The 24th letter, which shall not be named, has been removed so I don't have a fatwa issued against my typing fingers...
Wait this is BS...
Hey Religious Police :
Now come and get me!
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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Saudis May Ban Letter 'X', Ampersands Threatened... |
| 2007-01-15 |
| YJCMTSU. The letter "X" soon may be banned in Saudi Arabia because it resembles the mother of all banned religious symbols in the oil kingdom: the cross. The new development came with the issuing of another mind-bending fatwa, or religious edict, by the infamous Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice — the group of senior Islamic clergy that reigns supreme on all legal, civil, and governance matters in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The commission's damning of the letter "X" came in response to a Ministry of Trade query about whether it should grant trademark protection to a Saudi businessman for a new service carrying the English name "Explorer." "No! Nein! Nyet!" was the commission's categorical answer. Why? Well, never mind that none of the so-called scholars manning the upper ranks of the religious outfit can speak or read a word of English. But their experts who examined the English word "explorer" were struck by how suspicious that "X" appeared. In a kingdom where Friday preachers routinely refer to Christians as pigs and infidel crusaders, even a twisted cross ranks as an abomination. Wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too much damn time on their hands... So after waiting a year, the Saudi businessman, Amru Mohammad Faisal, got his answer: No. But, like so many other Saudi businessmen who suffer from the travesties of the commission, he seemed more baffled than angry. He wrote letters to Saudi newspapers to criticize the cockamamie logic. An article he wrote appeared with his photograph on some Arabian Web sites. It sarcastically invited the commission to expand its edict to the "plus" sign in mathematics and accounting, in order "to prevent filthy Christian conspiracies from infiltrating our thoughts, our beliefs, and our feelings." The Muutawas' reply: "We amuse you? We make you laugh? We're here to fuc*kin' amuse you?" This would have been funny had it not been so sinister. That sounds so much like a Rantburg line it's spooky... The Saudi commission has shaped life and death: declared jihad against Soviet soldiers in Afghanistan, banished women from public life, and forced piety at the tip of the whip and the sword. Its edicts have hindered business, education, travel, women's rights, and life itself, creating a fertile ground for terrorism and producing the 15 Saudis who participated in the September 11, 2001, attacks — and many others like them. Among the commission's deeds is the famed 1974 fatwa — issued by its blind leader at the time, Sheik Abdul Aziz Ben Baz — which declared that the Earth was flat and immobile. In a book issued by the Islamic University of Medina, the sheik argued: "If the earth is rotating, as they claim, the countries, the mountains, the trees, the rivers, and the oceans will have no bottom." That would explain why I keep getting lost between Georgetown and Sumter every two weeks. Another bright light of the commission, Sheik Abdel-Aziz al-Sheikh, recently stopped a government reform proposal aimed at creating work for women by allowing them to replace male sales clerks in women's clothing stores. Sheik al-Sheikh damned the idea, saying it was a step "towards immorality and hellfire." The underlying logic is breathtaking: Women are more protected by buying their knickers from men! Well, I could have told them that. I'd still be working at Victoria's Secret myself if it hadn't been for that sweaty palm thing... Over the years, the commission has rendered Saudi Arabia a true kingdom of darkness. Movie theaters are banned, as are sculptures, paintings, and music, and the mixing of sexes in public. The commission really has it in for women. They must don the all-enveloping veil, or niqab, in public; they cannot drive themselves nor ride anywhere without a male guardian, and they cannot travel alone domestically or abroad. The commission also excels at banning the construction of houses of worship — other than mosques — even though the majority of the 8 million expatriates working in the kingdom come from Christian, Hindu, and Buddhist faiths. Indeed, celebrating a private Sunday Mass inside a home could lead to jail, public lashings, and expulsion. One of the most criminal travesties committed by the commission's foot soldiers, the Mutawaeen, or religious police, was dramatically reported by the muzzled Saudi press itself on Friday, March 15, 2002, when the Mutawaeen forcibly prevented girls fleeing a burning school from leaving the building because they were "improperly dressed." The day after, the Saudi Gazette newspaper quoted witnesses as saying the police stopped men who tried to help the girls, warning the men: "It is sinful to approach them." Of the 800 teenage pupils in Mecca, 15 burned to death and more than 50 were injured. Yet, the commission and its royal enablers thrive. |
| Posted by:Mike Kozlowski |
| #9 I'm sure plus signs are questionable too. Time for the Saudi's to get rid of all those EVIL algebra books. A 2004 rapport on french schools found that some (young) muslim kiddies in said schol system refused to draw the "+" sign, because "it looks like a cross", so this is not just in the realm of snark. |
| Posted by: anonymous5089 2007-01-15 23:42 |
| #8 The numbers 6 and 9 (69) might also present a pressing concern ... (no pun left unintended). |
| Posted by: Lancasters Over Dresden 2007-01-15 22:43 |
| #7 Tough break for the Black Muslims. And "Generation X" |
| Posted by: Daryl Fatwa 2007-01-15 22:32 |
| #6 Tough break for the Black Muslims. |
| Posted by: Gratle Slainter7968 2007-01-15 22:25 |
| #5 Will Saudis Ban the Letter ‘X'? This looks like an X-File. |
| Posted by: Scully 2007-01-15 22:13 |
| #4 Does anyone think these old fools must get se*ually aroused when they think of this stuff. That is the only e*planation. The 24th letter, which shall not be named, has been removed so I don't have a fatwa issued against my typing fingers... Wait this is BS... Hey Religious Police : Now come and get me! |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-15 18:40 |
| #3 Plus signs definitely need to go. I assume the lower case 't' is already history. Is there any group of people less addapted for survival in the modern world than Muslims? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2007-01-15 18:37 |
| #2 Look out lower case "t"... you are next... |
| Posted by: BigEd 2007-01-15 18:35 |
| #1 I'm sure plus signs are questionable too. Time for the Saudi's to get rid of all those EVIL algebra books. |
| Posted by: DMFD 2007-01-15 18:06 |