A recent fashion show in Saudi Arabia is currently in the midst of a controversy. The BBC reports that Islamic scholars in the country have strongly reacted to the fashion show.
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The controversy is over the fact that the fashion show featured a ‘glass installation’ that resembles the holy Kaaba.
The installation, which was part of Saudi Arabia’s annual cultural festival, ‘Riyadh Season’, has drawn intense criticism in mainstream Arab media and social media.
Critics say it is an insult to Islam’s holiest site. However, Saudi state media has dismissed all allegations.
A Saudi organization that works to counter rumors has also said that the structure that has been the subject of so much controversy at the fashion show is just a glass cube.
After the uproar over the matter, Saudi Arabia's 'Anti-Rumor Authority' has categorically denied that any object modeled after the Holy Kaaba was used in the event.
The authority said that it was a cubic structure made of glass, which has no connection to the Kaaba.
The 'Anti-Rumor Authority' is an independent Saudi media platform in the country that tracks online rumors and verifies their veracity. However, despite the explanation given by Saudi Arabia's state media in response to criticism, many Islamic figures have considered the incident an 'insult to Islam'.
Some hardliners have gone a step further and said that what was done in this 'distorted' exhibition is the 'work of Satan'. Saudi Arabia's state media has dismissed these criticisms as an attempt to defame the country.
Videos and photos of the event are being shared on the internet via 'Telegram' and 'Facebook'. Tariq Abd Al-Halim, a Canadian Islamic writer. He shares the post on Telegram under the name Hidayat Alsari.
He writes that polytheism has returned to the Arabian Peninsula as an official religion. Tariq Abd Al-Halim is referring to the Kaaba-like structure used in the fashion show.
Some have even compared it to ‘paganism’. Meanwhile, many hardliners have linked the name of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to the controversy and targeted him as well.
Saudi Crown Prince Targeted
Moroccan religious leader Al-Hassan bin Ali Al-Qittani said that the incident is a sign of the decline of values and corruption. He alleged that most scholars have remained silent on the incident. Only a few ‘voices of truth’ have spoken out on the issue.
Many of them have criticized the ruling family of Saudi Arabia over the fashion show incident. They have long been known as the ‘enemy’ of jihadists and many hardliners.
Syria-based thinker Abdel Rahman al-Idrisi claims that the models dancing around a structure that looks like the Kaaba was actually ordered by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
A supporter of the so-called Islamic State took to Facebook to mock the Saudi crown prince as an ‘immoral adulterer’ and accused him of ‘betraying Islam’.
What is Riyadh Season?
Riyadh Season is an annual entertainment, culture and sports event held in Saudi Arabia. Lebanese designer Elie Saab held a fashion show as part of Riyadh Season 2024.
Many social media users in the country have expressed their objections to the event.
In addition to the structure on display on the stage, they have also criticized the timing of the fashion show. The fashion show has been widely criticized for holding during the war in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon.
A report by the London-based Arabic newspaper Rai Al-Youm also accuses the designers and organizers of the Riyadh Season of ignoring the ongoing war.
A person on the social media platform Platform X wrote sarcastically, "Saudi Arabia invites dancers and singers amid the massacre in Gaza." Source: BBC
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