The Governor of Makkah, Khaled Al-Faisal, received the French Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Ludwig Bui.
The meeting comes amid the tensions raised by the insulting cartoons of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace, in France.
The Saudi Press Agency said that during the meeting, "cordial conversations were exchanged and issues of common interest were discussed."
The agency was satisfied with a brief news about the conversation, without referring to the topic of the offensive cartoons that recently interacted and took a wide echo in the Islamic world, with the emergence of political and popular positions condemning, and campaigns boycotting French goods due to the position of French President Emmanuel Macron in support of the publication of these cartoons.
When the Prophet of the Ummah and mercy is insulted, this gang engages in cordial conversations and discusses issues of mutual interest! ٰ https://t.co/VAV14EEIqO
- The stranger (@ez_syed) October 25, 2020
The account of the Emirate of Mecca on Twitter published a picture of a meeting between the Saudi official and the French diplomat who was appointed ambassador to the Kingdom two weeks ago.
For his part, the ambassador posted on his Twitter account a tweet in which he thanked the Saudi official for what he described as the warm meeting, noting that it was held in Jeddah.
Tweeters condemned the Saudi official media's description of this cordial conversation, while France adopts an official position supporting the offense to the Messenger.
One of the tweeters wondered whether this step constitutes a provocation in such circumstances.
I don’t know, this is a provocation, or exactly u
https://t.co/uscUcdPj2d
- The Jaradiya Boy (@AIQADER) October 25, 2020
Another tweet considered that the French ambassador may have sought to ask Saudi Arabia to address any call to boycott French goods.
On the other hand, other tweeters defended the reception of the French ambassador by the governor of Makkah Al-Mukarramah region, and one of them expected that the prince raised with the French ambassador the issue of the offensive cartoons.
Another Tweeter said that it is natural for such a meeting to take place, because the ambassador has met since his appointment with Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir and other personalities.
The controversy over this meeting comes at a time when the Council of Senior Scholars in Saudi Arabia published a statement in which it said that insulting the shrines of the Prophets and Messengers serves those it described as advocates of extremism who want to spread an atmosphere of hatred among human societies, according to the statement.