On February 4, 2012, the festival of the Prophet's birthday, Hamza Kashgari, a columnist for the Saudi daily Al-Balad, posted comments on Twitter which many in the country perceived as offensive to the Prophet and to Allah. The tweets sparked a media uproar and prompted a harsh response from the Saudi authorities; the country's information minister banned Kashgari from writing in the Saudi press, and the King ordered to issue a warrant for his arrest. Fearing for his life, Kashgari fled to Malaysia, but was arrested and deported back to Saudi Arabia. The affair evoked a debate in the kingdom between those who called to arrest Kashgari and even execute him for heresy, and those who advocated leniency and called to stop the media campaign against him.

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