Saudi Arabia's morality Police Raid on a House detained a young men for dancing at a Birthday Party

Saudi Arabia's morality Police Raid on a House detained a young men for dancing at a Birthday Party

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia –  Saudi Arabia's morality police detained a group of young men for dancing at a birthday party and referred them to prosecutors, according to a state-linked media report.

The news website Ayn al-Youm reported Saturday that the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice raided a private property in the city of Buraydah, arresting the men inside for "loud music and inappropriate dancing."

Buraydah is the provincial capital of Saudi Arabia's Qassim province, which is home to some of the kingdom's most conservative clerics, who practice a strict interpretation of Islam known as Wahhabism.

An unnamed official told the website that when members of the morality police raided the private property, they found the young men in "a compromising situation in their dance and shameful movements." The official said there was also a cake and candles to celebrate one of the men's birthdays.

Wahhabi clerics view Western music as sinful and birthday celebrations as un-Islamic. The morality police are empowered to enforce Islamic law as practiced in Saudi Arabia, including enforcing dress codes.

Shortly after King Salman ascended to the throne last month, he replaced Sheikh Abdullatif al-Sheikh — seen as a reformer— as head of the religious police with appointment  Sheikh Abdulrahman al-Sanad as new head of the force.