Saudi cleric fired for advocating mixing of sexes
— AP: “The head of Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious police has fired the chief of the Mecca branch for advocating the mixing of the sexes, an official from the force said Tuesday.”
— “Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi’s suggestion in a newspaper interview this week that men and women should be left to mingle freely directly clashed with a central preoccupation of the force.”
Saudi Gazette – April 6, 2010: “Segregation of sexes: Hai’a chief stands by his comment”
— “Ahmed Qassim Al-Ghamdi, the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai’a) in Makkah, has said he will not go back on his previous comments on the segregation of the sexes, and described opposition to his views from within his own organization as disgruntled individuals trying to ‘get their own back’.”
— “With a notable security presence and an audience of both sexes, Al-Ghamdi addressed the Taif Literary Club Sunday on a series of sensitive topics, although questions put to him concerning his views on segregation were blocked by the chairman and any attempt to broach the subject from other angles was quickly put paid to.”
— “Al-Ghamdi said, however, that the policy was not of his making.”
— “‘I didn’t ask the club to bar the subject or any questions on it from discussion,” Al-Ghamdi told Okaz. ‘You can write in the newspaper from my own mouth that I still hold to the view I expressed on ikhtilat, and I won’t go back on it, and I’ll continue to repeat what I wrote.'”
— “In an interview reported by Saudi Gazette last December Al-Ghamdi spoke at length on the subject of the mixing of sexes – “ikhtilat” – in which he described it in the current usage as ‘a recent adoption unknown to the early people of knowledge’.”
— “‘Mixing used to be part of normal life for the Ummah and its societies,’ he said, adding that the word ‘in its contemporary meaning has entered customary jurisprudential terminology from outside’.”
— “‘Those who prohibit ikhtilat cling to weak ahadith, while the correct ahadith prove that mixing is permissible, contrary to what they claim,’ Al-Ghamdi said.”
— “The Sheikh revealed, however, that among those who opposed his views were some Hai’a officials who he had previously ‘punished for administrative irregularities’.”
— “‘Their response was a form of vengeance. They were trying to stir trouble and get their own back,’ he said, believing them to have seen the interview as a ‘provocation’ and a chance to take revenge for being punished. “Some of them were extremists in thought, something which we won’t accept in the Hai’a,” he said.” December 11, 2009 – Saudi Gazette: Hai’a chief: Kaust an ‘extraordinary move and huge accomplishment’ — “The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Makkah has added his voice of support to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) and addressed the issue of “ikhtilat” – the mixing of the sexes – that has prompted numerous scholars and commentators to speak out in recent months.”
— “‘The term ‘ikhtilat’ in this usage is a recent adoption that was unknown to the early people of knowledge,’ Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi said in a lengthy interview with Okaz.”
— “‘Mixing was part of normal life for the Ummah and its societies.'”
— “‘The word in its contemporary meaning has entered customary jurisprudential terminology from outside,’ Al-Ghamdi said.”
— “‘Those who prohibit the mixing of the genders actually live it in their real lives, which is an objectionable contradiction, as every fair-minded Muslim should follow Shariah judgments without excess or negligence,’ Al-Ghamdi said.”
— “‘In many Muslim houses – even those of Muslims who say mixing is haram – you can find female servants working around unrelated males,’ he said.”
In Dove World Outreach’s April 21 article, they defended the Westboro Baptist Church hate group’s practice of protesting at American soldiers funerals. In addition, the Dove World Outreach article states that “We have also learned that when you speak out about what God hates, you will be hated. We do not agree with all of Westboro’s methods, but we admire their determination to find radical ways to preach the truth of the Bible, as we do.”
Multiple reports from the media and NGOs are being released this week on multiple efforts to attack Nigeria Christians and farmers, some of which have been prevented by the military and some which have resulted in deaths. On April 21, 2010, THISDAY reported the exhumation of seven new bodies of people murdered by Fulani herdsmen in Riyom, where two Christian farmers were murdered on April 19, 2010.
Nigeria – This Day: Jos Killing: Seven Bodies Exhumed in Riyom
— “Seven fresh dead bodies believed to be those of travelers were yesterday evening exhumed from three shallow graves by Military Special Task Force (STF) in Rahoss in Riyom local government area of Plateau State.”
— “They were believed to have been killed secretly in the early hours of yesterday by hoodlums.
— “This followed a renewed attack in the area on Monday evening in which suspected Fulani herdsmen allegedly killed five in the area.
— “The youth in the area were said to have gone wild after the attack, a development that allegedly led to the attack of the travelers.
— “THISDAY gathered that the Fulani made an unexpected attack on Rim village on Monday evening and raided some farmers who were returning from their farms, killing five and injuring many others, before the men of the Military STF got to the scene.
Compass Direct News: “Nigeria: Pastor, Wife Killed in Northern Nigeria ” — “Suspected extremists last week abducted and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria. The Rev. Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his 45-year-old wife Selina were buried on Saturday (April 17) after unidentified assailants reportedly whisked them from their church headquarters home on Tuesday (April 13) and killed them. Their burnt bodies were found hours later.”
Nigerian troops foil sectarian attack
— AFP: “The Nigerian army said Monday it had averted an attack by suspected Muslim extremists on a mainly Christian village in the flashpoint central Plateau State, killing two gunmen.”
Nigeria: Two Christian farmers killed in Nigeria
— AFP: “Kano – Two Christian farmers were killed on Monday and two others went missing in fresh attacks by suspected Muslim-Fulani nomads in Nigeria’s central Plateau State, police and residents said.”
— “The Fulani nomads allegedly attacked the farmers who were working on their farms ahead of the rainy season in Christian-dominated Riyom village, 30km south of Jos, capital of the volatile state.”
— “‘We received reports that four people were declared missing in Riyom after they went to the farm in the early morning but never returned,” Plateau State police spokesperson Mohammed Lerama told reporters on the phone from Jos.”
— “‘A search team discovered two bodies out of the four missing farmers. The two others are still unaccounted for,’ Lerama said.”
— “Riyom resident, Daniel Pam, blamed Fulani nomads for the attack.”
— “‘It is obvious the killings were carried out by the Fulani nomads who have been on the prowl in the last two months,” Pam also said on phone from Riyom village.” April 19, 2010 – NEXT: Two killed in another attack in Jos — “At least two persons were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning in an attack on Bisichi Community, in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.”
— “The Chairman of Jos South Local Government Council, Moses Dalyop, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria, saying that the attackers invaded the village at about 3 a.m.”
— “Mr. Dalyop said, ‘I am a very sad person today following an attack on Bisichi again in the early hours of today. I am surprised that innocent people have continued to be killed in their sleep, despite the curfew.'”
Burials of victims at the Dogo Nahawa village, in Jos recently. Photo: NEXT
— “Two Muslim girls have been stopped from travelling abroad in what is thought to be the first case of its kind in Northern Ireland, after a judge feared they were being sent for forced marriages. High Court judge Mr Justice Stephens, sitting in Belfast, imposed a forced marriage protection order for the girls aged 12 and 14. Mr Justice Stephens ruled on behalf of the children, identified as G and D, after the authorities claimed false documents were produced as part of a planned deception by their parents. An unnamed Trust alleged a claim the girls were to be sent for several years’ education in Pakistan was a pretext for the real motive.”
