Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah Demands Destruction of Churches

Politicians and the media assure us that radical views are only held by a tiny minority of Muslims. Odd that these radical views are held by Islam's most prominent and knowledgeable experts on Sharia.

Times of Israel—Saudi Arabia’s top Muslim cleric called on Tuesday for the destruction of all churches in the Arabian Peninsula after legislators in the Gulf state of Kuwait moved to pass laws banning the construction of religious sites associated with Christianity.

Speaking to a delegation in Kuwait, Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah, who serves as the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, said the destruction of churches was absolutely necessary and is required by Islamic law, Arabic media reported.

Abdullah, who is considered to be the highest official of religious law in the Sunni Muslim kingdom, also serves as the head of the Supreme Council of Ulema (Islamic scholars) and of the Standing Committee for Scientific Research and Issuing of Fatwas.

Last month, Osama Al-Munawer, a Kuwaiti member of parliament, announced his plans to submit a draft law calling for the removal of all churches in the country, according to the Arabian Businesses news site. Al-Munawer later clarified that the law would only apply to new churches, while old ones would be allowed to stay erect. (Source)

Fifty-Nine People Beheaded in Saudi Arabia Since January

When it comes to beheadings, ISIS jihadists are the amateurs.

Newsweek—The escalation of the war against the Islamic State was triggered by widespread revulsion at the gruesome beheading of two American journalists, relayed on YouTube. Since then, two British aid workers have met a similar grisly fate. And another American has been named as next in line by his terrorist captors.

Yet, for all the outrage these executions have engendered the world over, decapitations are routine in Saudi Arabia, America’s closest Arab ally, for crimes including political dissent—and the international press hardly seems to notice. In fact, since January, 59 people have had their heads lopped off in the kingdom, where “punishment by the sword” has been practiced for centuries.

The Saudi legal system is based on Islam’s Sharia law. Some countries that use Sharia possess a penal code, but Saudi Arabia does not, although some activists have been calling for reform.

So, what’s it like to be beheaded there?

Your last morning on Earth would likely be spent in isolation. You would rise early and eat a last breakfast. If you are lucky, you might receive a sedative, like Valium, to calm your nerves.

Executions usually take place in the morning, before the oppressive heat of the desert kingdom takes hold, in a public square. Saudi Arabia, Iran, North Korea and Somalia are the only countries in the world that still execute people in public.

People will gather to watch you die. According to British author John R. Bradley, public beheadings are the “only form of public entertainment” in Saudi Arabia, aside from football matches.

If you are a prisoner in Riyadh, the capital, you might be taken to the ocher-colored Deera Square, which has acquired a macabre sobriquet: Chop Chop Square. Before you arrive, police and security forces will have prepared the area. It may have been cordoned off to keep curious spectators at a distance, but they will congregate nonetheless.

You will be led to the center of the square, on the bare earth. According to one of Saudi Arabia’s state executioners, Mohammed Saad al-Beshi, who was interviewed in the Saudi newspaper Arab News in June 2003, your energy is likely to fade at this point, from sheer exhaustion and fear. You will not fight for your life, nor protest against your restraints.

“When [death row prisoners] get to the execution square, their strength drains away,” said al-Beshi, who has beheaded up to seven prisoners a day and describes his calling as “God’s work.” He also said he does not see his work as particularly gruesome. (Continue Reading.)

Dozens of Christians Arrested at Prayer Meeting in Saudi Arabia

Politicians and the media continue to insist that Islam is a religion of peace and tolerance. Meanwhile, Christians in Saudi Arabia are being arrested for praying.

FoxNews—Dozens of Christians arrested at a prayer meeting in Saudi Arabia need America's help, according to a key lawmaker who is pressing the State Department on their behalf.

Some 28 people were rounded up Friday by hard-line Islamists from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in the home of an Indian national in the eastern Saudi city of Khafji, and their current situation is unknown, according to human rights advocates.

"Saudi Arabia is continuing the religious cleansing that has always been its official policy," Nina Shea, director of the Washington-based Hudson Institute’s Center for Religious Freedom, told FoxNews.com. "It is the only nation state in the world with the official policy of banning all churches. This is enforced even though there are over 2 million Christian foreign workers in that country. Those victimized are typically poor, from Asian and African countries with weak governments."

In Friday's crackdown, several Bibles were confiscated, according to reports from the Kingdom.

Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va, told FoxNews.com he will press the U.S. ambassador in Riyadh and the State Department to assist the arrested Christians.

“I hope our government will speak up,” said Wolf, adding that the anti-Christian raid was not surprising given that the Saudi regime “did not want our soldiers to wear crosses during the Desert Storm” operation in 1991 to stop Iraqi jingoism. (Continue Reading.)

For more on the Islamic view of non-Muslims, watch this:

Eighty Percent of Saudis Blame Sexual Harassment on Women

First lesson of Islam 101: Always blame the victim.

Jeddah—It seems in male-dominated Muslim countries, women may not be entitled to mirth.

First, a top Turkish official last month reproached women for laughing in public, deeming such expressions immodest and a sign of the country’s moral erosion.

Now a Saudi social research centre reports that 80 per cent of people questioned in a national survey blame the scourge of sexual harassment plaguing the country on the “deliberate flirtatious behaviour” of women.

Feminist advocates in both countries dismissed the judgments as age-old reactions to changing social behaviour and a tendency in conservative cultures to accuse the victim of provoking her mistreatment.

In Turkey, Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc spurred scorn and mockery when he described the ideal woman as one who “will not laugh in front of everyone and she will not display her attractiveness.”

Hundreds of Turkish women flocked to the internet to post pictures and videos of themselves grinning and guffawing in defiance of Arinc’s admonitions in a speech marking the end of Ramadan.

The sexual harassment survey in Saudi Arabia by the King Abdul Aziz Centre for National Dialogue in Riyadh stirred a more muted reaction in the kingdom, where women remain more socially marginalised than in purportedly secular Turkey.

“This report reflects an ongoing cycle within our community that blames any negative connotation within our society on the weakness of one’s religious beliefs, and on women,” activist Yara Wazir told Al Arabiya news agency.

“Our society is not built on mutual respect or accepting differences,” she said, “even when it comes to something as God-given as gender.”

Yara attributed the tendency to accuse women of inviting harassment to a lack of exposure to the opposite sex, which “encourages overanalsing of simple actions such as a smile, suggesting that is flirtation,” she told the news agency. (Continue Reading.)

For a brief introduction to women in Islam, watch this:

Saudi Arabia Tries to Block Criticisms of Human Rights Record at UN Meeting

NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) are allowed to make comments and ask questions at certain times during UN meetings. Recently, the Center for Inquiry criticized Saudi Arabia for sentencing Raif Badawi to ten years in prison and 1000 lashes for promoting free speech. The Saudi representative interrupted three times. The real shocker, however, came when the United States, France, Ireland, and Canada defended the Center for Inquiry's right to raise the human rights issue against Saudi Arabia. (Note: the translator is overly generous. The Saudi representative actually demanded that the Council President "shut her up.")

Saudi Activist Raif Badawi Sentenced to 1000 Lashes and Ten Years in Prison for Promoting Free Speech

For years, Muslim organizations like CAIR have been conditioning politicians and the media not to criticize Islam. Now that our leaders have been properly trained to tip-toe around Muslim issues, Muslim nations like Saudi Arabia can continue the systematic abuse and oppression of anyone who dares challenge Sharia. CNN reports the story, but doesn't dare point out that harsh penalties for criticizing Islam are part of Islam, not simply Saudi law.

Raif Badawi

CNN—Prominent Saudi activist Raif Badawi on Wednesday was sentenced to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes by a Saudi court for insulting Islam, said his wife and a source who followed the case closely.

Badawi had appealed his original 2013 conviction, which carried a sentence of seven years in prison and 600 lashes, for insulting Islam and violating the Kingdom's anti-cybercrime laws.

That verdict was overturned by an appeals court and a retrial was ordered.

Badawi plans to appeal this new decision, said the source, who wished to remain anonymous.

"This is terrible news and I'm absolutely shocked and devastated by it," said Badawi's wife, Ensaf Haider. "How is it possible they could take a sentence that was already so harsh and make it even harsher? Ten years in jail and 1,000 lashes? That's unimaginable. I'm extremely scared for my husband."

The judgment also included a 1 million riyal fine, which is equal to about $267,000.

Despite repeated attempts, CNN was unable to reach Saudi Arabia's Justice Ministry for comment.

Badawi, a respected rights activist in Saudi Arabia, first got into legal hot water with the Saudi government after starting a liberal website and forum where users could discuss religion.

His trial, guilty verdict, sentence and imprisonment has caused immense outrage among international rights groups like Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, who accused Saudi authorities of cracking down on activism and attempting to quell dissent in the ultraconservative nation.

Amnesty International called Wednesday's judgment outrageous and called for the conviction to be overturned.

"He is a prisoner of conscience who is guilty of nothing more than daring to create a public forum for discussion and peacefully exercising the right to freedom of expression.," said Philip Luther, director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty International. (Continue Reading.)

Saudi Arabia Puts Atheists in the "Terrorist" Category

The Qur'an lays out strict penalties for anyone who commits the vague crime of "making mischief" in the land:

Qur'an 5:33—The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His apostle and strive to make mischief in the land is only this, that they should be murdered or crucified or their hands and their feet should be cut off on opposite sides or they should be imprisoned; this shall be as a disgrace for them in this world, and in the hereafter they shall have a grievous chastisement.

What qualifies as "mischief making"? All kinds of things. An atheist trying to spread secularism is making mischief, just as a terrorist trying to blow up the king is making mischief.

Oddly enough, many atheists continue to assure me that Christianity is no different from Islam.

King Abdullah

Daily Mail—Saudi Arabia has officially identified atheists as terrorists in sweeping new laws that threaten up to 20 years in prison for almost any criticism of the government or Islam.

The regulations place secular citizens who commit thought crimes in the same category as violent terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch and Saudi Hezbollah.

Under the new decree by King Abdullah, Saudi Arabia will jail for up to 20 years anyone who fights in conflicts abroad - an apparent move to deter Saudis from joining rebels in Syria.

But the law also applies to any Saudi citizen or a foreigner residing in the kingdom that 'calls for atheist thought in any form or calls into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.'

The laws have been denounced by human rights groups for making no distinction between religious expression and violent extremism.

'Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism,' said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. (Continue Reading.)

Saudi Red Crescent Refuses Medical Treatment to Woman for Having No Male Escort

According to a study by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development, eleven of the twelve countries ranked most oppressive towards women are Muslim-majority countries. Coincidence? Certainly not. But if you speak out on behalf of women in these countries, you will be labeled a "racist" by people who want the oppression to continue.

Gulf News—Health authorities in Saudi Arabia have launched an investigation into a claim that a woman had been refused medical assistance in the absence of a male relative.

Dr Salma Al Shihab reportedly made an urgent call requesting a Saudi Red Crescent ambulance to take her to hospital, but the operator upon learning that she had no male relative with her told her that they could not send her the vehicle.

The patient said that she felt an acute pain early in the evening, but she thought that it would gradually disappear.

However, by 4am, she could no longer stand the pain and had difficulties speaking or moving her head, local Arabic daily Okaz reported on Tuesday.

Unable to go out at that time to look for a taxi, particularly that she lived alone, she called the Red Crescent Society.

The operator asked a series of questions about the symptoms and the location of her home.

When she informed him that she lived alone, he reportedly told her that they could not send an ambulance to a woman who did not have a male relative with her.

Salma added that the operator asked her to wait for some time before he resumed the conversation to tell her there were no instructions to dispatch ambulances to women without male relatives.

“At that moment, I recalled asking myself if we women should die in such cases,” Salma said. “I used my mobile to look for a vehicle that would transport me to hospital and I eventually reached the medical facility after 15 minutes. On my way, I did get several phone calls from fixed lines, but I was not in a physical condition to answer them,” she said.

Ahmad Al Anzi, the spokesperson for the Red Crescent in the capital Riyadh, said that they offered services to all people regardless of their race, background or gender.

“We will look into the complaint submitted by the Saudi citizen,” he said. (Continue Reading.)

For a brief introduction to Islamic teachings about women, watch this:

Saudi Men Blame Women for Rising Cases of Molestation

And that's the reason for the increase in molestation problems. If men believe that women deserve to be raped, fondled, harassed, etc., then men will feel justified in raping, fondling, and harassing women.

Emirates 24/7—Saudi men believe women are to blame for the rising cases involving molestation of females on the grounds they are seduced by women’s excessive make up.

The findings were included in a survey conducted by the Riyadh-based King Abdul Aziz Centre for National Dialogue and involved 992 males and females.

The survey, carried by Saudi newspapers, found that 86.5 per cent of the men polled believe that women’s exaggeration in wearing make-up is the main cause of the rise in molestation cases in public places in the conservative Gulf Kingdom.

About 80 per cent of the total persons polled believe lack of deterrent penalties and the absence of specific anti-molestation laws are also to blame for the phenomenon.

The report said 91 per cent of the respondents, all aged above 19, believe another key factor is the “poor religious sentiment” while nearly 75 per cent said the problem is caused by lack of awareness campaigns and warning notices at most public places. (Source)

Click here to learn about women in Islam.

Saudi Arabia Sentences Two Men to Prison, Lashes in Conversion Case

In the West, critics of Sharia are called hate-mongers, bigots, and Islamophobes for daring to question Muhammad's teachings. In the heart of the Muslim world, people are being brutally lashed and jail for daring to think that they have human rights. Why are Westerners so quick to condemn critics for intolerance, but so slow to condemn those who are actually intolerant?

Saudi Arabia--A Saudi court jailed a Lebanese man for six years and sentenced him to 300 lashes after convicting him of encouraging a Saudi woman to convert to Christianity, local dailies reported Sunday.

The same court sentenced a Saudi man convicted in the same case to two years in prison and 200 lashes for having helped the young woman flee the ultra-conservative Muslim kingdom, local daily Al-Watan said.

A court delivered the verdict in Khobar in the kingdom's east, where the woman and the two accused worked for an insurance company.

The July 2012 case caused a stir in Saudi Arabia, which applies a strict version of Islamic Sharia law that stipulates Muslims who convert to another religion must be sentenced to death.

The woman, known only as "the girl of Khobar", was granted refuge in Sweden where she lives under the protection of unspecified NGOs, according to local press reports.

She had appeared in a YouTube video last year in which she announced that she had chosen to convert to Christianity.

Her family's lawyer Hmood al-Khalidi said he was "satisfied with the verdict," according to the press.

Both men, who could also be prosecuted over other charges including corruption and forging official documents that allowed the woman to leave the country without her family's agreement, will appeal.

Saudi women are banned from travelling without their guardians' permission. (Source)

Sheikh Nasser al-Omar Calls for Execution of Hamza Kashgari for "Shameful" Comments about Muhammad on Twitter

Could anyone imagine the international uproar if a Christian pastor started demanding the death sentence for Muslims who say that Jesus isn't God? But when a Muslim sheikh demands the death penalty for a man who speaks against Muhammad, no one is surprised.

THE DAILY BEAST--Last week, just before the anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad’s birth, Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old Saudi writer in Jidda, took to his Twitter feed to reflect on the occasion.

“On your birthday, I will say that I have loved the rebel in you, that you’ve always been a source of inspiration to me, and that I do not like the halos of divinity around you. I shall not pray for you,” he wrote in one tweet.

“On your birthday, I find you wherever I turn. I will say that I have loved aspects of you, hated others, and could not understand many more,” he wrote in a second.

“On your birthday, I shall not bow to you. I shall not kiss your hand. Rather, I shall shake it as equals do, and smile at you as you smile at me. I shall speak to you as a friend, no more,” he concluded in a third.

Twitter quickly flooded with responses to Kashgari, registering more than 30,000 within a day. He was accused of blasphemy, and enraged Saudis called for his death. By the time he removed the tweets and issued a long apology, backtracking on his comments and begging for forgiveness, the danger had already expanded beyond the Web. Someone posted Kashgari’s home address in a YouTube video, and, his friends say, vigilantes came looking for him at his local mosque. The Saudi information minister banned Kashgari’s local newspaper column and barred outlets across the country from publishing his work. Nasser al-Omar, an influential cleric, called for him to be tried in a Sharia court for apostasy, which is punishable by death. Other leading clerics decried Kashgari on their own, and Saudi Arabia’s council of senior scholars issued a rare and harshly worded communiqué condemning him and his tweets and demanding that he be put on trial. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia’s leading news site, SABQ, reported that the king himself had issued a warrant for Kashgari’s arrest.

With the pressure mounting, Kashgari fled to Southeast Asia earlier today. Hours later, in his first interview with the press, he told The Daily Beast that he was stunned by the turn of events but resigned to the fact that he can never return home. “It’s impossible. No way,” he said. “I’m afraid, and I don’t know where to go.” Kashgari says he is now planning to apply for asylum abroad. (Read more.)