one's in Harem?

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