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On Sunday, a radio
program on MBC caught my attention. The topic was
�Women�s Rights in Saudi Arabia.� The guest
speaking on that topic was Nahed Bashatah, a
freelance journalist. Mrs. Bashatah started talking
about how women played a vital role in society
during the days of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be
upon him). How the Prophet for example, consulted
his wives on matters that concerned the nation and
how after the death of the Prophet his companions
used to seek the advice of Ayesha (may Allah be
pleased with her) in religious and social matters.
�All we need to do is to look back at our history
and see how Muslim women played a vital role in
life,� she said.
She went on to say
how Saudi women have come a long way and how their
potentials and skills have gone global. But Mrs.
Bashatah did say that there are still much to be
done regarding women�s rights in Saudi Arabia.
The first call came
from a listener from Riyadh who did not mention her
name and only referred to herself as �Umm Omar�.
She said Mrs. Bashatah was talking nonsense and was
not serving Saudi women at all. She said it was
completely false to say that Saudi women were not
enjoying their full rights. �They have gone into
every single field possible; in education, in
medicine... They enjoy their full rights in Saudi
Arabia as provided by Islam, and to say otherwise
would be foolish. Name a single country in the world
where women receive their full rights and are
honored as in Saudi Arabia.� Mrs. Bashatah said:
�I wish she could see how society treats divorcees
and widows here.�
Another call came
from Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Gasim, a religious
scholar. The sheikh said that Saudi women in general
were not aware of their full rights. He mentioned
for example the right to choose a spouse; the right
to be divorced by Islamic law from a man should he
mistreat her or deprive her of her rights, including
sexual rights. He said that when Saudi women sue for
divorce, it often takes up to eight months for the
process to finish. In some cases, the judge refuses
to accept the reasons, and in some he takes the
man�s side. But the sheikh also elaborated on the
mixing of the sexes and how dangerous that was,
especially at work, which could give a man the
opportunity to be alone with a woman, which is
forbidden in Islam.
The radio program
finished faster than I thought, and I was left
contemplating about how a large part of Saudi
society is still reluctant to change.
Bold Saudi women who
touch upon topics such as the status of women in our
country, which is probably the most sensitive of
all, are often branded as �liberal�,
�secular�, �brainwashed� and �immodest�
and other things it would be immodest to mention
here. The pressure they have to bear is horrendous.
Many websites sponsored by Saudis name their e-mail
addresses and encourage people to harass them for
what they write. The fact that these women have to
put up with some resistance from their own gender
only adds more misery to their problems. There are
those here who actively resist the government�s
call for women�s development on all levels. These
people want women to live in the Stone Age.
Some might think
that women were only created to serve men, to give
birth to children, and to raise them, and that
anything beyond that is Western decadence. They do
not want women to open their eyes and broaden their
horizons and realize that they have been deprived of
rights given to them by their religion. Among those
rights, as our king said, is the right to take part
in decision-making and play a larger role in public.
Every time I think
of this topic I remember what Prince Khaled
Al-Faisal, founder of the Arab Thought Foundation,
said in an interview regarding reforms in Saudi
Arabia. �Saudi Arabia is probably the only country
in the world where the government is pushing for
reforms and the people are pulling back.�
Reprinted
with permission of Arab News
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