Via MEMRI, an interview with Yousuf Al-Ahmad, Professor of Islamic Law at Al-Imam University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Saudis who own TV stations -including al-Arabiya– should face trial in an Islamic court and execution for spreading immorality and disorder in the land. Remember, this man is an acknowledged expert in Islamic Law and, in his opinion, these station owners pose a worse threat than the Jews:
Sheikh Yousuf Al-Ahmad: […] “I believe that one of our problems is that we continue to bury our heads in the sand, and talk about ‘Lebanese’ TV channels, as if we are being honest. Take LBC, for example. We all know who owns it. We should say to [the owner] Al-Walid bin Talal: Beware. The same is true of MBC TV, Al-Arabiya TV, the ART and Rotana channels – all these [Saudi] channels serve to destroy Islam and the Muslims.
[…]
“Regarding these base channels that I have mentioned, and others like them – I have no doubt whatsoever that their danger to the Islamic nation is no less than that of the Zionist Jews, or of the Crusader Americans in Iraq and elsewhere.”
Interviewer: “What led you to such an extremist view? Note that you are equating channels owned by Muslims, by Saudi citizens, with the Jews.”
Sheikh Yousuf Al-Ahmad: “I wasn’t equating them. I said they are more dangerous. I was being precise. In my view, the deadly poison that they are spreading has reached the bone marrow.
[…]
“The people who spread corruption in the land – whether highway robbers, drug dealers, or the owners of these TV channels, who are even more dangerous… These channels broadcast corruption and nudity. They are all people who spread corruption in the land, and they should be tried in an Islamic court of law and sentenced to death. This [fatwa] is clearly in accordance with Islamic law. There’s no doubt about it.”
The esteemed sheikh goes on to explain how killing the station owners is in accord with Islam and Allah’s will, and he scoffs with contempt at the idea that Islam is a religion of “tolerance and leniency.” Bear that in mind the next time an apologist for Islam tries to tell you that it is a religion of peace and tolerance, or that it’s compatible with democracy and the principles that underlie it. (It isn’t, not if one is to practice it as Muhammad intended.)
LINKS: Jihad Watch provides the Qur’anic citations for Sheikh Al-Ahmad’s opinions.