Riyadh: Fatwas notwithstanding, Saudi Arabia celebrated Halloween with fanfare.
Saudi Arabia’s General Entertainment Authority had planned the first and largest public celebration of Halloween ever, as it opened the spooky weekend with people wearing terrifying costumes, walking down Riyadh Boulevard, two days before the Americans’ Halloween celebrations.
General Authority for Entertainment, Advisor to the Saudi Royal Court, Turki Al-Sheikh, said through his Facebook account that “the atmosphere in the weekend is terrifying.”
The manifestations of the Halloween celebration on the streets of Riyadh indicate the change taking place in Saudi Arabia, which used to arrest anyone who thought of reviving this “Western occasion”.
It is reported that in 2018, Saudi police raided a Halloween party and arrested people, and ordered women who were dressed in strange clothes to “cover themselves”.
Public Halloween celebrations began in the Saudi capital for the first time in 2021.
Halloween celebrations in Saudi Arabia, caused widespread controversy on social networking sites after pictures and videos of people dressed in costumes for Halloween surfaced.
People opined that a country that doesn’t allow Eid-e-Milad Un Nabi (Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) birthday) celebrates Halloween on the roads, definitely requires a course correction. Similar criticism is being issued by Muslims around the world.
“Beloved Prophet ﷺ had already said about Najd:`“There will appear earthquakes and Fitnah, and from there will come out the side of the head of Shaytan’,” said one user.
“May Allah save us from the trap of Da*jjal Ameen!,” said another
According to New York Times, the ‘frightening manifestations of the transformation that have taken place in the kingdom since the Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, now heir to the throne and prime minister, began to rise to power in 2015 and began to get rid of social restrictions.