Mind your manners, Islamic style.

(Arab News): Casting aspersions at a person in Saudi Arabia could earn you an appointment with the local whipper to meet 25 lashes.

A local Arabic newspaper reported on Sunday that an Asian shopkeeper observed a Saudi customer casually reading a newspaper he had plucked from the news stand with no intention of buying it. Upset that the man was “stealing” the news of the day, the shopkeeper called him a hayawan – “beast” in Arabic.

Upset about the shopkeeper’s slander, the Saudi man filed a complaint with the local court and a judge meted out the lashing sentence. Maybe the next time this happens the shopkeeper should consider a more accurate description for a person who reads a newspaper with no intention of buying it: Bakheel, aka “stingy person.”

HT: Doug Ross