I love Saudiwoman. She runs a blog which works as a Heat Magazine alternative for Celebrity Saudi Imam watchers.
She has recently been blogging on how Saudis are thoroughly disillusioned with their religious establishment. Given the spate of public fatwas, counter-fatwas, showdowns and cockups, it is small wonder that Saudis are collectively experiencing acute imam fatigue.
Here’s the rundown:
- Sheikh Al Ghamdi’s freemixing of genders is okay
- Shiekh Al Obeikan’s breastfeeding men is allowed fatwa
- Sheikh Al Kalbani came out with a fatwa stating that music is allowed
- Sheikh Al Kalabani’s nasty sectarian swipe at Shia imams.
- Followed by Sheikh Al Kalabani’s revocation and change in his position on those nasty Shia
It’s a right old mess of sheikhs. Saudiwoman explains:
This trio, Al Obiekan, Al Ghamdi, and Al Kalbani are being attacked by the same people that made them. Members from the Council Assembly of Senior Ulema and other conservative sheikhs are doing everything in their power, short of a death fatwa, to shut these three up. I know it’s crazy but breastfeeding an adult man is on par with gender desegregation and listening to music.
And then of course, you have our charming Shiekh Al Arefe making a fool of himself when he couldn’t keep his promise that his next show will be filmed at the Jerusalem mosque, and the Al Najaimi scandal when he was caught on camera mingling with women at the Women’s day conference in Kuwait, despite his support for an extreme gender segregation fatwa by sheikh Al Barack.
All this squabbling and desperate thirst for fame from sheikhs has led more and more Saudis to the conclusion that yes, sheikhs do make mistakes and you can disregard them. And this has never been so evident as it was last Friday, after a member from the Council, sheikh Saleh Al Fowzan, issued a fatwa that it is prohibited to be led in prayer by sheikh Al Kalabani and yet five thousand men showed up to Al Kalabani’s mosque here in Riyadh. The people of Saudi Arabia are finally starting to make up their own minds!
Another entry by Saudiwoman, Much ado about women, is a must read.