A Sheikh has judged that the name of a popular Saudi football club should be changed – because its title belongs to God alone.
Batin Football Club – which is currently proving to be a surprise success in Saudi football this season – takes its name from Hafar al-Batin, the name of a city where the club is based. But the word is also cited as one of the 99 attributes of Allah. Loosely translated, it means “essence”, or “intrinsic nature”.
It’s for that reason that Sheikh Abdullah al-Maneea issued a fatwa that the name must be changed, according to an article in ain.jo. A member of the official Supreme Council of Religious Scholar in Saudi Arabia, al-Maneea made his judgement on “al-Fatwa”, a program on Saudi television.
A fatwa is a ruling on Islamic law by a recognised authority, but it’s not binding and may be disputed by other thinkers or authorities. And this is far from the first absurd-sounding fatwa in Saudi Arabia: in the past, rulings have been issued against selfies with cats, Snapchat filters, and Pokemon.
On Twitter, the response to the fatwa was, perhaps unsurprisingly, not particularly welcoming.
وهناك نادي اسمه ( السلام ) ..!! لم لايكون البت في مثل هالامور من البداية وبشكل سريع .. #تغيير_اسم_نادي_الباطن
— حمود اللحيدان (@Ha2936) 23 August 2016
And there is a club called “Asslam”! This is another name of Allah. Why not to be strict about these issues from the start.
أجمل شـيء يعيشه أبناء المحافظة هذه الأيام "فريقهم" ، اقتلوا : فرحتـهم بناديهم مثلما قتلتوا "مدينتهم " !
— مشعل الديحاني (@mishalaldaihani) 23 August 2016
#تغيير_اسم_نادي_الباطن
One of the loveliest moments that the citizens of Hafar Al-Batin governorate is their team. Kill their happiness with their club as you killed their city!
But some of the commentariat were more welcoming of the potential ban.
#تغيير_اسم_نادي_الباطن
— فيصل الشمري (@FM170) 22 August 2016
ياليت تتغير اسماء الاحياء في العاصمة الرياض
حي السلام ، وحي الصمد في الغربية.
الدال على الخير كفاعله
I hope the names of neighborhood in Riyadh will be changed, too – the Asslam and Samad neighborhood. Someone who points to something good gets the same reward as the one who did the good itself.
Praise for the name change came, too, from some more surprising quarters. The article reported that Mubarak al-Thufairi, the deputy chairman of Al-Batin club, said he accepted Sheikh al-Maneea’s judgement. He even said he would change the name if it was really against Sharia.
