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Saudi Arabia bans all things red for Valentine's Day

by Rob Peters | February 12, 2008 at 02:47 pm

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$.__ *{ Sometimes it's better to leave something broken, because if you try to fix it, you may end up getting hurt all over again$

.__ *{ Sometimes it's better to leave something broken, because if you try to fix it, you may end up getting hurt all over again

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A wise man once said, if love is a sin I don't want to be holy. That man wasn't a Muslim fundamentalist, apparently.

(CNN) -- Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine's Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin, local media reported Monday.
"As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women, " Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper.

Every year, officials with the conservative Muslim kingdom's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice clamp down on shops a few days before February 14, instructing them to remove red roses, red wrapping paper, gift boxes and teddy bears. On the eve of the holiday, they raid stores and seize symbols of love.