Friday, July 22, 2011

Protecting Saudi Arabia against witches

The Jerusalem Post reports on the component of Saudi Arabia's religious police that track down agents of witchcraft.

It all seems very foreign until you read this bit
The belief in sorcery is so widespread in Saudi Arabia, that it is even used as a defense in criminal court cases. Last October, a judge accused of receiving bribes in a real-estate project told a court in Madinah that he had been bewitched and is undergoing treatment by Quranic incantations, known as ruqiyah, a common remedy for the evil eye.
In the west of course, one would substitute "addiction" for "the evil eye" and "psychiatric incantations" for "Quranic incantations" without changing the underlying meaning.

Via the Agitator

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