The End is Nigh?

by

Saudi Arabia’s top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content. The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the “deviance of thousands of people.”

He did not name any particular channel, but many of the top Arab TV networks like Rotana and MBC are owned by members of the royal family or people closely connected to them. Is this the end to al-Lihedan reign at the top of the judiciary system, especially with the upcoming reforms proposed by the king last year? It is about time.

UPDATE: Al-Lihedan says he was misunderstood and that his statement has been taken out of context. Yeah, right. Whatever!

49 thoughts on “The End is Nigh?”

  1. theres a hadith abt uneducated ppl giving out fatwas as one of the signs of ashratul sa’a. i guess that time is near……….:-O

    Re the ‘immoral content’ on TV, while I agree that’s not right, but excuse me, murdering people? sheesh I dont know what else to say..

  2. يبدو أنه نسى أن “عمانه و معزبينه” يملكون قنوات فضائية!

    لو كان بيدي لأقمت عليه الحد هو و أمثاله من المُتخلفين الذين يظنون أنهم “كلمة الله في أرضه” و الذين يعتقدون الإصلاح لا يأتي ألا بحد السيف.

  7. About freaking time!!!

    I am so sick of Ramadan shows lately. They are all crap and this will be a good way to clean out the rubbish.

    First off will be those comedy shows with 5 minutes of bad content and 20 minutes of commercials.

    Then those horrid shock soap operas late at night which try to out do each other with how evil their characters can be.

    Third the silly game shows with the host wearing suits from the 70s.

    This out our chance people to fight the dumbing down of TV!!!

  8. OW! .. That’s just over the top!! ..

    I wonder how would that benefit us as people affected by the so called immoral channels? And amazingly, back in school those same people taught us that murder is the top crime in Islamic Jurisdiction yet they’re the first people up there. I don’t know what to call it!!

  9. Wow! Why not urge your fellow Muslims just to turn off the immoral stuff? Does anyone FORCE them to watch? Do your TV sets not have off buttons? Why kill the owners for the waywardness of the Muslims? Cannot the Muslims control their own viewing habits? This makes Muslims (I’m saying Muslims since I’m pretty sure nearly everyone in Saudi is Muslim.) out to be powerless and unable to take personal responsibility.

    I cannot choose the righteous way so I need my religious leaders to kill those leading me astray.

    Yeah, that’s exactly how I perceive this … crazy! I’d like to hear that one explained to God.

  10. Anyone who watch main core satellite dominant ARABIC channels can see clearly that their main pick and choice of INTEREST of a program to be broadcasted is driven to the highway of WEST mentality life style. ALL THE TV aim is to copy paste western life and demolish local values and morals. I await the arabic copy of KIM Kardashian show, do not know where will it start but quite sure it will be in BEIRUT where it always starts.
    it is a quite big war guys, there is BIG money from BIG countries out side the ME financing these entertainers to vacuum our values and morals. & there is very big welcome cooperation from key decision makers in the ME.
    So what do you expect from Sheikh Alluhaidan to SAY?????
    Have a very clear look to even KIDS programs, it is a disaster. . . . .
    There are contents broadcasted life to viewers that if the case is the U.S, it must be cabled and limited to certain group of views but HERE, 3eeeni 3eeeenak.
    allah yester men eleee jay.

  13. Fatwa means a religious legal edict if my understanding is correct. If he says what he says then he has to back his claim by proof. That is what the Quran says. If that is not the case then it’s only his opinion, not a fatwa.

    I really dont know why a fatwa is usually intended in matters of common sense. Islam gives us guidelines to prevent the spread of vulgarity and obscenity. The proper way would be to arrest people who perpetrate these acts and bring them to justice according to the Shariah. But then again we need that proper justice system where nobody is above the law which clearly is not the case in saudia.

  18. “Saudi Arabia’s top judiciary official has issued a religious decree saying it is permissible to kill the owners of satellite TV networks that broadcast immoral content. The 79-year-old Sheik Saleh al-Lihedan said Thursday that satellite channels cause the “deviance of thousands of people.””

    This is a joke – right? Right? :-/

    BE/Denmark

  20. Whilst i can’t stand channels like rotana and the like thereof, shouldn’t we be trying to find more constructive ways of addressing the issues that arise therefrom? Why are we constantly perpetuating the negative images of Islam by calling for the mob-mentality killing of anyone we disapprove of? My grandmother always warned me that if we follow these imams blindly, they’ll lead us straight to hell!

  22. TV sucks, I prefer spending my time behind the computer :)
    I still don’t get the logic here, it’s not so much the ones responsible for the programs, as the people who are watching them who make sure these programs are made and broadcasted.
    Stop indecent content on tv? Nothing can be easier: STOP WATCHING IT! :D

  23. 1st Is this Islam?

    2nd If this is indeed Islam, then I can assert that ISLAM IS spread by the SWORD.

    Things like this make me HATE ISLAM…I HATE KILLING MORE THAN I HATE IMMORAL PROGRAMS

  24. By his logic, owners of video stores and music stores should be killed also, aren’t their products filled with “immoral content”.

    People who keep saying this is not the REAL Islam are being silly. Everybody can quote a verse from the quran or a hadith to back his/her argument. You can practically justify anything using scripture. There is no REAL Islam only your version of Islam.

    But his timing is really interesting. The fanatics’ influence is slowly fading and they are well aware of that. That’s why they are being so defensive.

  25. People, this is not just Islam,
    this morning I’ve just read on local religious blog
    more or less same statement about TV, news etc

    religion just can not cope with freedom of choice

    sadly but this is truth

  28. Moe how about everyone reaches their hands to one another in love and compassion?

    NOW if this cleric would have said, “I love my dear people, people who own such satellites and air dirty programs need to reflect if that is really what they want to reap. Now dear viewers, please think about the influence such KILLINGS have on people. They only spur VIOLENCE”

    HEY HEY…do you think he watches rated R movies with Violence. Me not kidding….

  29. damir

    There is always a choice.

    ALWAYS…Don’t buy into powerlessness

    You can choose to do what rings good and right with your inner conciousness or choose to do what rings badly and wrong with your inner conciousness. Nobody can take your right away concerning how you choose to think feel and believe. That is well within your control. Remember that!

  30. baa…what are we sheep!?!?!

    Satellite broadcasting runs the gamut, you hold the remote control…switch one, off, change channel, channel proof your TV…

    We got choices! Exercise them for goodness sakes!

    The killing of people for “your” lack of responsible action -not watching the afore-mentioned channels or programs is the epitome of stupidity!!!

    You want to close a souk down, you don’t burn it- you boycott it until it loses its business and closes of its own accord…

    Interesting though, does the Sheikh realize his fatwa is being broad-casted on YouTube along with all the other indecent programs and video clips? Kill them too!!!???

  32. what’s the world coming to?
    as if some extremists need extra encouragements! I can imagine some brain washed idiots killing their neighbors to fulfill this sacred fatwa
    what the hell was he thinking?

  33. This is sick. This is truly frightening. How can a member of the government speak like this? The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia truly is backwarded. SA is indeed living in the Middle Ages, thanks to the immense power religion has over the un-educated Saudis. .

    Destroy the power of these un-educated, ancient fossils. Invest in education. Be free.

  34. He is Right , and here is why!
    u seems like to say Alhidan should be afraid and must shout up his mouth because those who owned theses channel are from A royal family !!
    Alhidan never ever be afraid to say the truth.
    those who changed their channel to striptease show and show a dirty things, and sheeting people should stop!!!. and if they called to stop many times and don’t respond , they should turn to the court.
    Alhidan did not say to people go and carry bombs and kill those people!!!!!
    In USA if u say bad words to someone’s dogs you would be killed for sure!!
    if u do something bad to child or underage u would spends ur whole life in jail.
    it is their won law , culture , custom and life style !!!!
    ans we have our won law and lifestyle
    we do not want to have Playboy or XXXL channel in KSA (:
    _____
    Sparky that is what he said but as u know this is the media and this is the way the hear!!

  35. When the Prophet was offered to take-out Abdullah bin Obay bin Abi-Saloul the head of hypocrites in Medina after many revelations which were descended specially on him the Prophet said: “No, so that people don’t say: Mohammed kills his companions”

    حتى لا يتحدث الناس أن محمداً يقتل أصحابه

    That was wise, the Prophet realized that the killing of that hypocrite might enrage other tribes and might be broadcasted to neighbor countries wrongfully which might mar the image of his message, so he decided not to take this “edict” and proceed with it.

    That kind of wisdom is what we need nowadays, our Sheikhs must realize that there are news stations “itching” to hear such edicts in order to inflame the western’s public opinion [That is already inflamed] and encourage policies adopted by the Right Wing conservatives to be carried out.

    Wisdom please..Wisdom

  36. Loay, are you saying that Mohammed felt that killing Abdullah was the right thing to do, it’s just that he felt doing so would be bad publicity? That, of course, isn’t really a moral choice, but a political one – with the implication that it would be proper to kill Abdullah otherwise, if it could be done secretly and unaccountably, perhaps.

    By condemning sat TV owners, then issuing a clarification, is Sheik Saleh following Mohammed’s example?

  37. “if u do something bad to child or underage u would spends ur whole life in jail.” God forbid we actually punish child abusers. Pedophiles and abusers behind bars, what is the world coming to?

  38. Now we have a serious delicate situation here !
    his “majesty” knows that we have psychopathic people in our area (unfortunately), so did he know before saying this that he could unleash their craziness to do whatever they want to do (I don’t even want to imagine that)

    I don’t know about his intention but I wish from all of the religious men to think before saying anything !

  40. Solomon, my point was that prophet Mohammed did not think it was right to kill Abdullah, the Prophet hadn’t ever ordered an issue of “killing” against a person who was not an adulterer, murderer or an apostate, and even those cases were strictly reviewed before being processed, if Mohamed was seeking blood he could have massacred the people of Mecca who threw him out and opposed his message when he conquered and seized Mecca and had full control over it.

    The decree to “kill” shouldn’t be issued that easy, not against anyone and not on public like this.

  41. May God bless our sheilk. This fatwa,as our blessed sheikh said, has been taken out of context.Our sheikh didn’t say that everyone could kill those channel owners of his own accord. He was, in fact, stating his opinion frankly about those channel owners and I support what he said strongly. I don’t think any one can deny the fact that those TV channels are spoiling our morals. Just a fast flipping through these channels during Ramadan is enough to see the amount of damage they are doing to our morals. Isn’t it enough that they are taking us away from our Koran during the month of Koran. Our sheikh said that those owners can only be killed by our justice system and that is only if they were asked to stop and refused.
    As a Saudi woman, I am proud of Al-Luhaidan.

  42. I say that this sheikh should be shot.
    He speaks about degradation of morals? How can he talk about TV-SHOWS degrading Saudi morals, when he — and the likes of him — completely condone and accept that Saudi women should be treated like dogs, for example. I´ve seen videos where Saudi clerics even guide men how to beat their wives without leaving marks. These clerics say that a woman should be beaten. That we are only factories for producing sons, that we are mindless drones to cook and clean and obey our husbands´ every order, and yet these men say that it is only righteous.

    You talk about TV shows destroying the morality of young people, when at the same time women can´t leave their homes, can´t work, can´t do anything without a permission, and they will be beaten to death and no-one cares.

    This makes me very sad.

  43. He should make tawba for screwing up peoples lives through the incompetant judges he supervises. They never protect the rights of the weak especially foreigners who get raped, abused or don’t get their salaries. Plus for incorrectly announcing the hajj and eid’s every year.

  45. According to moonsighting.com it is impossible to sight the moon in saudi on september 29, 2008.

    Moonsighting for Shawwal 1429
    The Astronomical New Moon is on Monday, September 29, 2008 at 8:12 GMT, 4:12 am EDT, 1:12 am PDT). It will not be visible on September 29 except small possibility in Ploynesian Islands. On Tuesday, September 30, it will be visible in New Zealand Australia, Indonesia, South Asia, Africa and Americas. In North America on September 30, it can be seen in Southern belt states. So, Eidul-Fitr is expected on Wednesday, October 1, most of the world, Insha-Allah. Also, according to the criteria adopted by Fiqh Council of North America, and European Council for Fatwa and Research, the first day of Shawwal is on Wednesday, October 1, 2008, which would be after completing 30 days of Ramadan.

  47. Asalamu Aleikum

    Dear brother that owns this site.. I can tell u one thing, Im from the west, lived that don that..

    Our counties are filled with murder, drugs, violence, kidnapping, prostitution, lack of religion, ateism, shirk, and stuff like that. We dont have real security. Let me take england for example, every year there is 89 thousans girls gettin raped. It means like 6 every minute.

    I have been i saudi arabia, and even if the county have some misstakes, Its still one of the best countries accoprding to Quran and the Sunnah. Look what happend to our countrys in the west when we started with tv, music, and porno and stuff like that. Poeple beacme sick…

    wa salâmu aleikum

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