It is not the first time when extremists who advocate for chaos, crime, and intimidation, attack cultural or literary clubs or halls and theaters where Saudi cultural activities take place or literary pieces are discussed. It will not be the last time too, as long as there are instigators, takfiris, and those who like to suck the blood of whoever ideologically disagrees with them. There are extremists who openly threaten to kill and set fire if others do not succumb to their demands and respond to their ideas and terrorism; or else, they would be forced to carry out criminal acts against state-affiliated officials or institutions. 48 hours before the inauguration of Riyadh's International Book Fair, “terrorism” hit Al-Jouf Cultural Club, and a huge fire gutted in its cultural tent with all its content. This was deliberate act. The fire was directly linked in the Saudi media to an SMS which the club's chairman Ibrahim al-Hamid received on his cell phone stating: “Do you know that your murder is Halal [permissible]? Within a few hours, God willing, you will be killed like your neighbor Hammoud and his fellows were killed.” This is not the first sabotage operation against the club. A similar fire destroyed its cultural tent last year, when it announced the hosting of writer Halima Mazfar, not to mention a “batch” of messages threatening the club's chairman, and promising to inflict damage to its cultural activities if those in charge do not yield to the [perpetrator's] demands and to the threats of coward sides hiding behind nicknames and false aliases. During the past years, Al-Jouf witnessed criminal activities that shed the blood of innocent people. I do not think that the threat received by the club's chairman will be the last of its kind, or that the crimes, fire, and killing will stop at this end, as long as there are still extremists among us who are able to inflame [the situation] and incite [others]. Then, they express their denouncement, “coated with” justifications for what their people have done. This requires sorting their names out, and drying up the resources of their takfiri and sabotage ideas, especially since Al-Jouf has witnessed many bloody events. In February 2003, the Deputy Governor of Al-Jouf Province Dr. Hamad al-Wardi was assassinated. In September 2002, Criminal Court Judge Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sohaibani was assassinated, and in April 2003, Al-Jouf Police member Hammoud Al-Suailem was assassinated, as well as many militants including Ali-Rouwaili from Al-Jouf. After the first fire incident in the club, I read articles by authors and writers who try to downplay the impact of the crime and downsize it, considering that it is a loss that did not claim any lives and did not go beyond a fire that broke out in a tent. Here lies the biggest problem, because this is more like giving justifications for those malicious sides, instead of calling for revealing the perpetrators and pursuing the instigators and those sympathizing with these crimes, so as not to desecrate the sanctity of the country and the people and to prevent mentalities that are attracted by the culture of murder, takfiri [ideas] and explosions from controlling society. The Kingdom's Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh said in a statement to Al-Hayat that the criminal activity behind the fire in the cultural tent and the threats to kill the club's head “are evil and dangerous” and represent a sin and a crime. He added that it is not permissible to threaten to kill anyone “because bloodshed is Haram [unlawful].” He pointed out that the “crack in righteousness” group which claimed responsibility of the operation is actually a crack in falsehood “because death threats, arson, and the planting of evil in the spirits of young people are prohibited acts which the Muslim should neither practice, nor incite.” But the question is: Who is behind this arson? While the security investigations have shown that the perpetrator of the first arson in the cultural tent is a middle school student, who carried out this sabotage activity upon the instigations of extremists, I fear that another middle or high school student is behind the arson this time, one who was inspired by extremists to carry out this criminal act! It is not only enough to describe those who manipulate the “spontaneous” and “innocent” nature of a middle school student to carry out a crime as the Khawarij [the rebels], and then return to the table of discussion to address secondary issues without uncovering their ideas and their means of hiding, and revealing the shallowness of their ideas. I believe that the concerned sides should examine statements by people who gave their opinions after the fire incident and the threats sent to the club's chairman. They should also inspect these statements, facts, and justifications, and study the policy of some websites that attempted to continue their instigations and nurture the minds with extremist takfiri ideas under the title “preempting.” This act gives “suspicious” signs that the instigators who threaten to kill whoever disagrees with them, use “flimsy” pretexts to hold others as disbelievers and dishonest, in order to mobilize sick-minded people like them and entice them into supporting and backing them. Beyond no doubt, he who set on fire a cultural tent is able to detonate buildings and institutions and government and civilian properties with their inhabitants and employees. They will not stop at this end, as their demands increase and they increasingly hold whoever disagrees with their ideas and approach as disbelievers.
