Pictures: Saudi Stores Sell Red Lingerie Despite Ban on ‘Valentine’s Day’ Branding

A number of shops in Saudi Arabia conspicuously sold red lingerie in advance of Monday’s Valentine’s Day holiday despite the Islamic kingdom banning the use of the term “Valentine’s Day” to promote sales, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported Monday.

“Red clothing and underwear are displayed in Saudi shopfronts, but the increasingly popular Valentine’s Day promotions are missing one thing: the festival’s name,” the French state-owned news agency detailed on February 12.

“While sales surge and Valentine’s gifts become more common among the youthful Saudi population, the word ‘Valentine’s’ is nowhere to be seen,” AFP revealed after sending reporters to Saudi malls to observe holiday weekend sales.

“Management has asked us to decorate the window display with red lingerie … but without mentioning anywhere ‘Valentine’s Day,'” a saleswoman at a mall in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital city, told AFP on February 12. The employee chose not to disclose her name as she was not authorized to speak to foreign media.

Saudi Arabia’s official state religion is Islam. The kingdom does not allow freedom of religion and has traditionally shunned Valentine’s Day for its Christian roots, Western provenance, and romantic theme.

“Valentine’s Day has vague origins dating back to Roman times, when several Christian martyrs were named Valentine,” AFP recalled on Saturday. “The celebration for lovers, marked widely around the world, was firmly off-limits in the ultraconservative kingdom [of Saudi Arabia] which would only mark Muslim holidays and its September national day.”

Saudi Arabia’s Islamic religious police cracked down on stores selling Valentine’s Day-related items as recently as 2016, indicating the Muslim kingdom has dramatically shifted its policy toward the holiday over the past few years.

“As Feb. 14 approaches, the police begin inspecting gift shops for items that are red or are intended as gifts to mark the holiday … which is banned in Saudi Arabia,” the Associated Press (AP) reported in February 2009. “Such items are legal at other times of the year, but as Valentine’s Day nears they become contraband.”

“At best, shops caught selling Valentine’s gifts are ordered to get rid of them. Some salesmen have been detained for days,” the AP noted at the time.

“The Valentine’s Day prohibition is in line with the ascetic Wahhabi school of Islam that the kingdom follows. Marking Christian holidays is banned in Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam,” the AP detailed.

“As Feb. 14 approaches, newspapers reprint a fatwa or religious edict issued by scholars a few years ago, declaring ‘eid al-hob,’ Arabic for the feast of love, a ‘Christian, pagan feast’ that Muslims should not celebrate,” the Western news agency observed. “Teachers remind students they must not mark the festival, and girls are warned against wearing anything red.”