It is both sad and shameful that the story of a poor Saudi woman selling goods from a stall on a street in Hail went viral on social media and in several newspapers. Umm Abdulaziz and her daughter, both of whom wear the niqab (veil) with their eyes showing, ran the stall which was their only source of income. Umm Abdulaziz is divorced and the mother of eight. She began selling on the street because of her difficult family circumstances and would run her stall from morning to evening. It was a normal day when members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia) stopped by and forced both mother and daughter to not only veil their faces, but also their eyes. These Haia members think that forcing people to do virtuous things will make them virtuous. They seem to be under the impression that the eyes of these women could tempt men into sinning. Perhaps, they felt that these women's eyes would attract men to buy from their stall. If this mother had known for even one second that uncovering her eyes would force her into this extremely difficult situation with the Haia, then she would have thought a hundred times before opening her stall to feed her children. She would probably have opted for begging and would have done so near mosques, malls and parks where there would be no members of the Haia to trouble her. Although these Haia members are being investigated for what they have done to these women, I think it would be best if an amount of cash could be deducted from their salaries every month and given to Umm Abdulaziz to support her family for an entire year.
