CAIRO: The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has declared war on a sworn domestic enemy: sorcery. The daunting task of eradicating sorcery has been assigned to the Kingdom's dreaded religious police. Sorcery is punishable by death in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and the preferred method of execution is a public beheading by sword, followed by crucifixion. The religious police, officially known as The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, announced they have established a ‘field unit' dedicated to ridding the kingdom of the blasphemous practice of black magic. The perpetrators of sorcery are named as the “key causers of religious and social instability in the country.” The new unit is headed by Sheikh Adel Al Muqbil, a religious scholar in Saudi Arabia. The Commission's president, Sheikh Abdul Latif Al Shaikh, ordered the creation of this unit with a statement, that is intended to “activate field action to fight sorcerers and charlatans in all parts of the kingdom.” “The unit has been given orders to immediately arrest sorcerers and charlatans and refer them to the specialized authorities to apply God's punishment on them and end their harmful deeds against Muslims,” his statement read. The new unit is the latest in a series of measures taken by Saudi Arabia to eliminate sorcery as part of a campaign spearheaded by the Commission, an autonomous state fundamentalist group backed by King Abdullah. Local Saudi Arabic language newspapers reported last year that King Abdullah tasked the Commission to devise new ways to combat the offense of sorcery in a SR 2 million plan. Saudi Arabia enforces one of the most draconian interpretations of Islamic sharia law in the world. Apparently, there has been a surge in black magic there, recently. The campaign, which will continue indefinitely, involves lectures, training courses, a stronger coordination among all relevant authorities, exchanges of information within the kingdom's regions and storming of suspected places. There have been a spate of Saudi beheadings for sorcery, in recent years. The Commission said the drive would cover all areas of the kingdom and would target all forms of black magic, which is viewed by Islam and other religions as evil and satanic-driven. While some people defend what they describe as white magic, Islam and many other religions consider all types of magic as evil. The Commission has not specified witchcraft offences in the kingdom but there have been reports of cases involving all forms of black magic, including dowsing, exorcism, money cloning, fortune tellers, healers, bone-setters, makers of potions, herbalists, palmists, animal callers, alchemists, psychics, and empathy. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/biiUX Tags: Beheading, Death, SaudiArabia, Sorcery, Sword Section: Gulf, Latest News, Religion, Saudi Arabia
