Saudi Arabia cracks down on wacky, dull clerics

Keep it short and to the point. And above all, don’t embarrass the boss.

That’s the message of a series of official Saudi directives restricting the activities of clerics who issue bizarre fatwas or deliver long-winded sermons, including some who have been accused of simply ripping off sermons from the Internet and reading them aloud.

The kingdom’s top cleric this week ordered one preacher to shut up after he issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on the faithful to boycott a chain of supermarkets because it employs women as cashiers, according to an article posted Friday on the website of the pro-government Arab News.

A royal decree has restricted the issuing of only to clerics approved by King Abdullah.

Authorities are fed up with clerics who embarrass the kingdom by issuing wacky or sexist edicts. The battle to silence the clerics also may be part of a broader attempt by Abdullah to put the clergy in its place, akin to the conflicts between emerging European states and the Roman Catholic Church centuries ago.

Last week, authorities pulled the plug on a television preacher who had made international waves by issuing a fatwa saying unrelated men and women could mingle in public so long as a woman allows the man to drink her breast milk in order establish a maternal bond.

The most recent controversy erupted after cleric Youssef Ahmed told Saudis to avoid the Panda supermarket chain because it allowed the mingling of female and male employees and customers.

Some clerics dismissed Ahmed’s ruling.

“Islam has never prevented women from education and work,” said Muhammad Zulfah, according to Arab News. “Those who oppose the work of women should reeducate themselves.”

But Ahmed may have angered some powerful figures. Panda employs more than 10,000 people in more than 100 branches around the Persian Gulf. The firm acknowledged that it was forced to move 11 female employees this week but said it would continue employing women in public areas of the stores.

Since then, Grand Mufti Sheik Abdul Aziz ash-Sheik, Saudi’s top cleric, publicly ordered Ahmed to stop issuing such religious rulings.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs has ordered clerics to keep their Friday sermons short and smart, according to a report published Friday by the Saudi Gazette. A ministry official warned clerics they would face punishment if they don’t trim their speeches, including having to undergo training or having their paychecks docked.

Azam Shewair, an official at the ministry’s branch in Riyadh, the capital, said clerics needed to keep in mind that elderly or sick worshipers may not be able to handle sitting through hourlong speeches. Another scholar told the Gazette that speeches should be no more than 15 minutes.

In the comments the Gazette elicited from Saudi scholars, there also was a palpable contempt and dismissal of the junior clergy as uneducated rabble who need to be reined in.

“The impact of the sermon is not measured by its length but by the eloquent, concise and precise wording,” said Saleh Humaid, a ranking cleric. “Imams should refrain from flowery and bombastic language and delve directly into the core of their sermon.”

Another scholar accused some clerics of copying and pasting Friday sermons from books or the Internet and reciting them without even understanding what they’re saying.

Those clerics, critics say, could also benefit from editing.

“Some of them elaborate on the topic by repeating themselves and going around in circles,” Ahmad Mawrai, a Saudi professor, told the Gazette. “In many cases they jump from one topic to another. This is why their sermons are tedious and boring.”

borzou.daragahi@latimes.com