| Kippreport.com

Don’t watch cinema or play chess

March 26, 2009 3:03 by Aarti Nagraj

The latest in the long list of dos and don’ts issued by the clerics in Saudi Arabia has just been announced: don’t watch theater performances. The kingdom’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Alu Al Sheikh told students at the King Saud University that “Theatrical performance, whether it is a cinema or a song, would generally make an impression that is against shariah. People need only those (art forms) that are useful to them to change their way of life (in an Islamic manner).”

He also warned against playing chess as “it causes a man to lose his wealth and waste his time.” However, he did say that “Photography is one of the necessities of life.”

Throw away that chessboard and make way for a new camera.

Tags: chess, cinema, grand mufti, photography, Saudi, shariah law, theatre