You Say It’s Your Birthday? Not in Saudi Arabia

More from our favorite moderate  friends, the Saudis.  From Reuters:

Celebrating  anniversaries, birthdays or mother's day is against Muslim 'righteousness',  Saudi Arabia's top cleric has said, quashing suggestions by a colleague that  Islam permits personal celebrations.

Media savvy cleric  Salman al-Awdah told viewers during a call-in television show last week that  celebrating birthdays and wedding anniversaries was not against Islam, sparking  a debate in the conservative kingdom and prompting the mufti to weigh  in.

Grand Mufti Abdul-Aziz  al-Shaikh said celebrating such events would make Muslims like followers of  other faiths including Jews and Christians, al-Madina newspaper  reported.

Shaikh embodies  Wahhabism, the hardline Islamic doctrine that has ruled hand in hand with the  Saud family since the kingdom was founded some eight decades ago….  Two occasions call for celebration in the  Muslim world, Shaikh said: Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month  of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, which marks the end of the annual haj  pilgrimage.