Stop promoting vigilantism

Sabria S. Jawhar

Sabria S. Jawhar

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A recent incident at a public event in Abha points to the hypocrisy of some Saudis, particularly the dunderheads using social media, and the myopic view some people have of their fellow Muslims.The incident occurred during a government-approved social event at a park. During the event “music” of some sort was played through a public address system. I qualify the word “music” because the broadcast was actually traditional Arabic poetry that was sung.A woman attending the event apparently saw some young girls swaying to the broadcast. She immediately pulled the plug and earned plaudits from social media users for her courage in standing up to behavior that she considered “haram.”As most of us who possess a modicum of self-awareness and some level of understanding of the state of affairs in the world today, we are all too aware of the growing Islamophobia. And a significant cause of this crisis is that many Muslims simply can’t mind their own business. They are too worried of what other Muslims are doing. Daesh is a good example of Muslims who are preoccupied with the behavior of their brothers and sisters. Yes, murder and mayhem is their solution to perceived offenses and slights to Islam, but there are thousands of instances in varying degrees of people taking the law in their own hands based on their own flawed interpretation of Islam.In the Abha incident, the woman stopped the music because she said it was haram. Yet Islamic scholars have long disagreed whether listening to music is forbidden. This is a textbook example that decisions to provide public entertainment should be left to the municipal or regional government authorities. It’s their responsibility and if the actions of festival organizers are illegal, then a complaint should be lodged. There is no place for vigilantism as we have painfully learned year after year with irresponsible Haia wannabes.Encouraging vigilantes are social media users. For the woman who took the law into her own hands social media users offered her a total of SR165,000 if she revealed herself so she could be rewarded. This encourages the mindset of entitlement in which many individuals feel they have the right to stick their noses in other people’s business and impose their religious and cultural values on others.In the grand scheme of things, the Abha incident on the surface is trivial, but it points to a cancer in which we have grown comfortable judging others. When bystanders applaud this behavior they are no better than a mob shouting encouragement to a bully. It sends a message that no matter how uninformed you are about your religion or the local laws and customs, your misguided need to express your arrogance and ignorance is supported by the equally arrogant and ignorant. It’s a dangerous preoccupation that diverts us from what is really important in Islam.By allowing religious and government authorities to establish boundaries and provide reasoned interpretation of religious texts we can get down to the business of practicing our religion without worrying what our neighbors think. It will lead us onto a path of greater peace.