Don’t let them eat cake,
Saudi cleric says

Saudi Arabia’s most senior Muslim cleric recently denounced birthday
parties as an unwanted foreign influence, but another prominent cleric
declared they were OK.

-snip-

The Saudi ban on birthdays is in line with the strict interpretation of
Islam followed by the conservative Wahhabi sect adhered to in the
kingdom. All Christian and even most Muslim feasts are also prohibited
because they are considered alien customs the Saudi clerics don’t
sanction.

They don’t like birthday parties? The mind boggles.

Saudi Arabia’s grand mufti and top religious authority, Sheik Abdul-Aziz
Al Sheik … said such celebrations have no place in Islam and gave a
list of foreign customs he suggested were unacceptable.

“Christians have Mother’s Day, an eid (festival) for trees, and an eid
for every occasion,” said Al Sheik, who also heads the Presidency for
Scientific Research and Religious Edicts, speaking to Al-Madina
newspaper. “And on every birthday, candles are lit and food is given
out.”

Okay, I just can’t get my head around the “Presidency for Scientific
Research and Religious Edicts” bit. Science deals with verifiable
evidence, religion has nice stories and never the twain shall meet. Why
would you have one guy head up these two things? Oh yeah, so you can
censor the science part because it will invariably show that your
stories are nonsense.

“It’s not permissible to take part in them,” (Sheik Abdul-Aziz bin Baz)
said. “Birthday parties are an innovation … and people are in no need
of innovations.”

And you can’t have innovation of any kind, even for parties. Innovation
means people might actually start to think. And question.
And act. What a prick. He wants to control every aspect of
people’s lives even to the point where they can’t enjoy themselves for
even an hour or two. He wants mindless, unquestioning drudges who jump
at his every whim. Asshole.

Religion: the human race’s worst invention.