When Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Humayen was appointed head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice [CPVPV] he began his time in his new position by sending out positive signals, saying that the principle of good intentions would prevail and that he intended to follow Omar Ibn al-Khattab's saying that "it is better to forgive and be wrong than to punish and be wrong." He also said that the CPVPV members would not mistakenly accuse people, adding that "anybody can make a mistake and we will try to work as much as we can to avoid making any mistakes."
Good intentions. Wasn't there a road somewhere paved with them?
On the day of Sheikh Bin Humayen's appointment, I, along with some other writers, wrote that these signals should be acknowledged and indeed celebrated by society and the media. I wrote that I wished that the ideas, views, and vision put forward by the head of the CPVPV, along with the good intention of its members -- many of whom are distinguished -- would result in the next stage witnessing the CPVPV not exceeding the limits of its power and controlling the measures that it undertakes. I remain convinced that the head of the CPVPV truly had all of these good intentions when he was first assigned to his position, however perhaps things did not go according to plan for Sheikh Bin Humayen and other CPVPV officials and some problems continue to surface in the press. The most recent of these problems was the news that a group of people were stopped by the CPVPV in the street and questioned about the women in their company. Another story was that the CPVPV stormed the roof of a Medina building to investigate a case of gender mixing, however before they could arrest the couple in question they jumped from the roof of the building in order to escape arrest. There is also the story about a girl from Tabuk who was arrested and taken into custody by the CPVPV where she was questioned at the CPVPV headquarters before she was rescued by people praying in a nearby mosque who responded to her calls for help.
The same role undertaken by the CPVPV in Saudi Arabia is fulfilled in other countries by different bodies using different names, such as "the morality police" and others, and they have a different approach and criteria than that of the CPVPV.
Normal countries don't have 'morality police' just regular police who try to catch thieves and killers, Mr. Diyab. In normal countries morality, like faith, is considered a private matter.
As for the CPVPV, this has been set up in accordance with divine law, and only committed religious scholars with knowledge of Islamic Shariaa Law and a desire for social reform are entrusted with this job.
Seriously? Every single morality copper is a scholar with mastery of the tiniest jot and tittle of Sharia jurisprudence? My goodness, they hide it well.
The CPVPV's name reflects its role to promote virtue and prevent vice. The term "virtue" in this case has significant linguistic and psychological implications that are known to everybody and in effect means righteousness or a righteous approach.
Yes, it's a word. You can tell because it's in the dictionary. The man blithers.
What I want to say that it is the duty of the CPVPV presidency to act strongly against those of its members who have been incriminated in order to ensure that this minority does not defame or diminish the role played by the CPVPV at large. The Human Rights committee that is affiliated to the CPVPV's Legal Affairs department and which ensures the dignity and civil rights of those arrested by the CPVPV should move towards achieving its objectives and condemn the CPVPV members who do not abide by this system. However tighter supervision, a desire for development, and training programs for CPVPV members would also help the CPVPV to avoid some mistakes that occur during operations in the field and ensure that the image of the CPVPV remains pure.
Posted by: Fred ||
04/13/2010 00:00 ||
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#1
Omar Ibn al-Khattab's saying that "it is better to forgive and be wrong than to punish and be wrong." But when in doubt, punish in order to keep the underlings in line.
#1
Back to the Future? By ignoring history, history repeats itself. Europe finds itself back at 1930s pre-WWII--just different players. Someone else will have to do the heavy lifting with regards to Iran. WWII started as the result of European appeasers [and sympathizers] of Nazi Germany. Europe chose the ostrich solution. Appeasement never works. Today Iran is the threat and it will be up to Israel or the U.S. to do the heavy lifting. U.S. leadership is a bit shaky at this time and appears to be pro-Islamic for the first time since the formation of Israel as a country.
#2
John,
The west (including Israel) has given too much time to the Mullahs to build up the nuclear capacity- I think Israel wished to give the civilized world a chance at handling the situation just in order to avoid looking like an outright aggressor.
The result of this delay will be very costly to both Israel and possibly US/EUROPE ( to the absolute delight of the russians and chinese who will sit aside and enjoy popcorn).
By now Iran probably has enough radioactive material for a bunch of "dirty bombs" and will use them on Israel and US, given the chance.
It also raises the possibility that the attack on Iran will have to be very heavy and all inclusive in order to paralize them completely and prevent retailation by means of proxy terror groups supported by the Mullah's.
This means that any strike now (and there will be a strike no doubt) will have to be much heavier in damage and scope, in order to ensure a 100% chance of toppling the Islamic regime and replacing it with a secular, saner regime.
Had a brave decision been timely taken (2 years ago or earlier) the cost to the attacker and the collateral damage to innocent Iranian population would have been substantially reduced.
We have not learned from History - we will now pay the price (all of us) !
Posted by: Elder of Zion ||
04/13/2010 10:43 Comments ||
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#3
Elder:
There has been a near-obsession by the U.S. of trying to bring about peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for 50 years. It seems this has been more of an obsession with Democratic administrations. It also seems to me that Republican administrations have been more supportive of Israel but at the same time respectful of their sovereignty. Maybe my perceptions are wrong. I do think it is imperative to be mindful of what gets communicated to the Arabs. Any perceived support of Palestinians over Israelis tends to give a green light to aggression from the Arab world.
The article in the Jerusalem Post indicated that Europeans are equating the Palestinian situation now to the Jewish holocaust of WWII is just beyond the pale of credibility. Unfortunately, some believe such nonsense.
It also raises the possibility that the attack on Iran will have to be very heavy and all inclusive in order to paralyze them completely and prevent retaliation by means of proxy terror groups supported by the Mullah's.
All that said, the logistics of a strike on Iran are difficult. Such a strike would require impeccable intelligence since Iran's nuclear system is distributed. Moreover, they have been given sufficient time to "harden" their facilities. They have learned from the strikes on nuclear facilities in Syria and Iraq. And as you say, it is a difficult situation for Israel. A preemptive strike on Iranian nuclear facilities comes across as aggressive to much of the world as you say. However, Mahmoud Ahmajinedad, like Adolph Hitler, has made promises and threats against Israel. Israelis have learned the great peril of ignoring such threats. Europeans have not. There are no 100% guarantees of successful strikes and regime change in Iran. Presently, the West is in the position of dealing with war by proxy groups. We seem to be unwilling to call such war by proxy terrorism. None-the-less it has been going on for some 40-50 years. No one can completely "game" the consequences of a preemptive strike. Judging from the strikes on Syria and Iraq, it seems like there is little concern on the part of Europe. It would certainly be helpful to Israel if it seemed like the U.S. was more committed to the survival of Israel at this time. I doubt that the West has two more years before they are confronted with a nuclear weapon; either a dirty bomb, a small nuclear device, or direct confrontation with Iran. It doesn't appear that sanctions are particularly viable as we should have learned from Iraq and Saddam Hussein. It looks like we are heading for a showdown at some point because China shows little interest in trying to rein-in Iran. Russia is playing this whole thing to their advantage. As you say they are passing the popcorn. They have to realize that mid-East wars at this time are not necessarily contained. The law of unintended consequences has a way of intervening. We are in a dangerous situation and it's getting more so with each day.
#4
The law of unintended consequences has a way of intervening. We are in a dangerous situation and it's getting more so with each day.
Iran has promised to damage oil production in its part of the world if it is attacked, and it's quite capable of doing that regardless of what else is done. One very likely consequence of any military action against Iran will be a drastic cut in world oil production and a drastic fall in world gross production. Scarcity is tantamount to expensive. Cheap energy supports an expanding or at least stable world economy.
#1
Neither India nor China would trust Russia further than they could throw it. So BRIC seems to amount to Russia trying to sucker the Brazilians, who have long had poor economic judgment.
I mean, seriously. Brazilia? What were they thinking?
Wary as they both are of Chinas long-term intentions, India and US came together on Monday to discuss Beijings galloping modernisation of its 2.25-million strong armed forces and its strategic moves in the Asia-Pacific region.
The Red Dragon, with its spreading wings, was a prominent presence in the room during the talks visiting US chief of naval operations chief Admiral Gary Roughead held with the top Indian military brass, including Navy chief Admiral Nirmal Verma and Army chief General V K Singh, on Monday.
Both sides, among other things, shared their assessments of Chinas transborder military capabilities and its increasing presence in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR). China, of course, has also forged extensive maritime links with IOR countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar. Sources said Chinas ambitious aircraft carrier building programme was of particular interest since this is one arena in which it actually lags behind even India.
Posted by: john frum ||
04/13/2010 16:24 Comments ||
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