SAUDI RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR'S "REMINDER" ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 RIYADH 001027

SIPDIS
SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV KISL SA
SUBJECT: SAUDI RELIGIOUS SCHOLAR'S "REMINDER" ON WOMEN'S RIGHTS

REFS:


A. RIYADH 887

B. RIYADH 888

SUMMARY
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1. (U) In late July a senior religious scholar who advises the King
wrote a column in the Saudi Arabic daily Al-Watan recalling the
Quranic stipulation that women have rights in equal measure to their
obligations. The column illustrates a new approach to improving the
status of women among religious moderates. Comments on the
newspaper's website in response reveal skepticism and frustration
but also demands for change. End summary.

A PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE
STRATEGY TO EXPAND WOMEN'S RIGHTS?
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2. (SBU) As a group of scholars from Imam Muhammad University told
the Charge recently (ref A),there is a growing movement toward more
moderate, open and progressive interpretations of Islam, though it
may not be immediately recognizable to outsiders as such. In fact,
one of their key messages was that they wanted to accommodate change
without naming it as such. They also said that they sought to
develop a new narrative to package change and accommodate a new
approach to the status of women but that their approach had to be
based on authentically Saudi concepts and tradition to avoid the
taint of Western ideas and toxic Saudi "liberals." A three-part
column by a leading Saudi scholar published in late July in the
progressive newspaper Al-Watan provided a glimpse of how this
strategy is developing.

RHETORIC: EQUAL RIGHTS AND RESPONSIBILITIES?
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3. (U) The title of the column was a 4-word phrase from a Quranic
verse (2:228) that is often cited as a reference for the concept of
equal rights for women. One Embassy contact explained that the
phrase had come to be viewed by some as an empty slogan, since "they
always say it to show women have equality in Islam, but then they
don't do anything." The Arabic is extremely terse, and translations
vary, but the meaning most often given is roughly, "women have such
honorable rights as obligations." It comes from the Quran's second
(and longest) chapter, in a verse that deals with divorce and the
balance of rights and responsibilities between husbands and wives.
[Note: The full line is "Wa lihunna mithl alathi alayhunna
bilmaarouf" Literally, "To them (feminine) the equivalent of what is
from them (feminine),equitably." End note]

REALITY, TAKE 1: THE SHEIKH REPORTS DARK STORIES
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4. (U) With the Quranic stipulation for equity as context, senior
scholar Sheikh Abdullah bin Sulaiman al-Munai' wrote about injustice
towards Saudi women. He described complaints from women who had
called him to protest a previous column in which he had urged Muslim
women to strive to meet their Islamic duties and obligations. The
women had shared stories of their
mistreatment, including being forced to hand over salaries, being
married off to settle family debts, and suffering from absentee
husbands and multiple wives. One asked how Muslim women could be
expected to fulfill their obligations if they were denied their
rights. Al-Munai', who is an adviser to the King, wrote that "there
was no doubt that there were many of these dark stories which
suggested corrupted homes and disturbed social life and the
emergence of a new generation living in chaotic family life." He
called on Saudi men to prove their true manhood by treating women
justly, confirming that women had the same rights as men, including
for dignity and financial independence and control of their own
lives. Guardianship, he suggested, was not about control but equity,
with obligations and rights for both men and women.

REALITY, TAKE 2: WHAT RIGHTS?
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5. (U) His readership was apparently not impressed. Extensive
reaction to the article on the al-Watan website (in Arabic),mostly
from women, echoed the skepticism of our Embassy contact cited
above. For example:

--But Sheikh, wrote one, it is not enough to only say to men "fear
God in treating women," because then people will turn their backs on
the dramas of Saudi girls. Girls should be able
to call an official department that can verify the injustice done to
women and get them their rights back through just trials and clear
written laws.

--Another reader commented: Islamic Shari'a granted us everything,
but unfortunately it is not applied... in Saudi Arabia a woman
cannot even bring herself a maid with her own money or her own ID. .

RIYADH 00001027 002 OF 002


. everything we want to do is in the hands of a guardian. You say
she has the right to choose her own husband - ha - she cannot even
manage her own money.

A SHEIKH OF THE SULTAN
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6. (SBU) The Sheikh, born in Nejd in 1928, is a member of the Senior
Council of Religious Scholars, and was appointed as an adviser to
the King last year. Educated at Imam Muhammad University, he was a
judge in Mecca. In addition to his Al-Watan column, Al-Munai' hosts
a call-in show on Saudi television, where he dispenses Islamic
advice on the gamut of social issues. Considered by observers as one
of the "Sheikhs of the Sultan" (i.e., he hews to government
policies) he is known as a moderate traditionalist who steers clear
of political issues.

COMMENT: THIS IS PROGRESS?
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7. (SBU) In many countries, debates on social issues are often
difficult to penetrate because the warring parties speak in code and
use slogans often unfathomable to outsiders. This is particularly
the case in the increasingly public and passionate arguments on the
role of women in Saudi Arabia, where all sides must take care to
couch their arguments in Islamically-correct language. Foreign
observers in the Kingdom are apt to mistake arguments laden with
Qur'anic references as signaling opposition to progress, especially
with respect to women's rights. However, as the Embassy is learning
from its broadening contacts among Saudi Arabia's religious
establishment (ref b),this can be a mistake. Sheikh Munai's column
is a noteworthy example of how a supposedly apolitical senior
conservative religious figure is helping to shape the debate on
women's rights and provide a platform that allows some women to
articulate their problems and demand solutions.

ERDMAN