Saudis Nix Valentines Picks

Valentine’s gifts, cards, and red roses were banned today by religious police in Saudi Arabia. Store owners and workers were ordered to remove all red items and wrapping paper from their shelves.

Valentine’s Day is considered as being un-Islamic, along with a few other annual celebrations, so the authorities prohibit its commemoration. The religious police also state that Valentine’s Day encourages forbidden relationships between men and women outside of marriage, which is punishable by law.

Some Saudis, however, surreptitiously celebrate the event by ordering flowers and gifts weeks in advance of the ban. The store owners make deliveries in the middle of the night or early morning to avoid suspicion.

Some Islamic mullahs have also written prohibitive statements concerning Valentine’s Day. The following example comes from Pakistan:

Muslims should avoid celebrating this occasion by:

1- Not expressing joy and happiness on this occasion.

2- Not exchanging red roses, which represent the ‘spiritual love’ of the pagans or the ‘love’ of the Christians. Hence it is known to them as the Feast of Lovers.

3- Not sending greeting cards as some of their cards have pictures of “Cupid” (a child with two wings carrying bows and arrows). This was the god of love of the pagan Romans.

4- Not exchanging words of love and desire in the cards or verbally. Some of the cards contain the words ‘be my Valentine’. This is the Christian concept of this festival after they adopted from the pagan Romans.

5- Not attending dance parties with mixed gatherings.

I guess they don’t know how much fun they are missing…