I am writing this article in the hope that all Saudi women will eventually be given their full rights, rights which the Creator, Allah the Almighty, has granted but which some manmade regulations and laws have arbitrarily taken away. Today, a woman's freedom to travel depends on her guardian's approval. Why? It is because of the regulations and laws that have stripped women of their basic rights and appointed men as their guardians, despite the fact that the Creator has granted men and women the same rights of competence. Both men and women are equal in terms of reward, punishment and penalties in the Shariah. They have the same equal rights to live, act freely, act responsibly, choose between belief and disbelief and pledge allegiance to the ruler. Also, both men and women have the right to seek knowledge everywhere and are obligated to perform the same religious duties with the exception that it is not a must for women to perform Friday Dhuhr prayer in congregation in the mosque. Women are not required either to fast in Ramadan or perform the five daily prayers when they have their menstrual period or when they have just given birth to a child and are recovering. However, they have to make up for the days they missed in Ramadan by fasting later. The fact that women have to stop performing religious duties during certain times and in certain conditions does not in any way detract from the full rights the Shariah grants them. These exceptions are based upon the physiological nature of women, which the Creator has given them in order to make them capable of childbearing, childbirth and breastfeeding. Women are as competent as men in the Shariah. Almighty Allah says in the Holy Qur'an, Chapter of Al-Lail (The Night): “By the Night as it conceals (the light); By the Day as it appears in glory; By (the mystery of) the creation of male and female; Verily, (the ends) ye strive for are diverse. So he who gives (in charity) and fears (Allah); And (in all sincerity) testifies to the best; We will indeed make smooth for him the path to Bliss. But he who is a greedy miser and thinks himself self-sufficient; And gives the lie to the best; We will indeed make smooth for him the path to Misery.” The Creator here swears by the creation of both male and female, a fact which puts women on the same equal footing with men in terms of reward, punishment, religious duties and competence. Article (8) of the Basic Law of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (also known as the Basic System of Governance, a constitution-like charter) stipulates that “the Government in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is based on the premise of justice, consultation and equality in accordance with the Islamic Shariah.” Dr. Bandar Al-Aiban, President of the Human Rights Commission, said during the presentation of the Kingdom's second periodic review report on human rights in Geneva in 2013: “The Saudi woman enjoys full legal competence and exercises her rights.” But this reality has never been materialized on the ground. Unfortunately, some regulations and laws still regard adult, independent and competent women who can provide for themselves as incompetent members of society. They treat women as if they were minors regardless of their age. For example, if a woman wants to apply for or renew her personal identification card or passport or wants to travel abroad, she will be treated as a person who does not have sufficient legal competence to do any of these things. Ironically, however, the nation's regulations and laws regard a woman as a legal competent person when it comes to crimes, felonies, punishment and penalties. And when a woman serves a prison term, she cannot be released without the presence of her male guardian. So if a guardian refuses to appear in person before prison authorities to take the woman home, after she has served her prison term, the woman might have to spend the rest of her life in the prison because only her legal guardian is allowed to come and sign the necessary documents for her release. So a woman is treated as a competent person by the court when she commits a crime but as an incompetent individual when she is released from prison. In 2004, a delegation of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) met late Interior Minister Prince Naif Bin Abdul Aziz to facilitate coordination between the NSHR and the ministry. I was one of the delegation's members. I asked Prince Naif after the meeting when the guardianship system hanging over women's heads would end and when women would be allowed to travel without obtaining their guardians' consent. My late mother had this problem; she could not travel anywhere without her son's approval because her son was her guardian. Prince Naif said: “There is a law which stipulates that a woman who has reached the age of 40 and possesses a passport may travel without her guardian's approval.” I told Prince Naif the passport officers at airports do not enforce this law. I remember writing an article for a newspaper calling for activating this law. Some, who read the article, accused me of encouraging women to travel alone without a mahram (a male relative a woman cannot marry). These accusations were made despite the fact that several Islamic scholars have said that it is permissible for women to travel alone. Dr. Saud Al-Fenaisan, Dean of the Shariah School, Prince Muhammad Bin Saud Islamic University, Riyadh, is one of those scholars who say that this is permissible as long as it is safe for women to do so. Those scholars base their fatwas on the opinions of former scholars who belonged to the Shafi and Malki Schools of Thought as well as the viewpoints of some well-known scholars who lived during the era of Caliph Omar Bin Al-Khattab, such as Hassan Al-Basri, who was born in 642 CE and died in 728 CE. Late Sheikh Abdulrazaq Afifi, who was a member of the Senior Board of Scholars and the High Committee of Fatwa in the Kingdom, said: “If it is safe for a woman to travel alone without a mahram, she may do so as today travel has become much easier and safer with the existence of airplanes and trains.” Sheikh Afifi cited the example of Mother of Believers Aisha, wife of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Aisha traveled alone once without a mahram. When Saeed Al-Khudari, one of the Prophet's companions, talked to her about it, she told him that “not every woman could find a mahram”. Moreover, the wives of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) went to Haj without a mahram. (To be continued) [email protected]
