Okaz Let me tell you in the beginning that I was inspired by Sheikh Abdullah Al-Sharief to write this article as I read his comment on the social media that it was the duty of Islamic scholars to identify the forbidden things, not that of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (Haia). Al-Sharief made this comment on his Twitter account in response to a Shoura Council resolution asking the Haia to set out guidelines for its field workers to identify and prevent prohibitions. It is strange that the Shoura Council, which is in charge of making and upgrading laws, missed this important point when it asked the Haia, which is an executive authority, to prepare the guidelines for prohibitions, which is the duty of a high-power body specialized in Shariah. The Shoura knows clearly that despite the presence of knowledgeable people on the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, it is not qualified to identify prohibitions. This should be done by specified agencies such as the Council of Senior Islamic Scholars. The Haia is an executive authority that follows up whether the public follows the principles and regulations related to protecting the morality in society. The consultative council must understand that there is a more qualified authority than Haia to identify prohibited things and set out guidelines to deal with them. The Council of Senior Islamic Scholars can do this job in light of the objectives of the Shariah.
