“TERRORISM did not appear except after religion was politicized and the unemployed, ignorant people began giving sermons. It became the profession of the unemployed and ignorant people to digress away from culture, and deviate from the core principles in their sermons to make fertile terrorism.” This was a tweet by the playwright Muhammad Al-Othaim which he published Thursday in a hashtag #bombing_emergency_Asir”. This was one of the many other hashtags that condemned the terrorist act in Abha. The hashtags showed that a number of tweeters had deviated from the main event to the debate that is aroused on the Saudi twittersphere following every terrorist incident. Each party blamed the other as responsible. Al-Othaim's tweet gave an example of this conflict between two currents in Saudi Arabia that kindled the exchange of accusations once again on terrorism and its causes. Several tweeters replied to Al-Othaim. Saud Al-Sibei @sau1400 asked: Is this matter the cause of Jewish terrorism in Palestine, American terror in Iraq, and terror against Muslims in Burma? Al-Othaim @Mohamed_Othaim replied to him by saying: “We are in a state of condolence (mourning?) Ustaz Saud. We will open discussions on global terrorism after the nation's wounds are healed, all are upset.” Tweeter Kamal Al-Ghamdi @kamalsg99 said all of us know that what is being targeted is the nation's security by foreign countries. The official spokesman of the Ministry of Interior confirmed this. Religion, exhortation and forums have nothing to do with this. Tweeter Bader Al-Enizi @Bader_Saij supported him by saying, “The evil and base exploitation has started. You take advantage of a crime targeting a country and claiming innocent lives for the interests of your trend, and your personal hatred, hence, sharing in the terrorists' crime.” Novelist Abdu Khaal condemned the terrorist crime through tweets in the hashtag. They included: “To kill a soldier means you have declared a war against all, and terrorists strive to destroy any quarter that resists their existence” and “we are being targeted in our existence and terrorism is being directed against us does not differentiate between any — whether Sunnis or Shiites— except those who want to annihilate us are harmed by the nation's unity and cohesion.” A tweeter hiding under the pseudonym “Al-Hajjaj Bin Yusuf” @wwddddd replied to Abdo Khaal: “May Allah protect the Kingdom from the Kharijites and Daesh. As regards you, go and write a lewd novel so that you are applauded by Fox News. Our country, thanks to Allah, is steadfast against Takfir and decadence Mr…..” Another person replied under a nickname “Liberal according to payment” @liberal_000 the Takfiris (terrorists) have not appeared except due to you and your lewd novels. In general, the opinions that diverted from the discussion on the incident were not taken. The discussions turned into an exchange of accusations and this covered a lot of space in the tweets and discussions. They gave an indication of the patterns of thinking that are still prevalent. They try to find justifications for such crimes that harm the nation and its security. They try to blame certain parties and trends in society as responsible for the spread of extremist thought and the outbreak of terrorist acts, which according to writers and analysts, are the result of fanaticism. — SG
