Thorny issues infiltrate Saudi religious establishment
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 17:01
- By Habib TRABELSI
The traditional debate between reformers and ultra-conservatives on issues that plague the lives of many Saudis, like the mixing of women with men or women's right to drive a car, begins to timidly infiltrate the religious establishment, which is one of the pillars of the regime in Saudi Arabia where a battle on the authorization of the cinema, considered by the clergy as "an absolute evil," had raged last summer.
A muttawa official manners: yes to the mixing
Sheikh Ahmed bin Qassim Al-Ghamdi, the Director General of The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, also known as the muttawa, in the Mecca region, proclaimed loudly last month that "the preventing the mixing between sexes has never been a Sharia law (Islamic law strictly enforced in Saudi Arabia) and is a natural fact in the life of the country and Companions of the Prophet Muhammad.”
"Those opposed to the mixing are practicing it in their homes that are full of servants working in the presence of foreign men,” Sheikh Ghamdi told the Okaz daily.
Saudi Arabia applies a strict separation of sexes and punishes by flogging and/or imprisonment of "khilwa", a one-to-one meeting between a man and an unrelated woman.
Liberals rejoice
These statements have not fallen on deaf ears. Liberals - represented especially by intellectuals, businessmen and journalists and are accused by the ultra-conservatives of being "lackeys of the depraved West "- claimed victory.
"It is a turning point in the debate on the mixing, a debate that has cost us a great loss of time," said Hmoud Abu Taleb in Okaz, hailing Sheikh Ghamdi’s courage.
Mohammed Abdel Al-Sheikh, a critique of the religious police or muttawa, has reviewed the "mess" caused by the debate over the mixing, in particular "the conviction of many women's skills to idleness or work in an atmosphere full of suspicion and mines, which has created an isolated feminine world in all areas, not to mention the enormous expenses incurred in the national economy.”
Sheikh Ghamdi’s statement, which occurred after the strong criticism of the opening of the first two sexes' university in the kingdom (KAUST) last September, has shaken the media landscape for several days and resulted in an internet campaign for his favour.
The ultras revile
Meanwhile, Sheikh Ghamdi has been disgraced by many guardians of virtue.
Sheikh Mohammed Al-Munajid - who in September 2008 took aim at Mickey Mouse and his fellows, decreeing that they were "soldiers of Satan, corrupting creatures and repulsive" and must be killed - decreed that Sheikh Ghamdi’s "defamatory" statements were "a violation of Sharia."
Sheikh Munajid confirmed that the anti-mixing fatwa, decreed by the former kingdom's Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdel ziz bin Baz, still serves as a reference.
The preacher Sheikh Abderrahman Al-Atram, considered Sheikh Ghamdi’s remarks "inappropriate", because "they come at a time when the kingdom is facing serious challenges, such as fighting Huthis and dealing with Jeddah disaster" in reference to the Saudi military intervention against Yemen’s Zaidi rebels since last November and the deadly flooding caused by torrential rains on November 25 in this Red Sea city.
The controversy has even spilled over into Kuwait where clerics and preachers have strongly denounced Sheikh Ghamdi’s statements, calling them "heresy."
Ahmad bin Baz: yes to women driving
Sheikh Ahmed bin Baz, the son of former Grand Mufti, advocated on January 14 the "right" of the woman to drive a car.
"Driving is part of the inalienable rights granted by Islam to women, such as property rights or freedom of movement. Rights are not luxuries. They cannot be acquired nor can they be subjected to a vote," wrote bin Baz in an opinion piece published by Al-Watan daily, the strong critique of the ultraconservatives.
Sheikh bin Baz was due to appear January 18 on Al-Arabiya, the Saudi-owned channel based in Dubai, to clarify that his father’s "fatwa" prohibiting women from driving was “a discretionary and debatable appreciation, given that there is no evidence in the Sharia about banning women from driving.”
The fruit of 'freedom'
The day before, Daoud Al-Sharayan welcomed in his tribune in "Al Hayat" daily "the debate on social issues affecting religion have finally infiltrated the official religious institution.”
"Freedom granted in recent years to the press to discuss such topics such begins to bear fruit. It will have a positive impact on the evolution of society. It is not currently a debate between liberals and Islamists anymore, but a debate within the religious establishment, an unprecedented situation in the history of the kingdom," wrote Sharayan.
However, this excess of enthusiasm provokes the indignation of a reader who protested against the emphasis on sheikh Ghamdi and bin Baz "at the expense of the men of the Commission. That's what liberals seek! "
Source: Saudi Wave
No comments:
Post a Comment