Saudi Arabia:
Saudi king limits clerics who can issue fatwas
After a Saudi cleric has declared that “there is no clear text or ruling in Islam that singing and music are haram or religiously forbidden” a decree sent by King Abdullahs office states that only senior Islamic clerics appointed by him can issue fatwas and religious rulings.
According to the decree, the limitation is necessary as many Islamic scholars and ordinary Imams have started issuing religious rulings and fatwas not only surpassing the authority of the country’s official religious bodies but also causing havoc and confusion amongst muslims, reported the Saudi Gazette.
King Abdullah’s decree came after several contradicting statements and fatwas issued by different scholars and imams in the past months have created confusion and uncertainty over who is eligible to issue such religious rulings, among these the question of whether music is allowed or forbidden according to Islam.
According to AFP News Agency, one of several controversies was sparked by the Saudi cleric Adel al-Kalbani of Riyadh when he declared:
“There is no clear text or ruling in Islam that singing and music are haram or religiously forbidden”.
However, in practice non-religious practice and performance of music in public continue to be banned in the ultra conservative kingdom.
As Saudi Arabia hosts some of Islam's holiest shrines and respected clerics, fatwas and rulings issued by Saudi clerics are often followed and used as guidelines by other clerics in the Muslim world, reported Al Arabiya.
The radio station Al-Sada has come under severe pressure. On 26 October 2011, a provincial council decided to close the station because its music was “contrary to local morality”
It will take a long time for Swat’s musical culture to recover from the Taliban’s crackdown on music, reported Shaheen Buneri from Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty
In the sixteenth attack on Sufi shrines in two years, Taliban suicide bombers killed 49 and injured 93 Sufi devotees while they were doing music and meditation
The bombings of CD markets in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province in beginning of February 2011 suggests that militants are again threatening the entertainment industry
Uzbekistan’s state television issued an unequivocal denunciation of rock and rap music, saying it was epitomized by sadism, drug addiction and immorality
On 9 December 2010 the press freedom advocacy organisation Reporters without Borders awarded Somali Radio Shabelle with the '2010 Media of the Year prize'
On 26 November 2010, unidentified militants kidnapped Musharraf Bengash, a Pashtun singer from the Mir Ali area in North Waziristan. Later, a jirga negotiated his release
Article about the situation in Somalia after the music died when, on 14 April 2010, radio stations in Somalia’s capital Mogadishu were ordered to cease playing all music.
After a military operation against the religious extremists, artists are now returning back to Swat Valley in northern Pakistan, reported The Express Tribune.
Islamic extremists have banned music on the airwaves, but the organisers of Somalia’s newest radio station, Bar-Kulan, ignore their death threats and music ban
