"... the letter [from the religious police] followed a picture published in local newspapers showing Pino’s tattoos included some 'Christian drawings.'"
That's what's going to plunge the whole country into a fit of shirk. How many Saudis are even going to look at Juan Pablo Pino's right bicep and say "Oh, hey, that's Jesus"? Many might not know the image, immediately recognizable as it is in the West, from Ted Nugent.
Morality police are ultimately a cheap, lazy way for a government to look pious, busy, and productive, bolstering its Islamic credentials for public consumption, and to intimidate against even the slightest hint of a challenge to authority. "Saudi bans footballers with tattoos: report," from Emirates 24/7, October 10:
Saudi Arabia’s religious police have told foreign players with tattoos on their arms to cover such drawings while on the field, saying they are adversely affecting young Saudis, a newspaper reported on Monday.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice sent a letter to the Higher Youth Committee asking it to warn all foreign players in the conservative Muslim Gulf kingdom to cover their tattoos before going into the field during matches, Sabq Arabic language daily said.
The letter cited Columbian player at Al Nasr Club, Juan Pablo Pino, whose hands and shoulders are covered with tattoos “in violation of existing rules.”
“These tattoos have negative effects on the Saudi youth…you are asked to draw the attention of all foreign players in the Kingdom to the need to abide by the rules and cover their tattoos during matches,” the letter said.
The paper said the letter contained a photograph of Pino, showing his two arms are covered with tattoos.
The paper said the letter followed a picture published in local newspapers showing Pino’s tattoos included some “Christian drawings.”
The 24-year-old Pino and his pregnant wife were detained by Commission members at a Riyadh shopping mall this week on the grounds he was wearing a T-shirt without sleeves.
Time for the Colombian team to pick up their ball and go home.
The civilized countries should not be playing games with these barbarians; it gives them the wrong idea. They start to believe their ridiculous behaviour is acceptable.
The wheel is the symbol of Buddhism, which is a non-Islamic religion every bit as offensive as Judaism and Christianity. May I therefore respectfully suggest, in the interests of interfaith harmony, that all vehicles exported to Islamic countries should have their wheels removed prior to shipping.
they are the most rediculous people ever. What next, playing in sandals, whilst wearing a turban.
whats gonna happen when all the tattooed soccer players turn up for the world cup in Quatar. I know its not saudi, but it is another islamic hell hole. I say boycott the whole thing.
Maybe they should, along with all other Muslims, get rid of all their bullets.
Why? Well, pig gelatine is used to transport gun powder or cordite into the casing.
Ironic isn't it that they are willing to use something as haram as PIG in their ammunition, but want us to stop even keeping pigs as pets.....
LOL!
Anyway, we are in the area: do take a look at the Wikipedia article on the editor in chief of 'Arab News', Khaled Al-Maeena.
It is one of the better ones ;-)
Apparently tattoos, especially those with religious themes, are harmful to saudi youth because it makes it impossible for the authorities to perpetuate the lie that moslems are "the best of all people". They can never afford to say something like "moslems are the best of all people,except at football." That may lead to some smart alec saudi kid asking embarrassing questions like "football and what else?"
Wouldn't want to start down that slippery slope. Might lead to embarrassing questions about things like Nobel prizes,art,literature,industry,science,etc. Next thing you know the kids will be execising their reason independently, without reference to the koran or the religious authorities.
And that would be truly haram.
And what about crossing yourself when you score a goal?!
Speaking of the future World Cup being granted to Quatar, that is a prime example of western officials bending over & taking bribes from the Islamic petro dollar monster. Quatar rated poorly in FIFA'S own technical assessment, it's a typical Islamic desert hell hole, & the games are going to be played in 40 degree celcius temperatures & high humidity. Quatar's football chief is so corrupt he has even been found guilty of corruption by the corrupt FIFA itself, countries votes were blatantly bought by Quatar. FIFA is just following the example of bending over for petro dollars like western politicians such as Hillary Clinton I guess.
There was the mayhem created when a women was discovered among the crowd watching a soccer game ....there was the intense excitement bacause of a rumor that women were playing soccer - in shorts! - behind the closed gate of a private sports club ....there is the habit of the Saudi crowd shouting "may God grant victory to your religion" when a player performs above average and this obviously is deemed unacceptable when the player is an Infidel.
Saudi Arabia is a source of never ending fun. But also scary.
Shameless double standards our saudi "friends" have. Pity our governments can't see it.
There should be two separate leagues for all sports - muslim and non-muslim. No islamic state should ever be given the rights to any event such as the World Cup or the Olympics.
OMG - I'm a young, impressionable Saudi and, like, I totally saw across tattoo on a soccer player! I want to become a Christian! Wow! Like, that was quick! No wonder the iman is worried......
As much as the imans don't want to ''start down that slippery slope'' as you wistfully put it, that slippery slope is coming to meet them whether they like it or not. They better start swimmin', or they'll sink like a stone. .(to borrow yet again off Dylan)
Hilarious.
Just in the extremely unlikely event that you happened to "attribute his job due to patronage of any members of the ruling royal family" (which is so obviously unheard of, like, especially in SA) and NOT because of his "talents and merits, alone" or that you inadvertently suspected any "rumblings and poor performance" which so totally unambiguously blatantly exasperatingly obviously was part of a disinformation campaign.
Just in case you were wondering.
^ Khaled Al-Maeena's Wiki article
And wow. Saudi really is hilarious.
http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/women-with-seditious-eyes-must-cover-up-2010-11-14-1.317325
Sedition. Not even seduction. Or maybe seduction in SA IS sedition.
More excuses for the would-be attackers. Uncovered meat, them seditious eyes.
Or this one. Bluetooth.
http://www.emirates247.com/news/region/beware-dangers-of-bluetooth-in-saudi-2010-12-01-1.323699
''Saudi Arabia is a source of never ending fun. But also scary''
You said it mate.
Isn't soccer Haram, anyway? Many pious Muslims think so.
Check out the idiotic yahoos on this site—including the moron who confidently claims that the Qur'an tells you "not to watch tv". Never mind that television was invented 1400 years after Islam...
http://www.turntoislam.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18886
By the way, how desperate does a player have to be before he takes a position with a team somewhere in Dar-al-Islam? Not a region generally known for good soccer—or anything else, for that matter...
By the way, here's a picture of Juan Pablo Pino's ink:
http://images.freethinker.co.uk/uploads/2011/10/Pino.jpg
Somehow I imagine the only truly objectionable one is of Jésus...