Economist takes note of changes bubbling underneath the surface in Saudi Arabia. As I noted last month, Saudi religious authorities are re-evaluating the social ban on ‘mixing’ of the sexes in public fora. The enforcement of rules against ikhtilat are now being described as innovations (always a bad word in Salafi parlance) which have no place in the Quran. Further, standing against it is hypocritical as Saudis already do mix with servants of different sexes. To suggest that this mixing is different from Saudis mixing is to be racist, it is to consider non-Saudis as something other than human. We know that there are certain racialist and bigoted strains within Saudi society based on color, nationality, religion—foreign workers bear the brunt of it—but this would be a good time to stop it. By putting Saudis and foreigners on an equal level of humanity, several problems might be solved through getting rid of the misbegotten concept of ikhtilat.
Tearing down the artificial barriers between men and women would certainly make the government’s job easier and cheaper. It would bring a huge smile to the face of the Minister of Labor, Ghazi Al-Gosaibi, who has been trying to find meaningful jobs for women in the workplace. But, as the article concludes, this movement has yet to wash across the whole of Saudi society. There are many whose psyches and sense of security are served just fine by existing rules. They can be counted upon to resist the change.
Not so terrible after all?
Could the kingdom’s religious leaders be about to make a sharp U-turn?FOR decades Saudi Arabia’s religious police have enforced a rigid separation of the sexes in public places. Plain-clothes agents of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, as the religious police are known, patrol streets, parks and shopping centres, intervening to scold offenders, strike them with switches or haul them off to be disciplined by ordinary police. At last year’s annual book fair in Riyadh, the capital, they arrested two male visitors for the crime of ikhtilat, or “mixing”, after they asked a female novelist to sign her book. Other cases have ended more tragically, with the death of suspected lovers during high-speed car chases.
Yet now it seems this has all been a mistake. In the past few months top religious officials, including the minister of justice and the head of the religious police in the Mecca region, which includes Jeddah, have declared ikhtilat a modern term not proscribed by Islamic law. Saudi jurisprudence has erred, they say, by confusing conservative tribal custom with the rules of sharia, thus lumping the innocent mingling of the sexes with the true sin of khulwa, meaning an unmarried, unrelated couple’s “seclusion” in a setting that could tempt devilishness. In support of this argument, they note that wives in the Prophet Muhammad’s time are known to have served male guests and that even today, Saudis rely on maids and drivers in a practical form of daily ikhtilat.
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January:08:2010 - 09:49
John,
Although leaning towards mixing is welcome, I am not sure it places the foreigners and Saudis on the same level through venues such as the KAUST. This is because KAUST is likely to invite more people from the developed countries while the low-class workers in Saudi Arabia, who face the worst form of racism, are mostly from the developing countries. This simply means that the divide between the exploited and the exploiters becomes even deeper. Saudis will move closer to professionals from the developed countries and will keep on practising racism and exploiting the workers from developing countries. If they really want to abolish these distinctions, they should completely lift the ban on mixing, rather than practising mixing in only enclosed environments such as at KAUST.
January:08:2010 - 09:53
No, it doesn’t automatically equate. It’s a step in the right direction, though. The statements by the various religious leaders do focus on KAUST, but what is permitted there is a demonstration of what should be permitted broadly, I think.
Racism isn’t going to go away, in any country or culture. As long as people insist on finding differences between themselves and others, those differences will usually be invidious. But then, the human brain seems to be organized to discriminate in general, so finding discrimination against people isn’t unusual, just not very helpful.
I think the thrust of the article was that KAUST provides the wedge for a broad, society-wide change of attitudes.
January:08:2010 - 10:03
I know KAUST can become an indicator of changes to come in future. You are right about that. But that will take a long time to come.
It’s true that human mind is tuned to distinguish and discriminate and there is discrimination in every country but the problem arises when the exploitation of the lower-class workers takes the proportion it has taken there, because they are not Arab and because they are from poor countries. One doesn’t expected this from Saudi Arabia, the so-called champion of Islam, the so-called religion of equality. Imagine if exploitation is winked at in the US because the human mind is tuned to discriminate! I’m sure you will not excuse that.
January:08:2010 - 10:33
It’s amazing! I have always known this was all a mistake. People keep telling me I need to follow scholars- and yet, somehow, they seem to be following me! I also knew it wasn’t Islamic for women not to drive before scholars here did. I’ve been told of all the dangers to my soul I face, using my own judgement- but- well- I think I’ll take my chances.
The fact that mixing is REQUIRED in order to perform Haj- one of the most important Islamic rituals, should have clued people in.
Now it is my understanding that officially women ARE allowed to work in mixed environments now. And I have seen some of this- in shopping malls. And I know some people that work in mixed offices as well. But it seems that though it is “legal” there really isn’t any support or encouragement- and other government ministries and the Religious Police do what they can to be obstructive.
January:08:2010 - 17:39
I do think that KAUST represents a model,and a direction the King is pushing in. Such models where Saudis are included do set a precedence and begin to chip away at support for the more rigid view. No social change happens without a fight, and the steps forward are to be celebrated.
I am glad, John, that you pointed out other official efforts like mixed workplaces and getting women jobs. Steady incremental progress will eventually result in the more recalcitrant becoming more of a minority. It is even more important that the government is the one to do it, and others like Prince Al Waleed’s and his son Prince Khalid’s efforts at promoting women in the workplace. In Canada, and the States, the civil services led the way in hiring and promoting women, long before most of the private sector did. All these efforts undermine the arguments about gender de-segregation not working.
Sandy–nice point about the mixed hajj.
January:08:2010 - 19:14
Change is often difficult and slow. But once the change is made, over time, people slowly get used to it and come around. Often the mental shift is so slow that people don’t even realize it is taking place. Before you know it what seemed weird now seems normal.
January:08:2010 - 23:38
I feel any change in Saudi will be slow, this is ingrained in tradition and religion. Was it just last year they arrested an Amrican women in Starbucks. No many years ago that 15 girls burned to death in the Mecca girls school fire, because religious police would not let firemen inside When I was n Riyadh an Asian nurse was flogged 40 lashes and deported for having dinner at a hotel with a man.
Will they change? I doubt it will be anytime soon that the Saudi mindset will change. A good book about saudi is called “Paramedic to the Prince” it is about an American paramedic who was on the medical team of King Abdulah. I think King Abdullah has been great for reform, although slow I think he is doing his best.
January:09:2010 - 00:57
Saudimedic- It was actually a Saudi woman arrested in Starbucks.
January:09:2010 - 08:55
There have been so many detentions–including, famously, NY Times columnist Maureen Dowd and her escort, Adel Al-Jubeir (now Saudi Ambassador to the US)–that any nationality could be correctly cited. The case that immediately comes to mind was a Arab-American woman meeting with an Arab colleague. Both worked in the same building, above the Starbucks.
January:09:2010 - 09:35
I’m pretty sure the Starbucks incident was a Saudi. I know several people that know her- she grew up in the states- which is probably the source of confusion. She was listed in the Western press as American- the Arab press as Saudi. I don’t know why.
Supposedly, they are not allowed to arrest people any more (they need the regular police for that) but you still hear about stuff happening, nothing official though.