In the sixth episode of his series of articles about the “fitnah” press, Ayman ‘Abd al-Majīd reports on Islamic newspapers that do not publish photos orcaricatures, believing they are harām.
He states that al-Tawhīd does not publish photos. The only photo that is published is on the front page and it depicts the Ka‘bah and a mushaf. Similarly, al-Islām Watan does not publish photos of women.
‘Abd al-Majīd further refers to the fact that some publications are linked to foreign funds, which makes the struggle in those countries transfer to the publications. He elaborates that al-Islām Watan adopts an Iranian view and writes against Saudi Arabia. Rif‘at Sayyid Ahamd wrote in January 2009 attacking the Saudi control of the Islamic hajj places. ‘Abd al-Majīd believes that al-Islām Watan, by raising such a subject, is sowing fitnah amongst Muslims.
However, ‘Abd al-Majīd argues that the problem does not lie in the religious press as a whole; for he thinks that is important; he argues that the problem lies more in the fanatic religious press. Al-Tawhīd only dates articles according to the hijrī calendar, attacks Shiites and limits Islam to Ibn Taymīyah and the traditional Islamic dress code and the beard.
Al-Islām Watan also discussed the Crusades and described how the Crusader armies killed Muslims and burnt libraries and mosques. ‘Abd al-Majīd stated that al-Watan al-Yawm’s article was documented, however, the discussion was fanatic.
[To read the other articles in this series see AWR 2009, week 34, art 16, AWR 2009, week 35, art 22, AWR 2009, week 36, art 17]
العربية