Manama: Saudis have vented their anger and frustration on social networks following news that a young Arab woman from northern Israel has designed a dress for her college that featured verses from the Quran.
The dress with verses from Al Baqara (The Cow) Chapter was initially posted on the Facebook account of Shenkar College of Engineering and Design, Israel, as part of the designs prepared by students, Saudi news site Sab reported on Saturday.
According to Israeli sites, the picture of a model wearing the dress uploaded to Shenkar’s Facebook page was under the title “Cat on a hot tin roof, the Arab Spring version.”
The designer’s family said that they had no intention of insulting the Quran or the feelings of Muslims, and that the work was simply a project carried out as part of the designer’s studies, the Israeli sites said.
But for several Muslims, the design had to be fully equivocally condemned.
“It seems that this student believed that the only way to win the approval of her college was through insulting the Quran,” people told Sabq.
Musaad, a blogger, said that the student should be punished for provoking Muslims, unless she was forced to design the dress.
“It could be understood if she was coerced into doing it,” he posted. “But if it was her own decision, then she should be severely punished. She cannot provoke Muslims or any religion and walk free,” he said.
Writing under the moniker Mhmn, a blogger said that stringent action should be taken against the student and all those who contributed to the desecration of the Holy Book.
Another blogger said that the focus should not be on “the perpetrator of the heinous act”, but on the insult to Islam.
“We do not care whether the student is Arab or otherwise, Muslim or not,” Religious, the blogger, wrote.
“We need to be able to address such insults to our religion. They cannot be condoned in any way and they should not be tolerated because they do not help with the drive by some international figures to bridge differences and bring religions together,” Religious said.
