Manama: Saudi authorities have questioned four brothers after they were caught playing cards inside the Prophet Mohammad’s (PBUH) mosque in Madinah, the second holiest site in Islam.
A picture of the siblings sitting in the mosque and playing cards had gone viral amid reports that they were in itikaf, the common Islamic practice of retreating for spiritual reasons in a mosque for the last ten days of Ramadan.
“An investigation was launched and four Saudi siblings, aged between 10 and 17, were arrested,” Fahd Al Ganem, the police spokesperson in the region, said. “Initial investigations revealed that the four were not in itikaf and that they were simply waiting for their parents following dawn prayers. The youngest boy had the cards with him and they decided to play together. They have now been referred to the relevant authorities for further action,” he said, quoted by Saudi news site Al Marsad.
Several social media users and religious figures expressed anger after the picture was widely circulated, calling for action against the sacrilege in one of Islam’s holiest places.
“It is obvious that modern itikaf does not uphold the true spiritual purpose of the practice,” Abdullah Bin Mohammad Al Jarfali, an imam at a mosque in Madinah, said. “People retreat in a mosque to move away from worldly things and concentrate on spiritual matters. They are not inside the mosque for recreation and entertainment,” he said.
Several commenters said the authorities should insist on a list of rules and regulations that ensure a genuine itikaf, and not a modern version of the retreat practice.
