The Religious Policeman
Encyclopedia
The Religious Policeman is a weblog
written by an anonymous blogger describing himself as a Saudi Arabia
n man, and writing under the pseudonym
of Alhamedi Alanezi. The name of the site is a deliberate reference to the Saudi religious policing (Muttawa or Mutaween
) organisation called the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Whilst the blog does feaure the Mutaween
to great extent, it also concerns itself with the wider subjects of the Saudi Arabia
n Government's activities, and human rights (or lack of) within that country. Overall, its style is critical and satirical.
The author suspended publication of the blog at various times, claiming reasons of personal safety within that country, and the need to maintain anonymity. The last entry was in 2006, when the author announced that he was planning to write a book. In spite of this, the blog continues to attract a stream of visitors.
Strangely, the blog is not blocked by Saudi Arabia's internet censorship firewall.
in March 2004, dedicating his blog to the memory of, so he said, "the lives of 15 Makkah Schoolgirls, lost when their school burnt down on Monday, 11 March, 2002. The Religious Police would not allow them to leave the building, nor allow the Firemen to enter." He soon became known for his scathing satirical attacks on the Saudi government and the fundamentalist Wahhabi
school which governs all aspects of Saudi society.
In August 2004, Alhamedi announced that he would not be blogging for some time for reasons he did not wish to elaborate on, leading many readers to become concerned that he had been discovered by the Saudi authorities. After a year of silence he reappeared, stating that he moved to London
, UK
, from where he continued to post regularly until announcing in June 2006 that he was retiring from blogging in order to write a book. Whilst there have been no further entries since then, it still remains a focus of interest, attracting hundreds of visitors each day.
and of guest workers
in Saudi Arabia is also a regular target of criticism. He makes extensive use of satire
and humour in his writing.
He generally regards the Saudi royal family as corrupt and incompetent, with a few exceptions, and the religious police and the country's religious leaders as backwards and repressive. While many posts are straightforward factual reporting and analysis, some take the form of imagined conversations between senior Saudi figures such as Prince Naif ibn Abdul Aziz
, the Interior Minister, and King Abdullah
.
Another common theme is what he sees as hypersensitivity by Muslim leaders to what they see as criticism or blasphemy
from non-Muslim countries. During the controversy
over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
by a Danish
newspaper in 2005, Alhamedi created the fictitious Muslim Offense Level, a satire of the color-coded threat level advisory system
used by the US Department of Homeland Security
, intended to keep Muslims informed of how offended they should be feeling on any particular day.
Alhamedi frequently ridicules the inherent racism
and xenophobia
which is fostered within some aspects of Saudi culture, as well as the official malevolence towards Israeli Jews
in particular. For example, in this post he challenges the reader to differentiate between phrases taken from Mein Kampf
and those found in current Saudi textbooks, which are believed to "promote an ideology of hatred toward people, including Muslims, who do not subscribe to the Wahhabi sect of Islam." In a typically satiric fashion, he writes:
While most of Alhamedi's posts are critical of the Saudi authorities, he does post positive articles when senior Saudi individuals or bodies take steps or enact policies which he regards as a step in the right direction.
in Saudi Arabia, but not one with significant links to the House of Saud
.
Though his posts are written exclusively in the English language, Alhamedi has also demonstrated an excellent command of French
in the comments section of his blog. It was claimed by some detractors that he was not Saudi at all, citing his limited use of the Arabic language
within the blog. However, as Alhamedi pointed out, the blog is intended for an international audience, with English giving the widest international reach. He has demonstrated his familiarity with Arabic when, for example, he explained to readers how to fill out a form on the official Religious Policeman site, the form that citizens can use to complain about the religious transgressions of their neighbours. Alhamedi urged his readers to send the Religious Policeman a bogus complaint, for example denouncing a member of the royal family for having a Christmas carol ringtone on their cellphone.
He is known to have a fondness for both camels
and cat
s, and appears to be genuinely concerned for womens' rights.
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
written by an anonymous blogger describing himself as a Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
n man, and writing under the pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
of Alhamedi Alanezi. The name of the site is a deliberate reference to the Saudi religious policing (Muttawa or Mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
) organisation called the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice. Whilst the blog does feaure the Mutaween
Mutaween
The word mutaween most literally means "volunteers" in the Arabic language, and is commonly used as a casual term for the government-authorized or government-recognized religious police of Saudi Arabia....
to great extent, it also concerns itself with the wider subjects of the Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , commonly known in British English as Saudi Arabia and in Arabic as as-Sa‘ūdiyyah , is the largest state in Western Asia by land area, constituting the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and the second-largest in the Arab World...
n Government's activities, and human rights (or lack of) within that country. Overall, its style is critical and satirical.
The author suspended publication of the blog at various times, claiming reasons of personal safety within that country, and the need to maintain anonymity. The last entry was in 2006, when the author announced that he was planning to write a book. In spite of this, the blog continues to attract a stream of visitors.
Strangely, the blog is not blocked by Saudi Arabia's internet censorship firewall.
History
Alhamedi started blogging from RiyadhRiyadh
Riyadh is the capital and largest city of Saudi Arabia. It is also the capital of Riyadh Province, and belongs to the historical regions of Najd and Al-Yamama. It is situated in the center of the Arabian Peninsula on a large plateau, and is home to 5,254,560 people, and the urban center of a...
in March 2004, dedicating his blog to the memory of, so he said, "the lives of 15 Makkah Schoolgirls, lost when their school burnt down on Monday, 11 March, 2002. The Religious Police would not allow them to leave the building, nor allow the Firemen to enter." He soon became known for his scathing satirical attacks on the Saudi government and the fundamentalist Wahhabi
Wahhabism
Wahhabism is a religious movement or a branch of Islam. It was developed by an 18th century Muslim theologian from Najd, Saudi Arabia. Ibn Abdul Al-Wahhab advocated purging Islam of what he considered to be impurities and innovations...
school which governs all aspects of Saudi society.
In August 2004, Alhamedi announced that he would not be blogging for some time for reasons he did not wish to elaborate on, leading many readers to become concerned that he had been discovered by the Saudi authorities. After a year of silence he reappeared, stating that he moved to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, from where he continued to post regularly until announcing in June 2006 that he was retiring from blogging in order to write a book. Whilst there have been no further entries since then, it still remains a focus of interest, attracting hundreds of visitors each day.
Common subjects
Most of Alhamedi's posts are highly critical of the Saudi ruling family, their policies and the strict imposition of fundamentalist Islamic morals on Saudi society by the Saudi religious police. The treatment of womenWoman
A woman , pl: women is a female human. The term woman is usually reserved for an adult, with the term girl being the usual term for a female child or adolescent...
and of guest workers
Foreign worker
A foreign worker is a person who works in a country other than the one of which he or she is a citizen. The term migrant worker as discussed in the migrant worker page is used in a particular UN resolution as a synonym for "foreign worker"...
in Saudi Arabia is also a regular target of criticism. He makes extensive use of satire
Satire
Satire is primarily a literary genre or form, although in practice it can also be found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ideally with the intent of shaming individuals, and society itself, into improvement...
and humour in his writing.
He generally regards the Saudi royal family as corrupt and incompetent, with a few exceptions, and the religious police and the country's religious leaders as backwards and repressive. While many posts are straightforward factual reporting and analysis, some take the form of imagined conversations between senior Saudi figures such as Prince Naif ibn Abdul Aziz
Nayef bin Abdul Aziz
Born = Ta'if, Saudi ArabiaNayef bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud, also spelled Naif, is the Crown Prince , First Deputy Prime Minister and long time Minister of Interior of Saudi Arabia. He is a half-brother of King Abdullah. He is one of the five surviving members of the Sudairi Seven.-Early life and...
, the Interior Minister, and King Abdullah
Abdullah of Saudi Arabia
Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is the King of Saudi Arabia. He succeeded to the throne on 1 August 2005 upon the death of his half-brother, King Fahd. When Crown Prince, he governed Saudi Arabia as regent from 1998 to 2005...
.
Another common theme is what he sees as hypersensitivity by Muslim leaders to what they see as criticism or blasphemy
Blasphemy
Blasphemy is irreverence towards religious or holy persons or things. Some countries have laws to punish blasphemy, while others have laws to give recourse to those who are offended by blasphemy...
from non-Muslim countries. During the controversy
Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy
The Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy began after 12 editorial cartoons, most of which depicted the Islamic prophet Muhammad, were published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten on 30 September 2005...
over the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad
Muhammad
Muhammad |ligature]] at U+FDF4 ;Arabic pronunciation varies regionally; the first vowel ranges from ~~; the second and the last vowel: ~~~. There are dialects which have no stress. In Egypt, it is pronounced not in religious contexts...
by a Danish
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
newspaper in 2005, Alhamedi created the fictitious Muslim Offense Level, a satire of the color-coded threat level advisory system
Homeland Security Advisory System
In the United States, the Homeland Security Advisory System was a color-coded terrorism threat advisory scale. The different levels trigger specific actions by federal agencies and state and local governments, and they affect the level of security at some airports and other public facilities. It...
used by the US Department of Homeland Security
United States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
, intended to keep Muslims informed of how offended they should be feeling on any particular day.
Alhamedi frequently ridicules the inherent racism
Racism
Racism is the belief that inherent different traits in human racial groups justify discrimination. In the modern English language, the term "racism" is used predominantly as a pejorative epithet. It is applied especially to the practice or advocacy of racial discrimination of a pernicious nature...
and xenophobia
Xenophobia
Xenophobia is defined as "an unreasonable fear of foreigners or strangers or of that which is foreign or strange". It comes from the Greek words ξένος , meaning "stranger," "foreigner" and φόβος , meaning "fear."...
which is fostered within some aspects of Saudi culture, as well as the official malevolence towards Israeli Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...
in particular. For example, in this post he challenges the reader to differentiate between phrases taken from Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf is a book written by Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. It combines elements of autobiography with an exposition of Hitler's political ideology. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926...
and those found in current Saudi textbooks, which are believed to "promote an ideology of hatred toward people, including Muslims, who do not subscribe to the Wahhabi sect of Islam." In a typically satiric fashion, he writes:
"In Saudi Arabia, we don't feed our children alcohol. Instead, we feed them race hate. It's a progressive thing, building up layer by layer, using the material you see above. Thankfully, many forget it, just like we all forget algebra and bits of history. But there is a proportion for whom it sticks. They are our "alcoholics". And their hatred extends not only to Jews worldwide, but also the countries that are seen to support them - North America, Europe, Australasia. And a proportion of these decide to do something about it, and sign up with the terrorist groups. Eventually they might get caught, and repatriated. And we have our own "drying-out clinics". It's a program where we get people to talk them round, to see the error of their ways, to be rehabilitated. And unlike a drying-out clinic, we keep them in prison in between times, so you can imagine that the "success rate" is a lot higher."
While most of Alhamedi's posts are critical of the Saudi authorities, he does post positive articles when senior Saudi individuals or bodies take steps or enact policies which he regards as a step in the right direction.
Biography
Very little is known about Alhamedi, who guards his anonymity closely in order to avoid the attentions of the Saudi authorities. He claims to be a family man, that he was educated in the UK and the US, and that he is from a fairly prominent tribeTribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
in Saudi Arabia, but not one with significant links to the House of Saud
House of Saud
The House of Saud , also called the Al Saud, is the ruling royal family of Saudi Arabia and one of the wealthiest and most powerful dynasties in the world. The family holds thousands of members...
.
Though his posts are written exclusively in the English language, Alhamedi has also demonstrated an excellent command of French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
in the comments section of his blog. It was claimed by some detractors that he was not Saudi at all, citing his limited use of the Arabic language
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
within the blog. However, as Alhamedi pointed out, the blog is intended for an international audience, with English giving the widest international reach. He has demonstrated his familiarity with Arabic when, for example, he explained to readers how to fill out a form on the official Religious Policeman site, the form that citizens can use to complain about the religious transgressions of their neighbours. Alhamedi urged his readers to send the Religious Policeman a bogus complaint, for example denouncing a member of the royal family for having a Christmas carol ringtone on their cellphone.
He is known to have a fondness for both camels
Dromedary
The dromedary or Arabian camel is a large, even-toed ungulate with one hump on its back. Its native range is unclear, but it was probably the Arabian Peninsula. The domesticated form occurs widely in North Africa and the Middle East...
and cat
Cat
The cat , also known as the domestic cat or housecat to distinguish it from other felids and felines, is a small, usually furry, domesticated, carnivorous mammal that is valued by humans for its companionship and for its ability to hunt vermin and household pests...
s, and appears to be genuinely concerned for womens' rights.