Saudi Arabian Sheikh Forbids Taking Selfies With Cats

[Deleted]

Image: The prominent Saudi cleric does not approve of taking selfies with cats as it promotes western culture.

Saudi Arabia - Cats may not quite have taken over the Internet and our smartphones, but they’re definitely starring characters. Apparently that’s increasingly true even in ultraconservative Saudi Arabia, which was news to Saleh bin Fawzan al-Fawzan, a prominent cleric who is a member of the Saudi Council of Senior Scholars.

In a television appearance that was posted online in mid-April and translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute, the sheik was told by someone off-camera that “taking pictures with cats has been spreading among people, who want to be like the Westerners.”

“What?!” he responded, incredulous. The other person had to repeat the claim half a dozen times, in a variety of ways — “They are taking pictures with them, Sheik” — before it sunk in.

Fawzan, you may have guessed, did not approve. But even though he seemed appalled by the idea of selfies with cats and pronounced them “prohibited,” it’s worth noting that he didn’t seem to have anything personal against felines. “The cats don’t matter here,” he said. “Taking pictures is prohibited if not for a necessity, not with cats, not with dogs, not with wolves, not with anything.”

Chess was forbidden in the country earlier this year because it “encourages gambling and is a waste of time and finances.”

Sources:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/...ies-with-cats/
http://www.timesofisrael.com/saudi-c...-cats-a-no-no/

[Rooflesstoofless]

Old religious people like to ban shit.

In the US we have Blue Laws. Ever try to buy a car on a Sunday in Colorado or buy beer on a Sunday in Kansas only to be told 'yer suppose to be in church'?

[Sunseeker]

This just in: Old person without real job and nothing to do on the weekends decides to ruin grandkids fun by making them do yardwork and not owning a TV. Surprisingly, parents still happy to have free babysitting while they go get wasted.

[Reeve]

It's funny. Not that long ago (early 1900s), emulating middle eastern trends was all the rage in the United States. That's why we have so many palm trees in California, because it was considered part of the whole exotic "oriental" mystique.

If more people in the world became comfortable emulating the awesome parts of each others' cultures, people would fear each other less, would hate each other less, and the world as a whole would be better off. This is part of why I don't understand why people feel "cultural appropriation" is somehow bad.

[Deleted]

#notallkitties #selfelines... I am terrible at making up hashtags.

I can't even come to an irrational conclusion as to how one could forbid it. Other than felines being the symbol of some obscure old middle eastern god.

[Deleted]

Who cares... He is an old fart and people don't care here about him.

If he's an old fart that no one cares about then why is on the Council of senior scholars that makes LAWS?

So I guess you don't care about people who decide your laws. Very smart.

[Sky High]

If he's an old fart that no one cares about then why is on the Council of senior scholars that makes LAWS?

So I guess you don't care about people who decide your laws. Very smart.

pretty sure they just doesn't care about some old guy in Saudi Arabia making laws that have fuck all to do with people living outside of there. but sure, yet another example of old powers doing whatever it takes to keep the masses pacified, even if it doesn't work.

[Deleted]

pretty sure they just doesn't care about some old guy in Saudi Arabia making laws that have fuck all to do with people living outside of there. but sure, yet another example of old powers doing whatever it takes to keep the masses pacified, even if it doesn't work.

I was replying to a guy from Saudi Arabia @Sky High

but yes, the saudi royal dictatorship gives free benefits to get them to shut up.

[Mellomania]

But kitties are so cute D:

[Sky High]

I was replying to a guy from Saudi Arabia @Sky High

ah, didn't see that. /shrug

[Blobfish]

These people better not go to Saudi Arabia then

"Beheadings for all of them"

[Deleted]

What's he gonna do about it?

[GennGreymane]

What's he gonna do about it?

I thought it was a selfie if you took it your self?

[Thepersona]

I thought it was a selfie if you took it your self?

he did. that's the awesome part

[Deleted]

Your started threads are all about saudi arabia. Were you denied a job there or got kicked from there?

Funniest thing I've read all day.

[zephid]

The topic is a bit of a click bait (yes I know the sources used a similar wording) since they didn't specifically ban selfies containing cats, they simple prohibited people from taking unnecessary pictures, doesn't matter what they contain.

[Rudkobing]

How could you not want to take pictures with cats, dogs, and especially wolves????

[ati87]

The topic is a bit of a click bait (yes I know the sources used a similar wording) since they didn't specifically ban selfies containing cats, they simple prohibited people from taking unnecessary pictures, doesn't matter what they contain.

I'm just going out of a limb here and say that if you go and ask the general population of any county if they should ban (in a literal sense) stupid selfies a great deal of any population will probably say yes.

[Jason brookside]

Muslims doing what they do best