A Moslem cleric, Sheikh Salih al-Fawzan, a senior Islamic preacher, has said that all TV fortune-tellers (which the BBC Monitoring service translates as “sorcerers”) should be executed.
Sheikh Salih al-Fawzan is quoted as saying that if these people
appearing on many Arabic TV channels prove to be sorcerers, “they will
be committing a sin and violating the Holy Book, the Sunnah and the
consensus of Muslims”.
This latest appeal for a crack-down on broadcasters comes hot on the
heels of a similar “fatwa” from Shaykh Salih al-Luhaydan, chairman of
the Higher Judicial Council in Saudi Arabia, having called for putting
on trial the owners of Arabic satellite channels which promote
debauchery and insolence and encourage corrupt beliefs. He noted that
it would be permissible for the authority to kill them if they were
punished and insisted on their corrupt behaviour.
The sheik expressed the fatwa in response to a question from a listener
during a radio broadcast. In the Arab world, religious leaders
frequently use radio, television, or websites to express views or
judgments on the most disparate aspects of daily life. In this case,
the listener was asking how appropriate it is to broadcast programs
showing "scantily" dressed women during the holy month of Ramadan.
Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan's blunt and disturbing reply was that "some
broadcasts are diabolical", and the owners are just as "guilty" as
those who watch this trash TV. He also added that "it is permissible to
kill" if there are no other means or punishments to stop this "devilry".
This new fatwa could easily hit the Saudi royal family on the back of
the neck, given that it is Saudi cash that’s behind Rotana, which
broadcasts music films and videos and is owned by Prince Al-Waleed bin
Talal. Forbes magazine recently named the Saudi billionaire the 13th
richest man in the world. Other Saudi royal members back other popular
channels, but Prince Al-Waleed’s programmes broadcast on his television
channel are closer in style to MTV than a prayer meeting!
A Moslem cleric, Sheikh Salih al-Fawzan, a senior Islamic preacher, has said that all TV fortune-tellers (which the BBC Monitoring service translates as “sorcerers”) should be executed.