KINGDOM Makkah Haia chief faces death threats over edicts Ahmad Bin Qassim Al-Ghamdi and his wife. — Okaz/Saudi Gazette photo Ali Bin Gharasan Okaz/Saudi Gazette RIYADH — The chief of the Makkah Provinces Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia), Ahmad Bin Qassim Al-Ghamdi, has received death threats after he issued an edict saying it was permissible for women to reveal their faces in public and his support for lifting the ban on women driving. Al-Ghamdi has faced a lot of criticism for appearing in public and on TV with his unveiled wife. Al-Ghamdi is no stranger to controversy and is known for his controversial fatwas. In 2008, he released an anti-segregation fatwa which also caused a lot of backlash. “People have also accused me of having a hidden agenda behind my fatwas or that I said the right things at the wrong time. All that happened was a woman on Twitter asked me if it was allowed to post pictures of her face on social media and I said yes it is allowed. I am not saying anything different than what many scholars before me have said. The methods (of showing one’s face) may have changed but the fatwa still applies,” said Al-Ghamdi. He also added: “Hijab is not about wearing a piece of fabric on your face. It is about modesty. When my wife appeared on TV without a face veil, that did not make her any less chaste. I was disowned by other Sheikhs in my area and that does not harm me. Their decision represents no one but themselves. If my tribe disowned me then I don’t want to belong to a tribe that is ignorant of its religion,” said Al-Ghamdi. He went on to claim that his critics have targeted him ever since he was appointed the head of the commission’s Makkah Province operations. “I revealed many hypocrites and spoke of the true light of Islam. However, some members of our society want to constrict religion to growing beards and wearing sandals,” he said.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 04:05:59 +0000