Posted on 03/14/2002 4:41:08 PM PST by dighton
SAUDI Arabia's religious police are reported to have forced schoolgirls back into a blazing building because they were not wearing Islamic headscarves and black robes.
Saudi newspapers said scuffles broke out between firemen and members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice who tried to keep the girls inside a burning school in Mecca.
Fifteen girls were killed as they stampeded to escape from the blazing building in the Muslim holy city. Saudi media and families of the victims have been angry over the deaths of the girls in the fire that gutted the school.
The resulting public criticism of the religious police, or mutaween, is highly unusual.
The English-language Saudi Gazette, in a front-page report yesterday quoted witnesses as saying that members of the religious police stopped men who tried to help the girls escape from the building, saying: "It is sinful to approach them."
A civil defence officer told an Arabic-language newspaper, al-Eqtisadiah, that he saw three members of the religious police "beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya".
He added: "We told them that the situation was very critical and did not allow for such behaviour. But they shouted at us and refused to move away from the gates."
The father of one of the dead girls alleged that the school watchman refused to open the gate to let the girls out.
"Lives could have been saved had they not been stopped by members of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice," the Saudi Gazette said.
The much-feared mutaween roam the streets of the conservative kingdom wielding sticks to enforce dress codes and sex segregation and to ensure that Islamic prayers are performed on time.
Those who refuse to obey the orders of the religious police are usually beaten and sometimes jailed.
© Copyright of Telegraph Group Limited 2002.
Bingo! Give the man a cookie. I suggest we all settle in for the long haul. It's going to take a long time to haul 1B people into the 21st Century, jumping from the 12th.
And just when you thought it couldn't get any worse than that.
In the Islamic Republic, girls condemned to death penalty may not undergo the sentence as long as they are virgin. Thus they are systematically raped by the Islamic Guards before their sentence is executed.
According to the 1992 report of the Special Representative of the Commission of the Human Rights of the United Nations in the Islamic Republic of Iran,
"To rape women prisoners, especially virgin girls, who are accused of being against the regime, is a normal and daily practice in the Islamic Republic's prisons, and by doing so, the clergies declare that they adhere to the merits of the Islamic principles and laws, preventing a virgin girl to go to Heaven. Mullahs believe that these are ungodly creatures and they do not deserve it, therefore they are raped to be sure they will be sent to hell."
No, they would be executed for adultery.
This makes me wonder what the AIDS rate is over there. Perhaps the problem is self-correcting...
What were the girls doing in a school in the first place? Didn't their parents realize that is forbidden in the Koran?
They do not trust allah to be a god worthy of judging who goes to heaven?
Doesn't Islam value the preservation of human life above these stupid dress laws? If a Jew is starving to death, he is permitted to eat pork to save his life. I can't believe there is not an exception to this rule -- or that the religious police didn't simply give the girls some blankets to cover themselves once they escaped.
They'll make a statement saying that in reality the abaya is very liberating.
Jesus was indeed a member in good standing for He was upholding the Judaic Law, but at the same time trying to teach all Jews that some laws or rules were indeed needless when it came to helping each other. Yes, He healed on the Sabbath, but just think: Jew or not Jew, wouldn't you be thrilled to bits if you were healed, especially on the Sabbath? He taught brotherly love, even if it meant doing something that some considered work on the Sabbath..He was called Rabbi by many more Jews than the few who called for His death..
The Romans, with the help of the King, incited a small riot amongst some Jews (about 300) in Jerusalem.. They (the Romans) felt Jesus was a threat to the Roman Government..and actually held it over the heads of the High Temple officials to stop Jesus from preaching and teaching, because they felt they were losing control over the Jews of Israel.
Jesus, when looking back at Jerusalem said, "Oh how I longed to gather you as a hen gathers her chicks, but you were not willing".
Sounds like we need to have a new #1 export to Saudi...
A point well taken. - Tom
A nation of psychos.
a) No.
b) Islam is a religion of peace and love. How dare you ask such a question!
c) Infidel! You in a heap o' trouble now!
d) Hey, they're just worthless women.
e) Yeah, Westerner, and we're coming for your daughter next.
This is a multiple choice test. Answer carefully, because the fate of the West - and our mothers, daughters, wives, and sisters rests on the accuracy of your understanding.
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