Turki al-Hamad, one of Saudi Arabia's most famous writers, was arrested yesterday after posting remarks on Twitter that angered religious elements. His arrest is said to have been ordered by Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, the Saudi interior minister.

On Saturday, al-Hamad posted a dozen tweets in Arabic, several which appeared to complain about misuse of religion.

One said: "The Prophet came with a humanitarian religion but some changed it into anti-human religion". Another said: "All religions call for love ... practices and rituals do not mean what is going on in the heart."

Al-Hamad also likened Islamism to neo-Nazism, but the tweet that seems to have caused the biggest furore said:

"Our Holy Prophet came to rectify the faith of Abraham, and the time has [now] come when we need someone to rectify the faith of Muhammad."

In theological terms this could be considered heretical, since Muhammad is regarded as the last of the prophets, delivering God's complete and final message which "corrects" those of previous prophets.

Turki al-Hamad, born in 1953, is best known for his trilogy, Atyaf al-Aziqah al-Mahjurah ("Phantoms of the Deserted Alley") which is banned in Saudi Arabia and several other countries. This first two volumes, Adama and Shumaisi, have been translated into English.

Set in the 1960s and 1970s, the books tell the story of Hisham al-Abir, a Saudi teenager who spends his time reading banned books, becomes infatuated with Arab nationalism and later discovers the pleasures of illicit sex. (Reviews here and here.)

"Where I live," al-Hamad once said, "there are three taboos: religion, politics and sex. It is forbidden to speak about these. I wrote this trilogy to get things moving."

His efforts certainly did not pass unnoticed. Religious scholars condemned the books and he is said to have received several death threats.

On the day that al-Hamad posted his controversial tweets, a Saudi court decided to pursue apostasy charges against online activist Raif Badawi – charges that carry the death penalty.

Badawi, 25, has been detained since June, originally on charges that included "setting up a website that undermines general security" and ridiculing Islamic religious figures. 

He edited a website known as "Saudi Arabian Liberals" which published an article about Valentine's Day (celebration of which is banned in the kingdom) and another suggesting that al-Imam Mohamed ibn Saud University had become "a den for terrorists".

At a hearing before Jeddah District Court on December 17, a judge reportedly ordered Badawi to "repent to God". When he refused, the judge referred the case to a higher court, recommending that it try Badawi for apostasy. That process is now under way.

"Badawi’s life hangs in the balance because he set up a liberal website that provided a platform for an open and peaceful discussion about religion and religious figures," Eric Goldstein, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch, 
said. "Saudi Arabia needs to stop treating peaceful debate as a capital offence."

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 25 December 2012.