Our friends the Saudis may not have much time to fight terrorists, but they have targeted an insidious enemy that threatens the foundations of the kingdom: birthday parties.

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) _ When Hala al-Masaad invited her girlfriends over to celebrate her 18th birthday with cake and juice, the high school student was stepping into an unusual public debate. Is celebrating birthdays un-Islamic?
Saudi Arabia’s most senior Muslim cleric recently denounced birthday parties as an unwanted foreign influence, but another prominent cleric declared they were OK.
That has left al-Masaad with mixed feelings about her low-key celebration last month. She loves birthday parties because they make her feel she has “moved from one stage of life to another.”
“But I sometimes feel I’m doing something haram,” she said sheepishly, using the Arabic word for banned.

Good thing they’re on top of that one.