Saudi Arabia’s highest-ranking cleric has warned of the "depravity" of cinemas and music concerts, saying they would corrupt morals if allowed in the ultra-conservative kingdom. "We know that singing concerts and cinemas are a depravity," Grand Mufti Abdulaziz Al Sheikh said in a television interview cited by the Sabq news website late on Friday. The head of the Saudi supreme council of clerics [...] warned that cinemas "might show movies that are libertine, lewd, immoral and atheist, because they rely on films imported to change our culture", according to Sabq. He said there is "no good" in singing concerts, insisting that music entertainment and opening cinemas represent a "call for mixing between sexes". "At the beginning they would assign areas for women, but then both men and women will end up in one area. This corrupts morals and destroys values," he said. However, "entertainment through cultural and scientific media is okay", he said, urging the authority "not to open doors for evil"."Saudi mufti warns of ‘depravity’ of cinemas and concerts" The National, January 14, 2017.
This is a good reason why enlightened collectors who live outside regions where such false ideas are rife should be allowed, and even encouragedm, to preserve cultural items that would otherwise be in danger of being damaged if left in lands currently ruled by despotic and corrupt, culture-despising ideologues.
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