Vital Perspective: A Saudi Rosa Parks

Recommended Reading

Just as "moderate Germans" did nothing to stop the Nazis, we should not expect "moderate Muslims" to risk disruption of their lives and exclusion from their communities to stand up and oppose Islamists with vehemence. History has taught us well and repeatedly that "moderates" simply want to go on with their lives, not make a fuss, just ride with the tide. The heros of history are not the moderates. They are the reformers. Those who are willing to risk everything to stand up in the face of evil and injustice and call it by its name, at cost of their comfort, place in society, and sometimes their freedom and even life. The movie banned by PBS, "Islam vs Islamists" gives voice to a few brave reformers. Wajeha Al-Huwaider is another one:

"On the first anniversary of the crowning of King Abdallah on August 4, 2006, Wajeha Al-Huwaider chose to mark the occasion in a way that typifies her style in recent years. In an attempt to remind the king of the promise he made on the eve of his coronation, she marched alone on the bridge connecting Saudi Arabia with Bahrain, holding a sign that made one demand of King Abdallah: “Grant Women Their Rights.” After marching for about 20 minutes she was arrested and taken in for questioning at the nearest police station, but the investigation itself could not get underway because any investigation involving a woman requires the presence of a clergyman who belongs to the “Morality Police” (Al-Mutawin).

"This special police force has 20,000 members who oversee proper public conduct in accordance with the harsh principles of the Wahhabi movement, the official stream of the Saudi monarchy and one of the most orthodox and conservative currents in Islam. [...]

"A few hours after her arrest she was set free, but her passport was confiscated and she was forbidden to leave the country. In accordance with existing laws in Saudi Arabia, a woman is not permitted to walk around alone without being chaperoned by a male from her immediate family. Therefore she had to stay at the station until her brother, many years her junior, arrived to take her home.[...]

"This is what Al-Huwaider wrote in heartrending fashion, with regards to the current system of laws in Muslim states intended to limit a woman to her home, under the supervision of the males in her life: “These are laws that are definitely unsuitable at a time where cats and dogs, in the developed world, enjoy much greater rights than those enjoyed by Arab women, and even greater than those which Arab males receive.” These words have a significance that goes beyond their immediate context. Al-Huwaider chose to make her arguments while still living in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, which endows her words with an unusual power intellectuals living elsewhere cannot match."