The day theatre and pop music ‘popped up’ in Saudi Arabia?

Video clip of the inglorious event was first sent to me by a senior colleague and Professor of Islamic studies. I guess it was produced by those who are thinking ahead. The new authorities in the Kingdom have announced that by next year, theatre business will be open like never before. Saudis will be free […]

Video clip of the inglorious event was first sent to me by a senior colleague and Professor of Islamic studies. I guess it was produced by those who are thinking ahead. The new authorities in the Kingdom have announced that by next year, theatre business will be open like never before. Saudis will be free like other citizens of the West to enjoy what Westerners now enjoy. They will be free to go and watch films of their choice, at any time of their choice. Thus the video clip I got was produced to image what awaits the Saudis as they count down to 2019; the year of ‘freedom’.

I could not believe my eyes. It was a scene from a theatre hall. We saw people, supposedly Saudi citizens in their popular flowing Jalabia as they packed the hall full while basking in the euphoria of ‘freedom’. The audience represented the full gender spectrum of the Saudi society. Men and women seated together in the theatre all relishing the pleasure of watching films and plays which the strict Islamic tradition had forbidden for them years before now. 

But it soon became a theatre of the absurd. Before then, a man had given a seat on his right to his wife. Disagreement however broke out when he suddenly accused another man to his extreme right of sitting too close for comfort to his wife. The complainant had apparently thought that the theatre was like his colony; that he could bring his private empire to the public space. He probably did not reckon with the fact that America would never do you a favour unless it takes away something of reverence, something you cherish, something you honour. He did not reckon with the truth that you cannot bring your wife to the ‘public space’ and begin to relate to her as if you are in the private space. Soon the disagreement became an alternation. The man who was accused would not let the accusation go without being repudiated. He shot back at his interlocutor. The alternation quickly degenerated. To settle the matter, the woman was asked to change her seat. Momentarily peace was restored. But not long thereafter, another man came to sit to her left. The man discovered that in the ‘public arena’ there are no private spaces- body contact of the opposite gender is lawful and imperative.

While I struggled to make some sense out of this ‘’nonsense’ I chanced upon a feature on Cable News Network (CNN) of how the Saudis are now accepting the American pop culture. The scene was probably in another theatre. It featured some Saudi citizens in flowing Jalabia trying to act Michael Jackson; Saudi citizens trying to be Dolly Parton. Like the American would say, the scene I beheld was simply ‘awesome’. It was simply farcical. Or how would the lyric which features a combination of Kalimat shahadat with American musical instrument sound in your ears, in your soul?      

Let me remind you why I and many other Muslims are concerned over these ‘opening up to the West’ agenda currently going in Saudi Arabia. Five times a day across the globe billions of Muslims face the direction of the Kaaba in prayer. Therefore, you and I know the implication of bringing disrepute to the Haram in Islamic Weltanschauung. I know that you know that two different cultures cannot co-habit or mesh into each other except that one takes advantage of the other and overtake same ultimately. What I am saying is this- the westernization agenda never begins with America or Britain asking you to forsake your God. No. Never. They always begin by requesting that you by yourself and your own volition corrupt that which is dear to you. The rain that destroyed the people of Nuh started with droplets.   

I guess the ‘droplets’ are there for all to see. As you enter Kingdom nowadays, as you enter Makkah prepare to see Barca; prepare to see more than the Kaaba. Prepare to see Starbucks, prepare to seed McDonald. Prepare to experience “Saudi-America”. In other words, the new authorities in the Kingdom plans to lead the Kingdom back to ‘moderate Islam’. The idea of “moderate” Islam hacks back to the other categories and constructs all of which deprive Muslims of the opportunity to self-define. “Moderate” Islam reminds you of ‘conservative’ Islam, of ‘extremist’ Islam and of Islamism. When Muslims begin to use labels developed by the other to profile themselves, the Ummah begins to falter and scatter.  

It was narrated from Abu Sa’id al-Khudri (may the Almighty be pleased with him) that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “You will certainly follow the ways of those who came before you hand span by hand span, cubit by cubit, to the extent that if they entered the hole of a lizard, you will enter it too.”