Gulf | Bahrain
Ministry urged to allow staff to sport beard
Jasem Al Saeedi, a controversial MP sporting a luxuriant beard, has called upon the interior ministry to allow its personnel to grow facial hair, saying that it was within their rights.
- By Habib Toumi, Bureau Chief
- Published: 23:32 August 19, 2008
Manama: Jasem Al Saeedi, a controversial MP sporting a luxuriant beard, has called upon the interior ministry to allow its personnel to grow facial hair, saying that it was within their rights.
"We urge Interior Minister Shaikh Rashid Bin Abdallah Al Khalifa to allow the staff and officers of the ministry to grow beards as they are getting ready for the spiritual atmosphere of the holy month of Ramadan," Al Saeedi said yesterday.
"They have the right to emulate Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) and all the Muslims who grew beards," he said in a press statement.
The MP, an independent known for his Salafi stances, said that the interior ministry personnel should be given the same rights as the staff of the Bahrain Defence Force who were allowed last May to grow beards.
Extensive campaign
The decision to allow the military to keep facial hair followed an extensive campaign by Al Asala, the Salafi society with eight MPs in the 40-member lower house."The sons of Bahrain who are the vigilant eyes watching over the country and who are ready to sacrifice their lives for the sake of the nation have high hopes of being allowed to grow beards in line with their convictions," Al Saeedi said in his plea almost ten days before the start of Ramadan.
"They deserve to be treated like the military and be allowed to grow their beard in line with the teachings of Islam."
Bahrain's police forces are the only ones in the Arabian Gulf to have a "no beard" policy, although moustaches are permitted. No one has ever publicly challenged the beard ban, but Al Saeedi did make calls earlier to the minister to reverse the policy.
Controversial figure
The MP had often run into controversy and at one time urged his fellow representatives to marry four wives in order to help fight the alarming rise in the number of spinsters in Bahrain.
Moustaches and beards are common in the Gulf and Middle East countries for religious and cultural reasons, in sharp contrast with the smooth-cheeked Anglosphere.
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