Saudi Arabia: No to Fundraising for Syria · Global Voices
Salah Almhamdi

Saudi religious scholars used Twitter as a sounding board to express their frustration at being banned from raising funds for Syria.
Fundraising for the Syrian opposition with its political and military wings has been gathering momentum around the world through many charities. The pace of fundraising has also accelerated since Houla Massacre. At the same time the Saudi authorities decided to ban fundraising for Syria. Kuwait, on the other hand, intensifed fundraising efforts. Saudi Islamic preachers tweeted the ban of fundraising for Syria and netizens expressed their anger over the surprising move.
Saudi Sheikhs Ban Syria Fundraising
Members of the Scholars’ Committee to Save Syria   were all officially asked by the authorities to stop their fundraising for efforts for Syria. Saudi preacher Muhammad Al-Arifi tweeted [ar]:
Fundraising poster in Saudi Arabia showing the local numbers of the Committee to Save Syria
Ali Badahdah narrated his own story:
Hassan Al-Homaid said:
The following video from arrrkd features testimonies from various Arab Islamic preachers about the Syria fundraising campaign:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlM-LePb0WU&
Netizens’ Reactions to the Ban
Abdularahman Alrashed tweeted:
Saudi Sheikh Abdulaziz Tarefe tweeted his support for the Syrian rebels saying:
Youssef Al-Hajeri tweeted:
Mohamed Al-Hodaif added disobediently:
Egyptian author Fadel Soliman replied angrily to the ban decision:
Mohamed Al-Hajeri tweeted:
Saudi Islamic preacher Salman al-Ouda encouraged people to donate:
Meanwhile, journalist Hassan Hassan explained the true reason behind the ban:
@hhassan140: #Saudi‬ banned ‪#Syria‬ fundraiser for 2 reasons: campaign organised by clerics; who said no need to wait for states, there're “ways” to help.