On one of the major streets in one of the Kingdom’s major cities, there is a huge sign with an advertisement. On the sign is written “Furnished Islamic Apartments”. I read the words many times as I tried to work out what an “Islamic apartment” — furnished or unfurnished — might be. The words were correct as far as grammar and spelling were concerned but why the word “Islamic”? Why was it used?
Has the word “Islamic” become so cheap that everyone is using it trying to make a few more riyals in profit? Are the advertisers trying to gain sympathy by using the word “Islamic” on everything they sell? These particular apartments which were advertised on the sign do not belong to an Islamic organization of any kind so why were they described as “Islamic”?
The apartments belong to a businessman whose business is subject to the normal laws of supply and demand; people pay the rent for the apartments and the money goes into the businessman’s pocket. All that is normal and I find no fault with any of it.
What I want to know is why the word “Islamic” was used? Is there something inside the apartments that oblige us to describe them as “Islamic”? What about all the other apartment buildings which are not described as “Islamic”? Are there “Islamic apartments” and “non-Islamic” ones? Have we moved on from the disastrous practice of classifying people as “Islamic” or “non-Islamic” and dealing with them on that basis? Have we now gone on to classify streets, restaurants and buildings as “Islamic” or “non-Islamic”? Were the apartments classified as “Islamic” by some official department? And what qualifies the department to classify buildings as “Islamic” or “non-Islamic”?
I will conclude my article with some suggestions for those who want to use the word “Islamic” in their business. Let them open “Islamic” shops that do not sell razor blades or cigarettes. Let them open “Islamic” restaurants that do not sell any carbonated drinks and which keep single men, the source of all evil, firmly outside. Let them open “Islamic” automotive workshops that do not sell American oil or repair American cars.
As for those who own “Islamic apartments,” they must force their tenants to sign pledges promising that they will not visit the site of any shopping festivals or take their families to malls which are, yet again, sources of evil.
