Too Little, Too Late
Clerics and politicians are two sides of the same coin. Neither of them hesitate to deceive society to fulfill their agendas.
Days ago, Aidh El Qarni, a preacher and one of the Awakening movement in Saudi Arabia, apologized to the Saudi society for the extreme fatwas he had declared which according to what he said, contradicted with moderate Islam. He said that his current ideas can't be compared to the ones he had when he was 24 or 26.
It's not a crime to change ideas or opinions after a period of time. Actually, a shift in ideas is desirable when you find out you were wrong. However, this is only in case this mistake is related to your own life, not to a whole country and society. Nineteen million people are following him on Twitter. Millions in Saudi Arabia and other countries followed his hardline fatwas making their lives stricter. Many women are deprived of a lot of their basic rights due to the interpretations of him and of his double-faced colleagues.
Apologies are not enough because the price was extremely high for a lot of individuals. His false conclusions turned many into extremists. It's not even easy to turn back and change all these destructive effects. Many will resist and keep practicing the same hardline ideas. How would apologies help those who are in the dark? How would it help those whose lives and rights were taken from them in the name of applying these mistaken ideas?
These ideas didn't affect only the Saudi society but others in different countries as well. The Egyptians who went to work in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries starting from the 70s came back loaded with these extreme ideas. Most of them turned into fanatics. The hijab and khalij abaya, a loose long garment, which were Saudi style clothes were adopted en mass by Egyptian women. Handling all of this won't be easy-to-do. Clerics are big liars. They are ready to adjust religions according to their interests and their rulers' agendas. I just hope one day all clerics on earth will become extinct!
Days ago, Aidh El Qarni, a preacher and one of the Awakening movement in Saudi Arabia, apologized to the Saudi society for the extreme fatwas he had declared which according to what he said, contradicted with moderate Islam. He said that his current ideas can't be compared to the ones he had when he was 24 or 26.
It's not a crime to change ideas or opinions after a period of time. Actually, a shift in ideas is desirable when you find out you were wrong. However, this is only in case this mistake is related to your own life, not to a whole country and society. Nineteen million people are following him on Twitter. Millions in Saudi Arabia and other countries followed his hardline fatwas making their lives stricter. Many women are deprived of a lot of their basic rights due to the interpretations of him and of his double-faced colleagues.
Apologies are not enough because the price was extremely high for a lot of individuals. His false conclusions turned many into extremists. It's not even easy to turn back and change all these destructive effects. Many will resist and keep practicing the same hardline ideas. How would apologies help those who are in the dark? How would it help those whose lives and rights were taken from them in the name of applying these mistaken ideas?
These ideas didn't affect only the Saudi society but others in different countries as well. The Egyptians who went to work in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries starting from the 70s came back loaded with these extreme ideas. Most of them turned into fanatics. The hijab and khalij abaya, a loose long garment, which were Saudi style clothes were adopted en mass by Egyptian women. Handling all of this won't be easy-to-do. Clerics are big liars. They are ready to adjust religions according to their interests and their rulers' agendas. I just hope one day all clerics on earth will become extinct!
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