In two of my older articles (Segregate Or Die, Fe-Male Without A Male Guardian), I narrated the sorry tales of women who got into trouble with the law; today we shall see how consulting horoscopes (I call them whore-oscopes) and predicting the future can land one straight in jail and beyond.
I have always maintained—in line with what the Qur’an states clearly—that predictions based on the movements of heavenly bodies is both a pseudo-science and a satanic deception. Allow me now to narrate the story of a man who predicted everybody else’s future but was unable to predict his own downfall.
Ali Hussain Sibat, a Lebanese man charged with sorcery, has now been sentenced to death in a certain land where opposing segregation of the sexes and standing up to question the authorities is punishable with death.
‘Sibat is scheduled to be beheaded next Friday’, May El Khansa, Sibat’s attorney told CNN.
Sibat's family came to know about the upcoming execution through an indirect source who knew the case well. So far, the Ministry of Justice has not commented on the matter.
El Khansa has gone as far as appealing to Lebanon's prime minister, Saad Hariri, and president, Michel Suleiman, to have the execution stopped. Amnesty International, the human rights group, has called on that certain country’s king to pardon Sibat.
What exactly did Sibat do? He is the former host of a popular call-in television show that aired on a Beirut-based satellite channel ‘Sheherazade’ and in which he predicted the future and advised his audience on many matters. In May 2008, while he was visiting a certain country to perform Umra (Islamic religious pilgrimage similar to Hajj), the religious police apprehended and charged with sorcery.
Sibat faced the court in November 2009, and which handed him a death sentence. He appealed the verdict in the Court of Appeal because he thought the initial verdict was premature.
Sibat’s attorney told CNN that ‘appeals court then sent the case back to the original court for reconsideration, stipulating that all charges made against Sibat needed to be verified and that he should be given a chance to repent.’
On March 10, the judges upheld their initial death sentence.
‘The court refused the sentence of the appeals court; my client will appeal the verdict once more,’ said Sibat’s attorney.
Let us stop right here and ponder over some questions.
How did Sibat—while living in Lebanon—harm the society of that certain land through his starry predictions?
Did he offend the royalty (Islamic royalty, if you do not mind) by predicting their not so rosy future?
Does the Qur’an stipulate death for sorcerers and blasphemers?
Is it right to arrest and condemn a person performing the Umrah?
Umrah and Hajj allow one to repent; since Sibat had applied to God for forgiveness, is it fair to ask him to repent before that certain land’s court?
And finally, I beg God’s pardon if the king of that certain land is going to feel offended reading what I have written.
May God help the king.
8 comments:
poor sibat! and poor that country's confused system!!
I guess he didnt see that one coming!
I dont know what form of strict Islam these countries run on..its the opposite of what we think and believe Islam to be..I pray they spare the poor soul :(
Thanks Nauma! It is indeed a poor country; poor than us.
Nomi, mankind is grateful for your having graced these pages with your divine presence for over 21 minutes!
The more things remain the same, the more they change.
There is always a constant threat on the lives of the celebs and owners of the TV networks from this certain country. I know of people who have cancelled their Hajj and Umrah trips due to that.
Appalling.
The celebrities and TV network folks cancelling religious visits? How did they sense the threats?
Some through fatwa, some through their moles in the country. But this IS true that they do get life threats.
People who busy themselves with making death threats to those they don't like, never get to live their own lives to begin with. They deserve daily personal deaths of their own.--TGH
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