Saudi Cleric Issues Fatwa Forbidding Snowmen

[kpete]

DUBAI (Reuters) - A prominent Saudi Arabian cleric has whipped up controversy by issuing a religious ruling forbidding the building of snowmen, described them as anti-Islamic.

Asked on a religious website if it was permissible for fathers to build snowmen for their children after a snowstorm in the country's north, Sheikh Mohammed Saleh al-Munajjid replied: "It is not permitted to make a statue out of snow, even by way of play and fun."

Quoting from Muslim scholars, Sheikh Munajjid argued that to build a snowman was to create an image of a human being, an action considered sinful under the kingdom's strict interpretation of Sunni Islam.

"God has given people space to make whatever they want which does not have a soul, including trees, ships, fruits, buildings and so on," he wrote in his ruling.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/12/saudi-cleric-condemns-snowmen-fatwa-_n_6455138.html

[Bay Boy]

1. I'm looking for the link to The Onion...

...why don't I see it?

[yuiyoshida]

2. Frosty the Snow man goes into hiding

on the FBI's Witness Protection program

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. That's a problem in Saudi Arabia, is it?

[DrDan]

4. this is actually newsworthy in that it snowed in Saudi

lived here for 4 years and would never have believed it would snow there.

[Bluenorthwest]

5. Right now, Saudi blogger Raif Badawi is recovering from his first 50 lashes received on Friday last

for the offense of criticizing Saudi clerics. He has little hope of healing his wounds as he will be whipped again this Friday, another 50 each Friday for 20 weeks.
"A Saudi blogger convicted of insulting Islam was brought after Friday prayers to a public square in the port city of Jeddah and flogged 50 times before hundreds of spectators, a witness to the lashing said.

The witness said Raif Badawi’s feet and hands were shackled during the flogging but his face was visible. He remained silent and did not cry out, said the witness, who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity fearing government reprisal.

Badawi was sentenced last May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes. He had criticized Saudi Arabia’s powerful clerics on a liberal blog he founded. The blog has since been shut down. He was also ordered to pay a fine of 1m riyals or about $266,600."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/09/saudi-blogger-first-lashes-raif-badawi

Those of us who are vocal on the internet should remember Badawi with every letter we type. Right now, he suffers and prepares to suffer more.

[CanonRay]

8. Barbaric n/t

[NaturalHigh]

9. Only a true sadist could order such a punishment.

[Hong Kong Cavalier]

10. "Saudi Arabia. Our partners in peace."

Such wonderful allies, yes?

[Silent3]

6. Oh, and the yellow snow is definitely not halal. n/t

[COLGATE4]

7. Obviously a graduate of the

"How many angels can dance on the head of a pin School of Theology".