In Saudi Islam decrees that woman are expected to wrap themselves in a bag least some male catch a glimpse and be provoked into carnal thoughts, but apparently even that is no longer enough. The Gaza-based Dunya al-Watan, along with various other major media outlets throughout the Arab world has reported this piece of utter religious insanity …

Saudi Religious Police Pledge to Pursue Women with Eyes that Provoke Fitna Dunya al-Watan, 17 Nov 2011 The Council for Commanding the Good and Forbidding the Evil (the religious police) in Saudi Arabia confirmed Wednesday that it will force women cover up their eyes, especially those which “provoke fitna.” The media spokesman for the Council for Commanding the Good and Forbidding the Evil, Shaykh Mutliq al-Nabit, said in Ha’il (north) that “The men of the council will intervene to compel women to cover up their eyes, especially those which provoke fitna.” Arab media outlets picked up a short video clip on YouTube, which states that, “The Council for Commanding the Good and Forbidding the Evil in Saudi Arabia pledges to take the necessary actions against any girl or woman who has eyes which provoke fitna.” Shaykh Mutliq al-Nabit said, “The Council will compel the owner of those eyes to cover them up,” pointing out that the Council “has the right to do that.” A Saudi citizen entered the hospital at the end of last year after suffering stab wounds in his hand and back after a fight with one of the members of the Council in the Barzan market of Ha’il, after a demand from one of the members of the Council that he cover up the eyes of his wife who was with him at the time.

Now least you wonder, what the heck “Eyes that Provoke Fitna” is all about, well the word fitna comes from an Arabic verb which means to “seduce, tempt, or lure.”. So here we have the story of some bloke who is out with his wife (who is completely covered up), and along come some religious thugs who object on the basis that she is looking wrongly at them and must cover up her eyes. As you might imagine, he objects, and ends up in hospital suffering from a stab wound.

But what happens next is truly insane …

The District Court in Ha’il issued a ruling which justified the member of the Council and condemned the husband and a man who was with him for assault (behaving arrogantly towards another). The first was condemned to 8 months in prison and 300 lashes dispersed over 6 sessions. The second was condemned to 18 months in prison and 700 lashes dispersed over 10 sessions.

I can only stand back in awe and ponder over the utter depravity of a belief system that churns out clueless gobshites that think lashing a man 300 times because he objected to a demand that his wife should cover her eyes.

Folks should of course be free to believe whatever they wish and practice that belief in complete freedom. Where things go wrong is when belief systems impose their made-up fantasy upon others and end up causing considerable harm.

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