Today, September 23, marks Saudi National Day – the day when King Abdul Aziz declared Saudi Arabia a kingdom in 1923. Once again, the streets of Riyadh are filled with an excessive number of Saudi flags. Students in schools throughout the Kingdom have had class parties and dressed up in green “I love Saudi” shirts while eating cupcakes with King Abdullah’s face on them. Taking advantage of the day off, many Saudis are planning long weekend escapes from the country – ironically, many cannot bear to remain inside Saudi Arabia when given the chance to take a vacation. For many Saudis, this holiday is a day of national pride; for others it is just an extra day off. For a few it is an embarrassment and a shame. The Saudi government’s official stance on all holidays, besides Eid Al-Fitr and Eid Al-Adha, (which are two celebrations that have their roots in the Quran) is that they are haram, or forbidden in Islam. When I was a lecturer at a government university in Saudi, we were told to punish students who dared to celebrate birthdays, and to skip over and rip pages out of any texts that mention non-Islamic holidays. While all non-eid celebrations remain proscribed, a few years ago the government decided to create one hypocritical halal, or Islamically permitted, exception: Saudi National Day. After all, what absolute monarchy could resist having its own subjects dedicate an entire day to celebrating the regime?
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 19:00:01 +0000
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