JEDDAH/RIYADH: It’s that time of the year again when the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia) “sees red” at shopkeepers selling Valentine things — or even strawberries on cakes.
“Customers ask us for cakes with strawberries on them, which we sell throughout the year,” said Samir, a sales clerk at a well-known Riyadh patisserie. “Then we are ordered not to sell them (around Valentine’s Day).”
Marth Sanluis, a Philippine worker at a flower shop on Jeddah’s Rawdah Street said his shop is avoiding any possible conflict by keeping red stuff off the shelves.
“If they (the Haia) see one heart-shaped item or red rose they will take the stuff and close the shop,” he said.
Another flower shop also in Rawdah however had many red teddy bears, roses, cards and heart shaped items. The worker at the shop, Aamir Habib, said that the commission had not visited them yet but if they did they would confiscate all red items.
The Haia editorialists have been out in full force in the days up to the annual holiday, publishing letters in local dailies warning florists, pastry shops, cosmetic stores and gift shops against selling red gift items and red roses for “un-Islamic activities.”
“The presence of Haia officials near places where Valentine’s Day is likely to be celebrated is quite natural and it occurs every year,” said Turki Al-Shelail, spokesman for the Haia in Riyadh, to the newspaper Al-Riyadh. “Our aim is to enlighten people so that they will not take part in such un-Islamic activities.”
Mohammad (who didn’t want his family name published) said that after three years of working as a florist in Riyadh, the perennial crackdown on red roses perplexes him.
“Red roses are used for many other occasions,” he said. “Yet a few days before and a few days after the occasion we are ordered to remove even the plastic ones.”
Mohammad also pointed out that the demand for red roses increases noticeably around the time of Valentine’s Day because, in his opinion, the Haia “make a big deal out of it.”
Indeed, while most Saudis don’t recognize this imported tradition, some have made it an annual local tradition to flaunt the rules. For their part, shopkeepers are more than happy to indulge the demand for red hearts and roses — for a premium; prices for red roses on the black market more than triple this time of year. Some shops offer pre-Valentine’s Day services, where the items are prepared for delivery prior to the annual crackdown to be delivered on Feb. 14.
Reem Hassan, a 27-year-old, university graduate, said that Valentine’s Day is not even worth the Haia’s efforts.
“Saudis do not celebrate Valentine’s Day like in the past, people now are more aware of the fact that this is just a matter of giving something red on a certain day,” said Reem as she was wrapping a gift at a shop on Jeddah’s Tahlia Street — it was for her sister who had just given birth.
For those who do indulge in the annual cat-and-mouse game, some simply wear red fashion items or accessorize in red as a small gesture of defiance.
On Saturday in a posh Jeddah boutique, young men were seen snapping pictures of red fashion items and sending the pictures by SMS, presumably to their dear ones to ensure they’re buying the right gift. One local newspaper lampooned the crackdown on red by questioning whether it was OK to wear the red-and-white Saudi man’s headdress (shumaq), prompting the Haia to reply that the shimag is allowed.
— With input from Walaa Hawari
