Chief Saudi Judge: Death to Network Owners!

Okay, you've heard about 'death to the mice! Death to the great Satan Mickey!' (No, Saudi Arabia's Sheikh Muhammad Munajid didn't say that, but he did identify Mickey Mouse as "one of Satan's soldiers.")

Followers of Islam now have the go-ahead to kill television network owners: immoral ones, that is.

It's Okay to Kill Network Owners, Says Saudi Cleric and Judge

"Riyadh: Saudi cleric Saleh al-Luhaidan, Chairman of the Saudi Supreme Judicial Council, has issued a fatwa permitting the murder of the owners of Arabic satellite TV channels which broadcast programmes that encourage immorality, media reports said on Friday." ("Saudi fatwa on 'immoral' satellite channels" Sify news (September 13, 2008).)

After the head of Saudi Arabia's highest tribunal declared open season on network owners, an unnamed cleric said that al Lihedan's edict wasn't a good idea. This other cleric said that it encouraged terrorism and, as the Associated Press put it, "allows 'the enemies of Islam' to portray the faith as one that favors murder."

It's hard to say whether that reality check made a difference, but last Sunday the Saudi cleric/judge clarified his position:

"RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: A senior Saudi official said Sunday that owners of satellite TV networks that show "immoral" content should be brought to trial and sentenced to death if other penalties don't deter them from airing such broadcasts.

"The comments by Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan, the chief of the kingdom's highest tribunal, the Supreme Judiciary Council, were an attempt to explain a fatwa, or decree, he issued last week, in which he said just that it was permissible to kill the network's owners." ("Saudi official: Death for 'immoral' network owners" International Herald Tribune (September 14, 2008).)

That's a slight improvement. At least Sheik Saleh al Lihedan thinks that erring owners should be given a fair trial before being executed. On the other hand, since various flavors of Islam regard everything from teddy bears to trousers as "immoral," I'd say that anyone who owns or runs a television network in the Middle East would be well-advised to leave, fast.

I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Sheik Saleh al Lihedan made his 'go ahead, waste on a daily radio program, "Light in the Path," where he and others pass rulings on what is permissible under Islamic law.

Excerpt from the International Herald Tribune, September 14, 2008:

• "...Al-Lihedan's edict was broadcast Thursday during the daily "Light in the Path" radio program in which he and others pass rulings on what is permissible under Islamic law.
• "One caller asked about Islam's view of the owners of satellite TV channels that show 'bad programs' during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, which began two weeks ago.
• " 'I want to advise the owners of these channels, who broadcast calls for such indecency and impudence ... and I warn them of the consequences,' al-Lihedan said. 'What does the owner of these networks think, when he provides seduction, obscenity and vulgarity?'
• " 'Those calling for corrupt beliefs, certainly it's permissible to kill them,' al-Lihedan added. 'Those calling for sedition, those who are able to prevent it but don't, it is permissible to kill them.'
• "Al-Lihedan, 79, did not name a particular TV channel or programs in the radio show, which was taped a couple of months ago.
• "On Sunday, he said his 'advice' was aimed at owners who broadcast witchcraft, indecent programs, shows that mock scholars or the religious police and comedies that are not appropriate for Ramadan...."

That "indecent programs" and "not appropriate for Ramadan" still leaves many opportunities for offing offending owners.

Speaking Out in the Middle East

That unnamed cleric who said that the 'death to network owners' fatwa wasn't good for public relations isn't alone. An article in Middle East Online (September 19, 2008), "Mideasterners fed up with unreasonable edicts," reported:

• "Observers say harsh religious views are increasingly annoying Middle Easterners, and although Muslim clerics usually get the lion's share of scrutiny in the media, Christian and Jewish liberals are equally unhappy with their own communities' religious figures.
• "Israeli women had expressed anger at discrimination by rabbis in issues relating to divorce, their seating in certain bus lines, and even their careers...."

Two things struck me about that article.

1. The allegation that people at street level in the Middle East are "fed up" with "unreasonable edicts" from Islamic leaders. There's an implication that Muslims in that part of the world are starting to think about what they're being told
2. What seems to me to be an invocation of moral equivalence. 'Sure, Muslim leaders tell us it's okay to kill network owners: but those Jews discriminate against women. And homosexuals'

Middle East Online isn't the only outfit expressing concern about the Saudi Sheikh's fatwa. The National, published in Dubai, ran an op-ed by Ayman Safadi: "Sheikh's TV fatwa is a symptom of the cancer of extremism." The author identifies Middle Eastern governments' typical policies toward the wacky side of Islam as "appeasement." And, doesn't use the 'Jews and Christians are just as bad' argument.

I was impressed by this insight: "...The lightness with which the Sheikh views human life is shocking. But equally disturbing is that a man who does not blink at issuing what could amount to death sentences against a large number of people remains in a position of power – and in a country whose leadership has recently launched a global effort to promote moderate and tolerant Islam...."

Oddly, Ayman Safadi wrote that "the Sheikh retracted his statement," which may be true. On the other hand, Sheikh Saleh al Lihedan's Sunday statement, as translated, didn't seem so much a retraction as a clarification.

Maybe the Sheikh made another statement, that was a retraction.

Crisis in the Kasbah?

I get the impression that Islam, at least the sort practiced in the Middle East, has been coasting along for centuries with a comfortable mix of tradition and antique scholarship.

Customs that were ancient when Abraham was born have worked quite well. For men. Who didn't wear trousers. And didn't tick off the local imam.

When a speedy camel was the fastest communication medium available, and the pronouncements were in a language that very few outsiders knew, or were interested in, it was possible to pass every 'death to the mice,' 'death to the network owners,' 'death to whoever I don't like' fatwa as true Islam.

Provided that enough of the locals agreed with the imam.

That was then.

This is the Information Age. Words travel fast and far: and get translated into more widely-understood languages.

That spells trouble for people who like the good old days, when a man could be executed for wearing trousers.

On the other hand, I think this is a great opportunity for serious Muslims, who may want to re-evaluate just what Islam is.

In the news:

• "Mideasterners fed up with unreasonable edicts"
  Middle East Online (September 19, 2008)
• "Arabs Denounce Cleric's Edict to Kill Satellite TV Station Owners"
  FOXNews (September 19, 2008)
• "Sheikh's TV fatwa is a symptom of the cancer of extremism"
  The National (September 17, 2008)
• "Surveying the Arab World for Ramadan's Best and Worst"
  About.com (September 16, 2008)
Mickey Mouse must die: Saudi Arabian cleric"
DNA (Daily News & Analysis) (September 16, 2008)
• "Mickey Mouse must die, says Saudi Arabian cleric"
  Daily Telegraph (September 15, 2008)
• "Cleric issues fatwa against TV networks"
  AME (United Arab Emirates) (September 14, 2008)
• "Saudi official: Death for 'immoral' network owners"
  International Herald Tribune (September 14, 2008)
• "Saudi fatwa on 'immoral' satellite channels"
  Sify news (September 13, 2008)

Related posts, on Islam, Christianity, Religion, Culture and the War on Terror.

Mickey Mouse Must Die! Agent of Satan Targeted by Saudi Cleric

I'm not making this up.

You've probably heard about it by now: Saudi Arabia's Sheikh Muhammad Munajid has identified Mickey Mouse as "one of Satan's soldiers" - and warns that everything Mickey touches is impure.

Sheikh Muhammad Munajid isn't some fringe nut case. At least, not the usual sort. He's a prominent Saudi, and for a while was a Saudi diplomat in Washington, D.C..

The Saudi cleric explains that, under sharia law, mice are unclean. He discussed his flavor of Islam in a religious affairs program on al-Majd TV, an Arab television network.

In the good old days, saying something in a language other than English was a pretty good way of keeping it away from Americans, Englishmen, and Australians. That's all changed. The Middle East Media Research Institute, an American press monitoring service, translated the Muslim cleric's remarks: "The mouse is one of Satan's soldiers and is steered by him.

"If a mouse falls into a pot of food – if the food is solid, you should chuck out the mouse and the food touching it, and if it is liquid – you should chuck out the whole thing, because the mouse is impure.

"According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today – after Tom and Jerry?..." (From the Daily Telegraph (September 15, 2008).)

In a way, Sheikh Munajid is right. Mice are not the sort of creature you want falling on your food. Or running through it.

But, "agent of Satan?!" I think that's carrying a dislike of household pests a little far.

In addition to being anti-mouse, Sheikh Muhammad Munajid doesn't approve of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He called them the "bikini Olympics," because the women weren't wearing as much clothing as he though appropriate. Again, he's got a point. In some cases, I've got a very clear memory of how the female athletes looked, from the chin down: but only a vague notion of what event they were competing in.

The Sheikh turns the volume of his protests up so much, that any reasonable objections get lost in the noise.

Sheikh Muhammed Mnajid didn't stop with 'death to the mouse.' It gets better. Or worse.

In the news:

• "Mickey Mouse must die, says Saudi Arabian cleric"
  Daily Telegraph (September 15, 2008)

Related posts, on Islam, Christianity, Religion, Culture and the War on Terror.

The Names of Abu Sayyaf: Thinking About Translations

Terrible as it is, the efforts of religious fanatics to convert or kill the rest of the world has been an opportunity for me to learn a little about the Arabic language.

Researching a recent post, I found items about Arabic and Abu Sayyaf that didn't quite relate to the post's topic, but were too interesting to file and forget.

Abu Sayyaf has quite a few names. "Abu Sayyaf," "Jamāʿah Abū Sayyāf," (جماعة أبو سياف written in the Roman alphabet), and "al-Harakat al-Islamiyah." The Wikipedia article says that the name comes from Arabic ابو, abu ("father of") and sayyaf ("Swordsmith").

As usual, translations of the name don't agree. "bearer of the sword" or "Sword of God" or literally "Father of the Sword" in Arabic.

Council on Foreign Relations, renown experts since the Wilson administration, says this about them, "Abu Sayyaf (the phrase means 'bearer of the sword' in Arabic) is a militant organization based in the southern Philippines seeking a separate Islamic state for the country's Muslim minority."

So what? I'm directing the next remarks mostly at American citizens, but the principles apply to many other people.

Unless you read, and speak, Arabic and other languages, you're getting your information about affairs in the Islamic world through a medium that translates statements. And translation involves choosing which word or phrase to use, of many possibilities.

I don't advocate not believing what you read. I do suggest that you think about what can happen in translations as you read.

Related posts:

• The Names of Abu Sayyaf: Thinking About Translations (August 19, 2007)
• "Quagmire," the Revolutionary Guard, and the News (August 19, 2007)
• News, Truth, and the Big Picture (August 11, 2007)
• Watch for Weird Words: Election's Coming Up! (August 9, 2007)