“The president should confront Saudi leaders over the ludicrous fatwa against ‘The 99,’ a ground-breaking Muslim superhero comic. President Obama did not go to Saudi Arabia this Friday to talk about comic books, but he should, because a new fatwa against them—specifically those showing right-thinking Muslim superheroes—underscores just how hard it is to sustain a positive relationship with Riyadh. Obama himself once singled out the remarkable comic book series in question, called The 99, for special praise. The superheroes have the attributes associated with the 99 names of Allah—words like “strength” and “light” and “wisdom”—and these characters team up to fight evil…………………………”
That is because these cartoon characters are not Wahhabis. They are just plain vanilla Muslims and that is frowned upon in the Kingdom without Humor (and Magic of course). They are preferred in the kingdom to be Wahhabis rather than plain vanilla Muslims, preferably princes or someone they approve of. Otherwise how can a mere commoner who is neither a royal nor a klepotocrat be considered a hero? That is like calling for a revolt, as the Mufti Shaikh Al Al Shaikh would dutifully say.
Rumors spread on the Internet this past week of Saudi King Abdullah abdicating in favor of Crown Prince Salman. The king is around 90 years old, give or take a few years. That would make Prince Muqrin the next CP. Muqrin was appointed recently as a Crown Prince to the Crown Prince, wtf that be. That move rankled Prince Talal, the father of prince-about-town Al-Waleed. Talal has been out of the loop for decades, ever since he flew to Cairo with bunch of others and joined Nasser’s call for revolution. Eventually he came back home, although not fully trusted. He has about as much hope of becoming King of Saudi Arabia as Saad Hariri has. Which is a much better chance than I have of ruling Saudi Arabia and renaming it the Confederation of the Arabian Peninsula. Now, a confederation of Najed and Hijaz and Al-Ahsaa and Assir and a few other forcibly-annexed places sounds reasonable, given the recent Wahhabi calls for some confederation, any confederation, with anyone willing to confederate. Even a Confederation of Dunces.
Rumors also that the king wants to make sure his own son, Met’eb, will be in the direct line for succession after Muqrin. That would mean a clash between Met’eb and Mohammed Bin Nayef, the man in charge of police, security, religious police, arrests, prisons, and most violations of human rights. Arab rumor has it that the Americans (the government not the people) prefer Mohammed Bin Nayef as the future king, although it is not clear why. Mohammed has visited Washington DC quite a few times, so maybe he and his camp are spreading the rumor. Apparently Met’eb will need all the help his dad can give before he dies.
I’m beginning to suspect that this rumor was a lead up to April Fools Day.
Cheers
mhg
