Nearer to god am I …. Well not quite it seems, even if you are the King of Saudi Arabia. a man who usually likes to have flunkies and flatterers around him at all times.
Apparently however there are limits to the flattery …. it appears that one flunky, Ramadan al-Anzi, overstepped the thin divide between Allah, and the King of Saudi Arabia, when he used the terms "Haleem" (forbearing), and "Shadeed al-Eqab", in a piece of prose in his column in the al-Jazirah newspaper
So in the complex wordings with which some Muslims reserve to praise their deity, and those words used for praising their King these comments, these seemingly crossed that thin line between the two, as both of the phrases are reserved only for Allah. Apparently the King was "astonished" by this misuse, and sent instructions to suspend Mr Anzi.
…. I am somewhat surprised that the Saudi King, who after all must have seen every bit of flattery known to man, is still apparently reading his own press, and checking what is said about him.
I am also mildly surprised that the author of this mistake was only suspended, and and not sentenced to death for this haram praise (normally mobs are out on the street demanding death for even trivial offences like this), .... although the reports didn't say how high he was being suspended ... joke, we assume he's just suspended from work.
However obsequiousness at a slightly lower level is still OK e.g. ….”may God protect him, of the honour of serving the two holy mosques, Islam, the homeland and the people" … said the apologetic al-Jazirah newspaper. It’s impossible to get inside the heads of the followers of this religion.
You have to be a particular type of person to consider these sorts of concerns about harmless comments as ‘normal’ for a King or head of state to be bothered about.
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| Saudi King Used To Flunkies |
Apparently however there are limits to the flattery …. it appears that one flunky, Ramadan al-Anzi, overstepped the thin divide between Allah, and the King of Saudi Arabia, when he used the terms "Haleem" (forbearing), and "Shadeed al-Eqab", in a piece of prose in his column in the al-Jazirah newspaper
So in the complex wordings with which some Muslims reserve to praise their deity, and those words used for praising their King these comments, these seemingly crossed that thin line between the two, as both of the phrases are reserved only for Allah. Apparently the King was "astonished" by this misuse, and sent instructions to suspend Mr Anzi.
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| The Mob Normally Demands Death .... |
…. I am somewhat surprised that the Saudi King, who after all must have seen every bit of flattery known to man, is still apparently reading his own press, and checking what is said about him.
I am also mildly surprised that the author of this mistake was only suspended, and and not sentenced to death for this haram praise (normally mobs are out on the street demanding death for even trivial offences like this), .... although the reports didn't say how high he was being suspended ... joke, we assume he's just suspended from work.
However obsequiousness at a slightly lower level is still OK e.g. ….”may God protect him, of the honour of serving the two holy mosques, Islam, the homeland and the people" … said the apologetic al-Jazirah newspaper. It’s impossible to get inside the heads of the followers of this religion.
You have to be a particular type of person to consider these sorts of concerns about harmless comments as ‘normal’ for a King or head of state to be bothered about.
For a discipline that supposedly deals with the unknowable and the eternal paradise in the hereafter, Religion does seem endlessly concerned with semantics, minutiae and what people do in their bedrooms.
ReplyDeleteIt's as if they're as ignorant as us about what god wants or what happens when we die but try nevertheless to control people with the little that they do have to hand.
The sad thing is that it works, and it has worked for a very long time.