JEDDAH: A Muhtasiba (self-styled moral policewoman) recently sent shockwaves by forcibly removing the wires of an amplifier on which musical poems were being played in Taif.
People present in the open yard where the incident happened were aghast at the action of the Saudi woman, who barged through the crowd to snap the connection.
The incident sparked a debate on social media, with some people defending the woman for “preventing” a vice as music is haram, while some raising questions like who gave her the powers to indulge in such an act.
Suleiman Al-Tarifi, a researcher in psychology, said in his tweet: “Preventing vice in public places is the jurisdiction of the ruler or his representative on the condition that the act of vice is proved.”
However, Mohammad Al-Barak, a faculty member at King Abdulaziz University, supported the woman by describing Shella as a vice that should be banned.
Recently, a video clip circulated on social media showed a group of women gathering around an amplifier in a park near the zoo in Taif and listening to musical poems, which have become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
The video showed a woman barging through the crowd and removing the wire of the amplifier because of the poem was being sung with music.
The musical poetry called Shella is getting popular in the Gulf as a substitute for music, with poetry being sung without music as some kind of art folklore.
The Taif episode also brought back the memories of an incident in 2006 at Al-Yamamah University in Riyadh, where a group of citizens entered the theater to stop a show. Things took an ugly turn then, with two groups using sticks and chairs to hit each other until the police intervened to stop the fight.
People present in the open yard where the incident happened were aghast at the action of the Saudi woman, who barged through the crowd to snap the connection.
The incident sparked a debate on social media, with some people defending the woman for “preventing” a vice as music is haram, while some raising questions like who gave her the powers to indulge in such an act.
Suleiman Al-Tarifi, a researcher in psychology, said in his tweet: “Preventing vice in public places is the jurisdiction of the ruler or his representative on the condition that the act of vice is proved.”
However, Mohammad Al-Barak, a faculty member at King Abdulaziz University, supported the woman by describing Shella as a vice that should be banned.
Recently, a video clip circulated on social media showed a group of women gathering around an amplifier in a park near the zoo in Taif and listening to musical poems, which have become popular in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries.
The video showed a woman barging through the crowd and removing the wire of the amplifier because of the poem was being sung with music.
The musical poetry called Shella is getting popular in the Gulf as a substitute for music, with poetry being sung without music as some kind of art folklore.
The Taif episode also brought back the memories of an incident in 2006 at Al-Yamamah University in Riyadh, where a group of citizens entered the theater to stop a show. Things took an ugly turn then, with two groups using sticks and chairs to hit each other until the police intervened to stop the fight.
