Obaikan, adviser to the Royal Court, has said that he objects to women driving cars in urban areas in both the Kingdom and abroad, but is not against them driving in the countryside. Al-Hayat Arabic daily reported that Al-Obaikan, who made the remarks in an interview on Al-Risaala television channel Friday, also said that he disapproved of the “insults directed at Manal Al-Sharief”, the woman currently detained at Dammam's Women's Prison for driving a car in Al-Khobar last week and uploading a video of the event onto the Internet. “Target the act, not the agent,” Al-Obaikan said in response to the invective directed at Al-Sharief from various quarters. The outspoken sheikh spoke candidly of his own career and ambitions, saying that he is “not interested” in becoming a member of the Board of Senior Ulema, describing membership as “just a job” that would “bring nothing to me”. “Sheikh Muhammad Bin Othaiman was more knowledgeable than all (the Board of Senior Ulema) members, but was not a member for many years, and that took nothing away from him or his knowledge,” he said. The sheikh also admitted that his preaching had in time become “less belligerent” and that he was now “calmer and more tolerant” after having become convinced that the latter approach is a “fundamental element in Islam”. He also spoke of his time as a member of the Shoura Council. “It was a waste of time,” he said. “That's why I didn't bother to go to most sessions. They would take up time with the same old subjects, and I'm a man who loves to work.” Sheikh Al-Obaikan also revealed why he turned down his nomination to become imam of the Grand Mosque in Makkah. “I can't leave Riyadh to go and live in Makkah,” he said.
