Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Saudi Arabia)" in English language version.
"After seeing the Free Hugs Campaign in many different countries, I decided to do it in my own country," Mr Swed told al-Arabiya news ... Britain's Independent newspaper reports that his video inspired two more young Saudis, Abdulrahman al-Khayyal and a friend. They offered hugs, advertised on a placard ... They were subsequently arrested by the kingdom's religious police, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which is charged with ensuring that sharia law is strictly adhered to. The two were required to sign a pledge that they would not offer hugs again, reports say.
... the head of the Hai'a ... in ... Mecca, Sheikh Ahmad Qasim al Ghamdi, not only supported men and women mixing in public places but also said he instructed his mutawa'a, or religious police, not to interfere with such mixing ... Under pressure from religious conservatives, the head of the Hai'a in Riyadh fired his chief in Mecca late one Sunday night ... Within hours of the firing of the Sheikh Al Ghamdi, the Hai'a issued an embarrassing retraction: 'The information sent out today concerning administrative changes at some Hai'a offices, particularly those concerning Mecca and Hail, was inaccurate and the administration has requested editors not to publish it.' It was too late. Both the firing and the retraction had become major news ... Outraged conservatives went to Sheiksh Al Ghamdi's home, demanding to 'mix' with his females ... still other outraged opponents scrawled graffiti on his home.
'I remember' says Ahmed Rashid, 'that all the Taliban who had worked or done hajj in Saudi Arabia were terribly impressed by the religious police and tried to copy that system to the letter. The money for their training and salaries came partly from Saudi Arabia.' Ahmed Rashid took the trouble to collect and document the Taliban's medieval flailings against the modern West, and a few months later he stumbled on a spectacle that they were organizing for popular entertainment. Wondering why ten thousand men and children were gathering so eagerly in the Kandahar football stadium one Thursday afternoon, he went inside to discover a convicted murderer being led between the goalposts to be executed by a member of the victim's family.
Undoubtedly, one of the major factors that can spoil the happiness of the two sexes is the straying of man or woman from the right path and trying to satisfy those instincts through all kinds of frivolous behavior which puts modesty to shame ... Since Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country which has been established according to Islamic rules and principles ... pursuing the principle of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong becomes one of its most salient features ... Therefore, it was necessary to institute the system of the religious police which derives from the texts of Sharia ...
Each year, the religious police mobilise ahead of 14 February and descend on gift and flower shops, confiscating all red items, including flowers.
Each year, the religious police mobilise ahead of 14 February and descend on gift and flower shops, confiscating all red items, including flowers.
Undoubtedly, one of the major factors that can spoil the happiness of the two sexes is the straying of man or woman from the right path and trying to satisfy those instincts through all kinds of frivolous behavior which puts modesty to shame ... Since Saudi Arabia is an Islamic country which has been established according to Islamic rules and principles ... pursuing the principle of enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong becomes one of its most salient features ... Therefore, it was necessary to institute the system of the religious police which derives from the texts of Sharia ...
'I remember' says Ahmed Rashid, 'that all the Taliban who had worked or done hajj in Saudi Arabia were terribly impressed by the religious police and tried to copy that system to the letter. The money for their training and salaries came partly from Saudi Arabia.' Ahmed Rashid took the trouble to collect and document the Taliban's medieval flailings against the modern West, and a few months later he stumbled on a spectacle that they were organizing for popular entertainment. Wondering why ten thousand men and children were gathering so eagerly in the Kandahar football stadium one Thursday afternoon, he went inside to discover a convicted murderer being led between the goalposts to be executed by a member of the victim's family.
