Rethinking the call to kill Mickey Mouse

Rethinking the call to kill Mickey Mouse

Saudi’s King Abdullah has said that several individuals have to be stopped from issuing “chaotic and whimsical fatwas.” So, is Mickey Mouse safe?

January 19, 2009 12:32 by Aarti Nagraj

Another controversial fatwa was Sheikh Al-Munajid’s call to kill Mickey Mouse. Appearing on Al-Majd TV in August, Al- Munajid said, “According to Islamic law, the mouse is a repulsive, corrupting creature. How do you think children view mice today -after Tom and Jerry? Even creatures that are repulsive by nature, by logic, and according to Islamic law have become wonderful and are loved by children. Even mice. Mickey Mouse has become an awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey Mouse should be killed in all cases.”

However, Al-Munajid clarified his stand in a later interview: “I never issued a fatwa about the killing of Mickey Mouse. Nobody asked me for a ruling with regard to Mickey Mouse, and I did not say that it is permissible or necessary to kill Mickey Mouse. None of this ever happened,” he said. “I said that some cartoon characters, such as dogs, pigs, and mice – reprehensible animals according to shari’a – are glorified in animated films[...] I mentioned Mickey Mouse, or that Jerry, by way of example only.”

Another fatwa issued in the kingdom last year reportedly said that “Saudis who study out of Saudi Arabia like America have the Islamic permit to married a western girl by intending to leave her after a short time for just intercourse and when he will come back to Saudi he must divorce her and all that without telling her the truth at all.”

There’s more.

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Tags: clerics, Gaza, israel, kill, marriage, mickey mouse, muslim, religion, Saudi Arabia, saudi fatwas, women