A woman in Abaya - traditional black and long veil that covers the whole body - raging languidly by making pole dance?It is this kind of humorous videos that we could see circulating on Twitter, when the project was announced to open a "halal" disco (that is to say "compliant" to religious precepts) in Djeddah, in Saudi Arabia, June 13.
Because obviously, when we say Halal, and especially in Saudi Arabia, this very closed kingdom where there is still a religious police and where, until last year, women were not allowed to drive, weDon't really think about the world of a nightclub, with alcohol, and Beyonce and Shakira with full tubes.However, at White Jeddah, it was this perilous balance that was targeted.Music therefore, even if for some ultraorthodox, music is "haram" ("prohibited")!But no alcohol, don't exaggerate anyway.
La suite après la publicitéLIRE AUSSI > Les Saoudiennes vont pouvoir conduire. Oui, mais…
The White brand already operates licenses in Dubai and Beirut.On the club's Facebook page, a promotion video was traveling with names of R’n’B stars, rap and pop - Craig David or Maître Gims -, showing an audience with not very halal outfits.
And women ?Internet users of course asked if they were accepted and if so, how they should dress.This young Saudi woman thus wondered about the Dress Code of the place on Twitter:
« C’est absurde d’aller là-bas avec mon abaya ! Et d’ailleurs, c’est un club ou un lounge ? [comprenez, une discothèque ou un café, NDLR] »
Serge Trad, communications manager, said the dance floor would be mixed and that women would not be forced to wear Abaya, compulsory held in the country.The only dress code required was "smart casual" ("chic casual").
La suite après la publicité"Do not open the devil's door"
Obviously, the "Smart casual" dress code has already horrified part of the population.In 2016, Prince Mohammed bin Salmane, alias MBS, launched his project "Vision 2030", by ensuring that he wanted to modernize the country and in particular to introduce leisure and entertainment in the kingdom.A culture shock, while the great mufti, the greatest religious authority in the country, asked the authorities to "not open the door of the devil", considering that cinemas and concerts would constitute "a call to mix between sexes", Which" will corrupt morality and destroy values "...
LIRE AUSSI > Mohammed Ben Salmane, l’Arabe du futur ?
Does a disco, even Halal, corrupt morality?This is the opinion of the Conservatives, who were strangled on Twitter.
« C’est une désintégration de l’islam, plutôt qu’un islam modéré. Qu’Allah maudisse ceux qui veulent nous retirer les enseignements de notre religion en se disant modérés ! »
« Honnêtement, bien que je défende la liberté de tous, je m’inquiète de la politique d’ouverture en Arabie saoudite. On était content du retour des concerts, la présence des théâtres et des événements internationaux, mais un tel évènement #Disco_a_Djeddah peut provoquer une vague de colère. »
While a surfer published a video in which he explains very seriously that the problem is not "to do Haram things, since everyone does it and everyone has their weaknesses", but that said acts - dance without Abaya, listen to r'n'b, etc.- would become problematic "if they are public, as in this nightclub", concluding:
La suite après la publicité« Si vous faites des choses haram, il ne faut pas entraîner toute la société avec vous ! »
In short, ok to dance on Shakira without Abaya at home, but not in a box!
LIRE AUSSI > Arabie saoudite : les droits des femmes s’améliorent… « à pas de bébé »
The youngest, on the other hand, laughed at this concept of halal nightclub under the hashtag #disco_jeddah.A video presenting young boys flocking to a music by Nasheed (religious song) did not fail to shock the Orthodox, who moved on Twitter of this very haram montage.
The future of White Jeddah seems to be compromised in any case.The same day of the opening, scheduled for June 13, the Night-Club was withdrawn its license in extremis.
La suite après la publicitéThe American singer American Ne-Yo, who was supposed to perform in concert, tweeted:
« Wow… Excuses au peuple saoudien. J’étais littéralement sur mon chemin quand j’ai appris qu’ils étaient obligés de fermer pour des raisons techniques. J’avais hâte de jouer. Beaucoup d’amour à mes gars à White Jeddah. Peut-être que nous essaierons à nouveau une autre fois. Tenez-moi au courant. »Profitez de l'offre 1€ pour 3 mois avec Google En choisissant ce parcours d’abonnement promotionnel, vous acceptez le dépôt d’un cookie d’analyse par Google.
On his official Twitter account, the general authority for entertainment announced that it opened "an immediate investigation about videos broadcast concerning one of the events in the city of Djeddah, not authorized by the authorities" (on the videos, we do notdidn't see much, just an empty dance floor with music).
White Jeddah promoters are trying to open their doors today.However, they no longer present it as a "club" - it is too disco - but rather, subtlety, like a "lounge coffee".It seems that it goes better, with the authorities.Halal has its reasons that reason does not know ...
