Obaikan, Judicial Counsel at the Ministry of Justice and and member of the Shoura Council is faced with a flurry of Internet comments against his recent participation in the Saudi “Ardah” folk dance. A video clip on the Internet shows Al-Obaikan branding a sword and swaying with the music, raising speculation that it may have been trumped up by fundamentalists who have long resented his pronouncements for tolerance and respect of order. “Yes, I participated in the dance and I pay no attention to those who want to turn our joy into grief,” Al-Obeikan told the Arabic daily Alsharq Al-Awsat. “I performed the Ardah at the wedding of my nephew in Riyadh a few days ago.” He said he saw no reason for the fuss over his dance. “I wonder why my performance of the dance was condemned by some (people) who know that spear or sword performances are allowed by the Shariah and were permitted by Prophet Mohammad, may peace be upon him, as cited in Sahih Al-Bukhari.” Sahih Al-Bukhari is one of the Sunni six major collections of the Ahadith, the oral traditions recounting events in the lives of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Relating from the Hadith, Al-Obaikan said that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), on seeing a number of immigrants from Ethiopia playing in the outer yard of the Prophet's Mosque, had called his wife Aisha to watch them. His allowing her to look at them is interpreted as an acknowledgment of their performance. “The immigrants were playing at the mosque and they all knew that a mosque is meant to praise and worship God the Almighty and to read the Qur'an,” Al-Obaikan said. Performance of games or dances and the expression of joy at happy events are condoned and recognized by the Shariah, especially if they are not purely entertaining and seek to keep the Islamic heritage alive. Al-Obaikan rejected accusations concerning religious prohibition of drums, saying that the use of drums and tambourines is required by the Shariah. He quoted Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) as saying that the beating of drums is necessary for the announcement of a marriage or other events, and that the same goes for tambourines. Al-Obaikan also cited another story in which Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) allowed a female slave to beat the tambourine in fulfillment of a vow to do so if the Prophet returned safely from one of his military expeditions. Al-Obaikan countered claims that only women should beat tambourines: “There is no proof for such singling out of women though it is rather more appropriate for tambourines to be beaten by men. Prophet Muhammad, may peace be upon him, attended events where tambourines were beaten and so did his companions,” he said. On the Saudi “Ardah” dance which is part of native folklore, Al-Obaikan said that he had asked the former Saudi Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Bin Baz whether it was allowed or prohibited and was told that it was originally allowed. Al-Obaikan added that the late Sheikh Mohammad Bin Saleh Bin Othaimeen, a noted jurist in Saudi Arabia, had issued an edict allowing performance of the “Ardah.” Al-Obaikan also quoted an unidentified Sheikh as saying that Bin Othaimeen has personally taken part in the Ardah. Al-Obaikan slammed the “radicals who want to impart tones of guidance and preaching to marriage ceremonies. These individuals are committing heterodoxy as no one has ever quoted Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) or any of the Imams as having transformed matrimonial events into ones of preaching.” Al-Obaikan appealed to the community to “discard these restrictions created by the ignorant.” __
