Saudi Arabia’s Eman Al Nafjan is a proud Saudi Muslim woman, entirely connected to both her roots and her country. She is also profoundly aware of how her both her culture and belief system have been kidnapped by fundamentalists in order to disadvantage and oppress the rights of women. A pioneer in the face of subjugation, Staff Writer Al Nafjan takes RELATIVITY inside a world she is fighting to change for the better.
With the exception of the Human Rights Organization, to my knowledge there are no organized associations or unions of women rights activists in Saudi Arabia. Those who care are doing it individually and at the local level quietly. Most of them, like myself, are talking to the outside world more than the inside. On the other hand, women who believe in their own oppression are organized in so called religious groups; Quran circles, charity organizations, and teach their point of view in schools. They have seemingly infinite financial backing to publish all the literature they need to get across their narrow interpretations of Islam. Some women even work for the vice cops. And this is the problem. It’s not the government that oppresses women, it’s the women themselves who believe in this ideology and pass it along to their daughters.
The problem lies in the imbalance of information. The ultra-conservative interpretation of Arab traditions and Islam is officially sanctioned by the government, so it is taught (actually drilled into) students through the curriculum and occasional lectures by sheikhs and women Islamic missionaries. Then outside of school they are reminded of it through the distribution of free pamphlets at social gatherings, hospital waiting rooms, and even when shopping. Sometimes street ads are paid for to show an abaya and a flower where the face is supposed to be to get across that women are flowers that should be covered and protected; ironic, considering that flowers don’t thrive unless they are out in the sun. And if you try to discuss this oppression of women and human rights with these ultra-conservatives and their selectiveness in the use of Islamic texts, it all boils down to “the prevention of sin” argument.
At the same time people who believe in a more broad interpretation of Islamic texts are not allowed to express their opinion. When they do, they are quickly dismissed as secularists and liberals as if these were profane terms. They are also quickly assumed as not being really Saudi. I can’t count the number of times that other Saudis have assumed that I am from mixed heritage. Your mother must be Syrian, Egyptian or Turkish, they tell me. When I tell them that my parents were neighbors who grew up together in the Qaseem region, they are unfailingly shocked. All this just because I happen to voice a different opinion from the accepted walking jewels who are put on this Earth for the enjoyment of men, shopping and popping out kids. I digress. My point here is that we should have a more moderate Islam that is grown locally through Saudi literature, women rights awareness and respectable examples. Young ladies should not be made to feel guilty or rebellious just because they don’t like covering their faces or want to drive. As if wanting these means they carry some lewd ulterior motive.
To make matters more frustrating even when we do cover, problems arise. The other day I went to a major mall here in Riyadh to pick up an abaya I had ordered and instead got a story. The abaya was supposed to be ready yesterday but when I got to the shop there was an off vibe to it. The abayas on the racks were plain. The creative cuts and colors that had attracted me just four days ago to make a spontaneous purchase were nowhere to be seen. And as soon as the sales clerk saw me he said um Sulaiman, I wish you had left a number so I could have saved you a trip. It turns out that a huge abaya raid was undertaken all across Riyadh. They went around in groups of three; a muttawa vice police, escorted by a Riyadh Principality employee and a police officer. At the mall I went to, they first headed to the shop I mentioned above and the unlucky sales clerk had a customer at the time who was sitting on an armchair in the shop and discussing an abaya that she wanted made. The first thing the muttawa did was express shock and disgust that the shop allowed women to sit. Then he looked at the abaya order that the clerk was filling out and told the lady off for ordering a 750 riyal abaya. And then he demanded that the clerk show him a 750 riyal abaya. The clerk pointed at an abaya with cuffs decorated with crystals and the muttawa grabbed it off the rack and stuffed it into one of his big trash bags. Then he went through all the racks and grabbed anything that looked “worldly” and decorative and stuffed them all in his bags. Before leaving, the muttawa also took the sale clerk’s residency card and ordered him to remove the chairs and a little mirror nook that was there for women to try on the abayas. (They take the residency card so that the Saudi sponsor would have to come to them and they could give him a little talking to as well.) Meanwhile word got around and the other abaya shops in the mall hurriedly locked up and their clerks ran off before the raid got to them. The raid group went all around the mall getting the shop numbers of all the abaya shops even though they were closed. So that they could come back tomorrow and they did. Not only that, but similar raid groups went all over Riyadh, not only raiding shops but also factories and warehouses. Abaya shopkeepers called and warned each other and because they knew the shops and factories were unsafe they took the abayas home. The last raid was Friday evening and it has been quiet since then.
The sales clerk that I had the little conversation with has been selling abayas in Saudi Arabia for the past 13 years and he told me that a few years ago the vice police went as far as to jail him for four days just because he was doing his job. He told me that his shop’s abaya factory lost something between 50 to 60 thousand riyals from the raids this weekend! He also said that it had been a few years since the last time that the vice police would actually confiscate decorated abayas. The past few years all they did was give something like warning tickets to all the shops that were selling decorative abayas. The other two accompanying the muttawa, the police officer and the principality employee, mostly just stood by while the Vice cop did his job. They were there only to show that the raid was official and not just a thing a muttawa did on a whim.
The raids did not stop and this story is confirmed. Afterwards, no matter mall I went to in Riyadh for an abaya, I was not able to find anything displayed except the extreme plain tent style. Some shops were even closed because the mutawas found that all their abayas are decorative. One shop specialized in fancy abayas lost an estimate of 900,000 riyals. Local newspapers to my knowledge never picked this up. I wish they would have.
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I’m an Egyptian who was brought up in Riyadh. Although I haven’t been to Saudi for more than 10 years, I have to say that I could sense the exaggeration in your writing immediately. I read ‘Girls of Riyadah’ last summer and I have a feeling that you are somehow influenced by the style of the writer. Yet, I don’t think this is meant to be a fictional piece of writing, is it? Although I would never think of living in KSA again, I know that things have been improving gradually.
After reading your post today, I called three friends, two Egyptians and a Saudi, who live in Riyadh, Madinah and Dammam. They all confirmed that the whole story about the Abaya raids and the plain Abayas being forced upon women is absolutely new to them! The two ladies living in Riyadh confirmed that they can wear colorful Abayas and don’t even have to cover their hair inside malls if they didn’t feel like it. They even told me that some Syrian and Lebanese ladies wear the traditional colorful long coats.
I believe that Stories like the one you have here with such exaggeration are mostly misinterpreted by people who haven’t been to Saudi. I also believe that reserved women are not oppressed and that it is a choice most of the time. I strongly believe that they are much better than western women who I HAVE SEEN get wasted and drunk, touched by strangers in pubs and bars, by choice; these FREE women are not any more respected either.
What do you think?
I wanted to note that the above abaya raid took place last year, and those same places are now once again selling decorative abayas. It was my call as Editor to remove the date, but when looking at the above comment it seems to have caused some confusion. Make no mistake, this story in no way represents an “exaggeration” and DID very much happen…
I also wanted to respond to the comment above. I have only been in the Gulf for six years, but I already know what was policy a week ago is often not the case a week later. Things are never consistent here, and that’s why I am surprised an Egyptian, born and raised in the Middle East, wouldn’t take that into consideration.
Another thing to note… just because one person and three of her friends did not “see” what was reported by RELATIVTY OnLine’s Al Nafjan, doesn’t make her work untrue. The experiences of four people can hardly be called anything, but isolated. I could just as easily call three people and ask them if they have ever seen a ghost, and then conclude whatever it is they say as the status quo. Questioning whether of not the work was a piece of fiction is a small and limiting way to look at things.
In the end, this is the mission of RELATIVTY OnLine, to reveal the multiplicity of perspective, (sometimes through limited perspectives) to show that one experience does not work as a stand in for all, that it is the duty of each and every one of us to be open to experiences and ideas other than our own, so as better understand both ourselves and the world around us.
An individual’s experience is not a work of fiction, but a celebration of the autonomous experience of living a human life… Revel in this, don’t resist it. In the end, it’s what makes us who we are…
Just as you said, “I could just as easily call three people and ask them if they have ever seen a ghost, and then conclude whatever it is they say as the status quo.” which also applies to the story published as an incident that happened to an individual a year ago. Judging at perspectives that you agree with as a reality that needs to be revealed and on other opposing perspectives as ‘limited’ doesn’t create a perfect image of multiplicity, does it?
Please go back and read over the comments made earlier. There were as follows: “Questioning whether of not the work was a piece of fiction is a small and limiting way to look at things.”
No one here at RELATIVITY discounted your perspective of Saudi ideology as limited. We respect all opinions here. What was described as limted, however, was the suggestion that Al Nafjan’s work is a piece of fiction, just because you did no agree with what she said. This is what I addressed; this is what needs to be addressed. There is NO fiction here on RELATIVTY OnLine, only perspective, hers, yours, mine. Everyone has the right to offer their own take, but no one should accuse the other of making things up…
Check out some other interesting reading about the power of cultural ideology and thanks again for stopping by, as debate makes the world go round!
I am an Algerian woman and I have a good friend who lives in Saudi. We are not here to judge if Saudi Arabia is a good place to live. One thing I am sure of, its difficult to survive in Saudi Arabia for a woman, unlike the rest of the Middle East and no one can deny that. I totally respect the experiences of Al Nafjan, as I’ve heard many similiar stories from my friend. The situation is getting somewhat better in Riyadh, but we can’t deny what happepend as described by AL Nafjan, as this kind of stuff happens sometimes. Most importantly, each of us has their own individual experiences.
I also have a small comment regarding the book “Girls of Riyadh.” I have read the book and fully agree with the stories. RMRAJAB, don’t you think that these stories are real? Don’t you think that many men in the Middle East will not marry a woman that they have had an affair with beforehand? I don’t think one can deny this fact, as it is there. Most especially, with GCC men. With that said, the book also mentions that some men are really good and end up marrying these girls who were abandoned by their lovers. This shows there are good men too. Regardless, I think the book was a wake up call for many, and the reaction to the work revealed that the writer touched a senstive nerve. Many were critical of the author and I for one, cannot understand why.
In the end , those who critizise what’s happening in this region are not disloyal to who they are. I am so proud to be a Middle Eastern woman. I just want things to be better and to have more freedom to speak the truth.
1) So, women who study religion or are involved in charity work believe in their oppression! I really can’t see the link here. I study religion and I am an active charity person, but I am not oppressed at all. I have a job, a car and I travel abroad every summer to do my graduate studies. I am a Muslim and so is my husband. I chose to wear the Hejab as a form of personal religious commitment at the age of 26 and I was not by any means FORCED to take that step. Again, not all women who do that are oppressed and it’s a very limited prospective to make a link between oppression and studying religion or joining charity activities.
2) If you see that the idea of Hijab is ironic, I will have to say that you are looking at the Islamic society with western measures. It is unfair to look at the culture or traditions of a society using the measures or criteria of another.
3) What do you mean by ‘more broad interpretation of Islamic texts’?
I’m not sure what you’re saying above to be honest. Of course women, or men, who study religion or do charity work are not oppressed. I think you misinterpreted things.
Also, when you say, “You are looking at the Islamic society with western measures” are you saying that Islam cannot be accessed through the Western Perspective? Just curious…
Lastly, no matter what the perspective, everyone will always have their own interpreetation of life. None of which are about being right or wrong, all of which are about the multiplicity of perspective.
the article listed is done after having complete negtive aspsct to show saudi as a Bad place,cant u see how many hindus and christians come and enjoy from years spending complete life span here in saudi,why do they stay its not only beacause of money its because they enjoy and spend a lot of time with their husbands if discos or pubs used to be as in america no lady as in UAE and USA would be a virgin which just hppens as in other countries exposing last inch of her body to anyone provocating and as if asking all to have sex with them.do u feel this is good in saudi the lady wear abhaya so that she is not provakating othes and she loves her dignity.i am from india and i love to be in saudi .we have very many good options to spend our time other than watching stupid movies and spending time in disco and alcoholic bars which all ladies hate foe their hubbys to be in and end their life on footpath……