Saudi Arabia's war on Valentine's Day

Religious police in Saudi Arabia are patrolling gift stores to make sure that roses, teddy bears, or heart-shaped items aren't being sold

Why doesn't Saudi Arabia like Valentine's Day?
(Image credit: Corbis)

Saudi Arabia's religious police — the much-feared "muttawa" — have launched a campaign to ban the sale of any Valentines Day-related items, including "roses, heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, teddy bears, cards and novelty gifts." They are patrolling shops looking for offending items and threatening punishment for merchants who flaut the ban. Under the country's strict interpretation of Islamic law, the holiday is forbidden because it celebrates the life of a Christian saint and "encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women." Is Saudi Arabia justified in it's war against V-day?

It's funny what Saudi authorities consider a 'threat': Just think, if Saudi religious police "were as zealous about rooting out 'extremism' as they are about saving souls from the horrors of red roses and heart-shaped boxes of chocolates" the world's terrorism problem might improve considerably, says Marisol at Jihad Watch. Of course, we can be pretty sure that the muttawa won't target extremists — because in that case they "would have to arrest themselves."

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