Saudi cleric attacks hardliners for flaying dance at wedding

Riyadh: A prominent Saudi Arabian cleric has issued a rare public attack on religious hardliners angry over a video showing him dancing at a wedding, a newspaper reported on Tuesday.

The video, posted on the internet, showed Shaikh Abdul Mohsen Al Obaikan dancing the Bedouin sword dance at a wedding.

Similar dances are also performed by top royals at some national festivities.

Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam frowns on singing and dancing and maintains a strict segregation of unrelated men and women, even at weddings.

Restrictions

Al Obaikan, an adviser to the cleric-run Ministry of Justice, defended himself in remarks published in Asharq Al Awsat, saying the society needed to "get over restrictions imposed by ignorant people".

"They want to turn our weddings into funerals and joy to sadness," he said. "There is no report from the Prophet (Peace Be Upon Him) or any of the early Islamic leaders saying that they turned weddings into occasions for preaching."