Banning Red

Some of the things that you get to hear...to read....leaves me speechless. Banning red roses doesn't make sense at all! I wonder what the rest of the world thinks on this bit of news?!

The headline reads.......

Saudi Arabia bans all things red ahead of Valentine's Day
February 12, 2008 -- Updated 1013 GMT (1813 HKT)
(CNN) - Saudi Arabia has asked florists and gift shops to remove all red items until after Valentine's Day, calling the celebration of such a holiday a sin, local media reported Monday.

"As Muslims we shouldn't celebrate a non-Muslim celebration, especially this one that encourages immoral relations between unmarried men and women, " Sheikh Khaled Al-Dossari, a scholar in Islamic studies, told the Saudi Gazette, an English-language newspaper.
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Saudi bans red roses for Valentines
by Talal Malik on Tuesday, 12 February 2008
(ArabianBusiness.com) - Saudi Arabia's religious police have banned red roses ahead of Valentine's Day on February 14, pushing up the black market prices for the red flowers.

Mutawwa, the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, on Sunday ordered florists and gift shop owners in the capital Riyadh to remove any items coloured scarlet, widely associated with romantic love, local newspaper the Saudi Gazette reported.
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