A billboard advertisement claiming that May 21, 2011 will be the "judgment day" according to the Bible, and which shocked many and dismayed others, will be removed, a senior official was quoted by Gulf News as saying.
The large billboards put up on various busy roads of Dubai such as Al Garhoud and Al Jaffiliya, carries the sentence "the great and terrible day, who shall be able to stand".
Marie Sheahan, Media Representative of Family Radio, who is campaigning to put up this advertisement about judgment day, is quoted by Gulf News as saying that she and her husband are in town from the United States to advertise and "warn people about it, regardless of nationality, religion or anything else because this will affect everybody".
"We contacted many billboard companies here regarding this advertisement, but they said they did not want to deal with it because it was sensitive.
Then, we found one company, Emirates Neon Group (ENG) who agreed and helped us put up the advertisement after getting the permission. We felt it was good to advertise on billboards," the report quoted her as saying.
About how they [Family Radio] came to know that May 21 is the ‘judgement day', Sheahan said: "Well, it is hidden in the Bible, and not many people can realise it.
"Lots of research have gone into it. Therefore, we know it is 40 days away. We are doing this because in the Bible, we are commanded to warn people."
Gulf News tried to contact ENG for a comment, but there was no response.
Mona Khamis Ebrahim, head of the Advertising Section of Dubai Municipality Planning Department, acknowledged the presence of the advertisement was quoted as saying:
"The municipality will remove these advertisements as soon as possible.
This was an unintentional mistake, especially [in view of the fact] that the section receives and licenses thousands of advertisements daily. Anything in contradiction with the Islamic religion is not permitted to be advertised."
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