I read with interest the article “We don’t need vigilantes” (March 28) by Sabria S. Jawhar. This phenomenon is not unique to Saudi Arabia, the entire Muslim world has such self-proclaimed custodians of faith in abundance and basically these people are the root cause of many social problems.
When confronted, such people always quotes verses from the Qur’an and give some example from the early days of Islam. Their approach is very wrong. Promotion of virtue and prevention of vice is an important function but we cannot ignore the importance of social order. In the case of Saudi Arabia, we already have an organization called Haia and we all know its functions and jurisdictions.
Individuals don’t have the right to impose their will on others. Interference in other people’s business will ultimately lead to social chaos. The basic problem is that we don’t have a proper understanding of Islam and that is why we take actions that in our opinion may look Islamic in nature but in reality they run against the spirit of the true teachings of Islam.
Our religious scholars should try to educate people on these issues. They could play a great role in increasing awareness about Islam’s social values. Special programs should be organized in mosques to increase awareness about social issues
Khalid Saifullah
When confronted, such people always quotes verses from the Qur’an and give some example from the early days of Islam. Their approach is very wrong. Promotion of virtue and prevention of vice is an important function but we cannot ignore the importance of social order. In the case of Saudi Arabia, we already have an organization called Haia and we all know its functions and jurisdictions.
Individuals don’t have the right to impose their will on others. Interference in other people’s business will ultimately lead to social chaos. The basic problem is that we don’t have a proper understanding of Islam and that is why we take actions that in our opinion may look Islamic in nature but in reality they run against the spirit of the true teachings of Islam.
Our religious scholars should try to educate people on these issues. They could play a great role in increasing awareness about Islam’s social values. Special programs should be organized in mosques to increase awareness about social issues
Khalid Saifullah
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