Saudi religious bashing of building snowmen or snowcamels

[Kyriakos]

Saudi fatwa banning snowmen triggers heated debate
Those who supported the fatwa said that building snowmen was a crude imitation of the West
By Habib Toumi, Bureau ChiefPublished: 10:21 January 12, 2015

Manama: Saudis in the northern areas drew on their imagination and sense of fun as they braved the cold weather to build snow camels in a rare tribute to the local culture.

One citizen in the Province of Tarif used his snow camel to promote the colours of local teams, drawing praise from the fans, while another opted for the traditional ghitra and agal to cover the head of the snowman he built.

However, it was not all fun for Saudis after a religious scholar said that building snowmen or snow animals was not acceptable in Islam.
The fatwa, by Mohammad Saleh Al Minjed, said that building snowmen or any replica of an animal, even if it is for fun or recreation, could not be condoned. Only lifeless things, such as ships, fruit and buildings could be imitated, the fatwa said.

No date was mentioned about when the fatwa was issued, but it was widely circulated on social networks, triggering a wide and often heated online debate mainly among Gulf nationals.

Those who supported the fatwa said that building snowmen was a crude imitation of the West.

“It has no value in our traditions, and those who are fascinated by the West should emulate their inventions and sciences, not their culture,” a blogger said, Al Marsad news site reported on Monday.

However, Mishaal, an angry blogger, blasted the fatwa.

“We have snow for fleeting days, maybe even hours, and there is always someone who wants to rob us of the joy and the fun,” he posted. “It seems that the only thing left for us is to sit down and drink coffee,” he said.

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/saudi...ning-snowmen-triggers-heated-debate-1.1439821

-You can discuss if this religious claim is right or more right.
Actually building idols of live things is horrible and a sign of emulating western decadence. Besides, the intended message was to make fun of the strong image of the resilient camel, carrying water in its peculiarly shaped tanks on its back, while now it is frozen and looks dumb and weak.
In Saudi everything is possible, and with snow even death may die

 

[bhavv]

loligion.

 

[gay_Aleks]

"article i first saw posted in Paradox forums" Few things in life are less reputable than Daily Mail, but Paradox Forums are one of those things.

 

[Kyriakos]

^That is also a paradox.

 

[warpus]

Well you know how it goes, you have a bunch of gold lying around, and people will eventually build a golden calf to worship and dance naked around. Snow? Who the hell knows what could happen, you gotta ban that crap right away. Even here in Canada we are told of the dangers of snowman worship - it is illegal in a lot of places to build a snowman with ears.

 

[SS-18 ICBM]

Mr. Al-Minjed is a Saudi, I definitely can agree with that.

 

[Leonel]

Good, now stop singing "Do you want to build a snowman" at me for the upteenth time! That was over a year ago!

 

[Domen]

Only black snow is good for building snowmen. White snow is evil and was invented by a black scientist Yakub to build snowy devilmen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation

(...) Like the Nation of Islam, the Five-Percenter ideology promulgates the theory that the white race was created by a black scientist named Yakub, who lived 6,600 years ago and was responsible for creating the white race to be a race of devils. He did this through a form of selective breeding referred to as grafting, while living on the island of Patmos.[29] (...)

(...) The Five-Percent Nation, sometimes referred to as NGE or NOGE, the Nation of Gods and Earths, or the Five Percenters is an American organization founded in 1964 in the Harlem section of the borough of Manhattan, New York City, by a former member of the Nation of Islam named Clarence 13X (born Clarence Edward Smith and later known as "Allah the Father"). Clarence 13X, a former student of Malcolm X, left the Nation of Islam after a theological dispute with the Nation's leaders over the nature and identity of God.[1] Specifically, Clarence 13X denied that the Nation's biracial founder W. Fard Muhammad was Allah and instead taught that the black man was himself God personified.[1] (...)

 

[bhavv]

One thing that's often overlooked is how anti western a lot of Hindus are as well, or maybe just all the ones I grew up around.

I don't even understand how I didn't become an extremist nutjob terrorist with all the anti western crap I had to grow up with. Oh right, I had a functional brain.

 

[Rashiminos]

Not so much west as north...

 

[FriendlyFire]

One thing that's often overlooked is how anti western a lot of Hindus are as well, or maybe just all the ones I grew up around.

I don't even understand how I didn't become an extremist nutjob terrorist with all the anti western crap I had to grow up with. Oh right, I had a functional brain.

O__o

India ? Did not expect that but local politics is strange.
Then again India is like a first world and third world country at the same time.

 

[bhsup]

Only black snow is good for building snowmen. White snow is evil and was invented by a black scientist Yakub to build snowy devilmen:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five-Percent_Nation

 

[Kyriakos]

Btw, that saudi blogger has met his flogger:

BEIRUT, Lebanon — The authorities in Saudi Arabia on Friday began the public flogging of a blogger who was sentenced to 1,000 blows, 10 years in prison and a large fine for starting a website that featured content critical of the country’s religious establishment, the rights group Amnesty International reported.

The floggings are to be administered with a cane over a period of months.

The blogger, Raif Badawi, was arrested after starting a website called “Free Saudi Liberals,” and he was later convicted of charges that included cybercrime and parental disobedience.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/10/w...t-50-of-1000-blows-are-administered.html?_r=1

 

[Algeroth]

I guess they just got to see the abomination against nature and funny that was running around in Frozen.