No Valentine's Day in SArabia

Riyadh-based blogger Zeina passes along news that Saudi Arabian authorities have banned Valentine's Day. Evidently this means both public celebrations and even selling items that might relate to the holiday:

“It is a pagan Christian holiday and Muslims who believe in God and Judgment Day should not celebrate or acknowledge it or congratulate people on it,” an edict issued by the Fatwa Committee said.

“There are only two holidays in Islam — Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha — and any other holidays, whether to celebrate an individual, group or event, are inventions which Muslims are banned from,” said the committee, headed by Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh...

“Celebrating such an event will create an identity crisis in the minds of our youngsters,” said one religious leader...

Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Ghaith, president of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, has also issued a warning against celebrating Valentine’s Day or the ‘feast of love.’ Al-Ghaith has instructed his officials all over the Kingdom to keep a watch on shops selling roses and other gift items to celebrate the occasion.

“You should also enlighten Saudi citizens on the danger of this custom, which is alien to our society, and make them aware of its negative effect,” Al-Madinah daily quoted the religious police chief as saying.

The often crass commercialization of Valentine's Day in America is not something to be wished upon Arabian society. But banning the very celebration of a holiday... Recall the authorities in Yemen recently took similar measures, banning public celebration of a Shi'ite holiday.

Of course, the Saudi authorities wouldn't be so "hot and bothered" about Valentine's Day if there weren't a subcurrent of popular enthusiasm for it, particularly among young people. And as one commentator notes, the root of that appeal appears to be increased exposure to the outside world through new communication technology:

...Waleed Al-Anazi attributed the spread of such un-Islamic attitudes to the information age such as the Internet and satellite television.

Blogger Zeina doesn't reveal how she feels about the whole controversy, but her blog does offer this photo of love: