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On May 31, 2018, Al-Malahem, the media arm of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), released a new issue of its Maddad bulletin in which it condemned Saudi Crown Prince Muhammad bin Salman (MBS) for replacing the morality police with an entertainment committee to promote debauchery.
The bulletin, titled "The Entertainment Committee, A Hole In The Ship," which was posted on pro-Al-Qaeda Telegram channels, accused MBS of "repeating the scenario of Atatürk in Turkey and literally implementing what was written in The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion," as well as declaring war on shari'a and the teachings of Sheikh Muhammad bin Abd Al-Wahhab.
"[In] the era of Bin Salman," the bulletin stresses, "the mosques have been replaced by movie theaters and the books of the scholars of monotheism with the absurdity of atheists and seculars from the East and the West opening the gate widely for corruption and moral decadence after replacing the already restricted committee to promote virtue and prevent vice with the entertainment committee."
The bulletin referred to a couple of incidents to illustrate the level of "moral decadence" the country has reached in the era of MBS. For example, it referred to the hosting of "infidel wrestlers, most of whom had been wearing crosses" in the city of Jeddah and performed "in front of mixed audience of Muslim men and women." It also condemned the minister of education for announcing that he will punish a group of teenage schoolgirls for organizing an event promoting the hijab and encouraging girls to wear it.
After accusing MBS of planning to "destroy the morality completely, repeating the scenario of Atatürk in Turkey and literally implementing what was written in The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion," the bulletin included a quote from the book stating: "We will promote a dirty and ill literature among nations to destroy families and we will continue promoting this literature. We must work to destroy morality everywhere so that it would be easy to control them."
The bulletin argues that the "entertainment committee" was created to implement the agenda of The Protocols Of The Elders Of Zion and that MBS has managed to fulfill his intention to "shock" the society. Responding to its own question of whether MBS would succeed in transforming Saudi society or be faced with public outrage, the bulletin noted that social media sites "have shown that people's sense of rage has escalated and that many believe that the entertainment committee is a sign of destruction and that it will bring Allah's wrath on the country."
The bulletin then commended the Saudis who oppose the entertainment committee, noting that their reaction is "an indication of the nobility of the people of this country whose history is a testament of promoting virtue and preventing vice, and jihad with words, swords, and wealth and who have become a case study in Western institutions and a headache to the Zino-Crusader countries, which are occupying Muslim countries to destroy their history, promote debauchery, wage wars on knowledge and textbooks, and remove everything supporting the concept of jihad."
Addressing Muslim scholars, the bulletin called on them to encourage people to "promote virtue and defend it," warn them of plans that aim to westernize Muslims and make clear for them the "real nature of the Saudi regime."
The bulletin includes several tweets condemning the entertainment committee and a quote by Osama bin Laden in which he commended the Saudi people for taking part in jihad in different parts of the world and encouraged them to defend their own sacred sites, saying that Muslims around the world will support them to liberate these sacred sites.
Source: Telegram.me/aqaqnews, May 31, 2018.
