Le blog de Polyscopique

While sweethearts in the West nibble chocolates and murmur sweet nothings today, Saudi Arabia's religious officials have issued a stern warning against St. Valentine's Day celebrations in any form.

"It is a pagan Christian holiday and Muslims who believe in God and Judgment Day should not celebrate or acknowledge it or congratulate people on it," the Saudi fatwa committee said yesterday in a notice published in Arab-language newspapers. "It is a duty to shun it to avoid God's anger and punishment."

Hard-line Hindu activists burned hundreds of St. Valentine's Day cards in Bombay, New Delhi and other Indian cities yesterday — where the celebration has come to be called "Lover's day."

The activists have threatened to smear soot on the faces of couples who woo in public, or to shave their heads and beat them with bamboo sticks.

(Found via Claire)

En Arabie Saoudite, deux grands journaux ont reproduit un décret religieux [fatwa] appelant les Saoudiens à ne pas célébrer la Saint Valentin, qualifiée de "fête chrétienne païenne".

"La fête de la Saint Valentin est une fête chrétienne païenne qu'aucun musulman croyant en Dieu ou au jugement dernier ne devrait célébrer", indique le décret religieux signé du grand mufti cheikh Abdel Aziz Al-Cheikh, la plus haute autorité religieuse du royaume.

En Inde les couples qui célébraient Saint-Valentin étaient sous le coup de menaces des extrémistes hindous de "noircir les visages" de ceux qui honoreraient le saint patron - chrétien - des amoureux.

(Trouvé via Claire)