{"id":6272,"date":"2011-04-23T09:41:42","date_gmt":"2011-04-23T05:41:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/?p=6272"},"modified":"2011-04-23T09:41:42","modified_gmt":"2011-04-23T05:41:42","slug":"saudi-imam-reprimanded-for-media-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/middle-east-business\/middle-east-media-analysis\/saudi-imam-reprimanded-for-media-attack\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi: Imam Reprimanded for Media Attack"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"highslide\" onclick=\"return vz.expand(this)\" href=\"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/minarets.jpg\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-6273\" title=\"minarets\" src=\"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/minarets.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"498\" height=\"320\" srcset=\"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/minarets.jpg 498w, https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/04\/minarets-145x93.jpg 145w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 498px) 100vw, 498px\" \/><\/a>Here\u2019s a rarity: a Saudi imam is being disciplined for attacking journalists.<\/p>\n<p>It seems that the opposite is generally the rule in the Kingdom. But, as Arab News reports, the imam, Muhammad Al-Eraifi, has been reprimanded for the contents of his Friday sermons and is now open to being sued in the Saudi courts, presumably for defamation.<\/p>\n<p>I do think it important that the Ministry of Islamic Affairs is the one doing the reprimanding. In the past, they\u2019ve shown a tendency to support imams, however immoderate they might be, in the face of journalistic criticism.<\/p>\n<p>Whether any journalist will take up the invitation to sue, though, is a different matter, as the case would likely be heard in a Shariah court, notorious for idiosyncratic judgments based solely on the judge\u2019s sense of propriety and interpretation of the Sunnah.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>Imam reprimanded for using sermon to attack journalists <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>ARAB NEWS<\/p>\n<p>RIYADH: The Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Endowments, Dawa and Guidance has reprimanded an imam for attacking Saudi journalists during his Friday sermon. Muhammad Al-Eraifi described them as \u201ctraitors and puppets of foreign powers,\u201d Asharq Al-Awsat reported Thursday quoting an official source from the ministry. The newspaper said the ministry disciplined the scholar after an investigation, which lasted for a week. The nature of the ministry\u2019s disciplinary punishment means writers and reporters are free to take legal action against Al-Eraifi.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>CROSSROADS ARABIA: Here\u2019s a rarity: a Saudi imam is being disciplined for attacking journalists. The opposite is generally the rule in the Kingdom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":6273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,44,89],"tags":[467,1879,260,1031,6459],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6272"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/42"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6272"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6272\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6272"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6272"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mideastposts.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6272"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}