No Women’s Race: Official

JEDDAH, 8 February 2006 — Local authorities have not sanctioned a women’s race for charity at Durrat Al-Arous Resort as was reported by a local Arabic daily, a spokesman at the Makkah Governorate said yesterday.

“The Makkah governor has instructed the authorities to prevent such races and investigate the matter,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted the spokesman as saying.

He said the government would not allow any activity that violates Islamic teachings and Saudi traditions.

This Arab News story seems to be just a typical piece of nonsense and it well might be.

I think, though, that it demonstrates one of the unintended consequences of issues like the Danish cartoons.

By “demonstrating” (at least to those who are quick to feel aggrieved) that “Islam is under attack,” the publication of the cartoons actually empowers the most conservative elements of Islamic society. Because they can claim for themselves the role of defenders, they get listened to in circumstances where they might otherwise be ignored. After all, who’s going to criticize a defender of the faith?

While women’s rights have been making progress (see the story below), it’s clear that there are limits that cannot be crossed, here and now. Just where those limits are drawn, though, is subject to a variety of influences, including external ones.

I’m not looking to draw a direct cause-and-effect line here. I don’t know that there is one. I do want to point out, though, that every major contretemps over Islam empowers those most reluctant to change by showing that change is dangerous…