Mumbai News

Raza Academy protests against Saudi Arabia for building cinema halls in Mecca and Madina

September 24, 2021
The Commune

The radical Islamic Raza Acadamy based in Mumbai which supports the Sharia law has protested the decision taken by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under its Vision 2030 plan, to allow the building of cinema halls and entertainment centers in the city of Madina.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is home to Islam’s two most holy sites, Masjid al-Haram also known as the Great Mosque of Mecca which is also home to the Kaaba and Madina, home to the vast Al-Masjid an-Nabawi (Prophet’s Mosque) and the Raza acadamy is dead set against the opening of cinema halls in this two places.

But what this radical Islamic outfit does not understand is that the Saudi Arabia is now going through a change and wants to be diversifyed and reduce its dependency on oil which is its number one source of income.

Under the leadership of Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, Saudi Arabia wants to become  a modern pluralistic country and wants to develop other sectors such as health, education, and tourism. But such reforms are viewed with hostility Islamist Muslims across the world, especially in India and Pakistan.

Now the Raza Acadamy is protesting against this new development by running a campaigns on social media platforms urging King Salman of Saudi Arabia to reverse the decision and called for a ban on cinema halls in Madina Shareef.

Mohsin Raza wrote, “Muslims go to holy cities to ask forgiveness from Allah not to commit sins by watching movies”. Later a protest was organised in which one could hear slogans of, “Saudi Hukumat Murdabad” and Muslims in India held placards that read, “Saudi Government Must Stop Desecration of The Holy City of Madina Munawwarah”.

From Pakistan, Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani who is a former judge, Islamic scholar, and current Vice President and Professor of Hadith at Darul Uloom Karachi in November last year had said, “Now there are plans to set up ten cinema halls in Madina too,”.

His tweet also mentioned that the Saudis are planning to build 28 shoping malls, ten cinema halls, 32 restaurants, 2 locations for entertainment, 19 open areas, and more on King’s Road. The project was expected to be completed in 14 months which means work has already started

However, the commercial establishments will be outside the boundary of the holy place, as per reports.

Raza Academy is not new to controversies because in February 2021, the academy forced BBC to issue an apology for hurting the sentiments of Muslims as they ‘displayed a portrait of Muhammad’. They also bullied the Maharashtra government Of Shiv Sena, Congress and the NCP to give permission to carry out the Eid-e-Milad procession during the Covid pandemic.

Members of Raza acadamy also provied to be a huge problem when Saeed Noori, the founding member of Raza Academy, had claimed that the Chinese vaccine contains pork and urged the Indian government not to order it and he and 125 other members from his group were booked for violating social distancing norms amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

In August 2011, Raza Academy held a protest at Azad Maidan ground against the alleged atrocities on Muslims in Assam and Myanmar, and then rioted which led to the vandalising of public property and they also attacked police personnel.