The festival of Halloween was celebrated at an event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Thursday and Friday, with celebrators dressed up in scary costumes.
The event ‘Scary Weekend’ took place on Riyadh’s Boulevard which was transformed into a venue-wide costume party with free entry only for scarily costumed visitors.
Here are some glimpses of the unusual celebration:
Saudi Arabia had never celebrated Halloween, which was variously viewed as a suspiciously foreign holiday, sacrilegious, unnecessary, and weird in the conservative Islamic kingdom. Prior to last week, people at private Halloween parties would get arrested by the local police.
Changes have torn through Saudi Arabia since Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Prime Minister began rising to power in 2015 and started doing away with social restrictions one by one.
Women were initially allowed to drive and work. Later on, cinemas were allowed in the country and the kingdom now has local pole dancers, and openly celebrated Halloween for the first time in history.
People are aghast at such celebrations supported by the government, and Muslims all over the world opposed them. They wonder how a country that does not even allow the celebration of Eid Milad-un- Nabi is celebrating Halloween on the roads.
Here is how several Muslim netizens condemned it:
What do you think about the celebration of Halloween in Muslim countries? Share your thoughts below.
