The Return of the Naughty Little Elves

You have probably heard and read about Manal al Sharif and the ongoing heated debate on women driving ban. I haven't wanted to write about it after this post because the whole issue just seems to be so worn out. Of course I remain hopeful that Manal's example of courage would trigger some real results this time.
The way the Saudi media just beats around the bush on the issue is just so frustrating to me. I'm tired of reading their crappy coverage and outright lies. And its just incomprehensible to me how religious clerics continue to come up with the most ridiculous excuses as to why women shouldn't drive. And yet again they have gone and blamed it all on the Shiia and other scapegoats. And people actually believe them!
I'm so bored of reading all the crap the media feeds us! They might have just as well written a fairytale about it and not even bothered to write anything else. It might have gone something like this:

A fairytale from the Magic Kingdom..

Starring: Manal Al Sharif as "Princess Lionheart "
             Shiias, Jews and Westerners as "the Elves"
             Religious clerics and Hai'a as "The Evil Wizards"
             Saudis as "The Fools"

Once upon a time in the Magic Kingdom there lived a Princess named Lionheart, she was known for being very couragous and smart.
One morning the Princess woke up full of enthusiasm: "Today I shall ride my carriage outside the walls of my castle, why do they have to make life for women such a hassle?" 
"I can rein my horses inside where its hidden, but why when I venture out is it forbidden?"
The more the Princess thought about this nonsense, she became convinced now was the time to make the women driving ban past tense.
She knew quite well that the Evil Wizards would say "woman, how do you dare!" But the Princess thought of all the poor women that suffered and did not care.
So on she went, with her brother in tow. The children were seated in the backrow.
She rode her golden carriage, and showed all the people her tremendous courage.
But all hope was lost when the guards came, she was stopped and put to shame.
Why, she asked do you stop me, have the Evil Wizards cast a spell on thee?

Back at the palace in the dark of the night, the guards of the Evil Wizards had heard of her fight.
They dragged the Princess into jail, and her plees for freedom were of no avail.
She was asked to confess to the Evil Wizards, but she couragously replied  "I would rather eat lizards!"
For five days she lay on the dungeon floor, only food was brought to her door.
The Wizards were worried and dreaded, could their spell on the Magic Kingdom be beheaded?
They had cast the spell of darkness over the Kingdom long ago, now they were in danger to be exposed by this foe!
"We must again blame the elves, those naughty little elves, it's the only way to save ourselves!"
"They will believe it again those fools, look how we already fiddled with their schools!"

So the Evil Wizards told the people of the Magic Kingdom:
The elves only want to cause chaos and turmoil! Thank us that we keep them away from our soil!

They have done it again. Those sneaky, naughty little elves!
They managed to creep into the castle of the Princess! Hear her now how she will confess!
"The elves tiptoed at night into my room, because I am a poor woman without a groom."
"They whispered into my ears when I slept, this is a secret best to be kept: Go and ride your carriage outside the palace walls! Do it on June 17th and drive to malls! Tell others to follow you! Do this and no harm will come to you! You will enjoy riding in your carriage outside in the freedom! What a perfect magical Kingdom!"
"I had no understanding of my actions, I am but a foolish woman that wanted male attraction."


So the fools believed the lies of the Wizards and all was well in the Magic Kingdom, but Princess Lionheart remained locked up in the dungeon.
To this day her voice can be heard in the tower, "You will never break my spirit and women will one day take power!"
And the Evil Wizards laughed into their beards, we rule the Magic Kingdom by creating these fears!

Read about the story from Saudiwomans blog http://saudiwoman.wordpress.com/2011/05/26/second-update-on-manal-al-sherif/

 or Susies blog: http://susiesbigadventure.blogspot.com/2011/05/manal-gets-another-10-days-for-her.html

Muttawa Encounters

As I promised on a previous post, I will share some experiences my friends and I have had with muttawa.

These are all real situations that have occured within the last 3 years in Riyadh.

My first encounter with the muttawa was at the Janadriya heritage festival held once a year on the outskirts of Riyadh. It's a huge exhibition area that displays saudi culture from all over the country, and this was womens only day. While we were exiting the festival area, there was a muttawa squad at the gate checking that all exiting females had covered their hair. For what reason-I have no clue since only wome were around! So I was wearing a hat like this(that day was hot and women were selling them in every corner):

My hair was covered! But the muttawa insisted I take it off and wrap my scarf around my hair. I asked him, so you want me to expose my hair then? He didnt know what to answer, he just repeated like a robot: you must cover you hair!I still insisted it is covered but after my friends got somewhat uncomfortable I decided to obey him. So I removed my hat let my hair fall open and wrapped the scarf around my head, which actually left more hair visible. Make your own conclusions to what his real agenda was.

In Granada mall, its school vacation time 10 am and we are shopping in a group of three girls. There's alot of teenaged Saudi boys and girls around. We spot the muttawa, they are in a group of 3 muttawas accompanied by two policemen. Thats means trouble, that means they can arrest us! At the time I didnt cover my hair and had forgotten to take my "in case of muttawa scarf" with me. So I quickly tried to find a shop to go buy one. Too late, they already had spotted me! They started following me around and into shops (even lingerie shops), shouting cover your hair! I pretended not to hear and kept searching for a scarf to buy. Finally I found one, put it on and they were gone, so I then removed it again. Later we saw four teenage girls running as fast as they could with the same muttawa running and shouting behind them! It was hilarious, the girls hadnt covered their hair and their abayas were OPEN! Wow how courageous of them. I assume they were about 14 years old. They ran out of the mall into their jeep and werent caught.

In Faisaliah mall: four western girls are having dinner at the family section of the food court which is surrounded by walls and there are no men nearby. Two muttawas come in, the older one is wearing the Harry Potter cape making him look more intimidating to the girls. Muttawas immediately head to the girls in the middle of their meal and ask them to cover. They ask why? Answer: Because you are in Saudi-Arabia. The girls feel baffled, why are they being disturbed while eating alone in a quite corner in family section, obviously sitting there for privacy. In their own language they decide to go in the ladies room, not to cover their hair and just wait for them to leave to continue the meal in peace. But muttawa follows them and waits outside the toilet until they come out.

In Panda: a western couple is grocery shopping. Muttawa comes up to the wife and tells her to cover her hair. The husband gets upset and challenges the muttawa, how dare they speak to his wife in that manner?They have no right to address her or to even glance at her. Muttawa leaves her alone.

In Kingdom mall: A western woman who is Muslim but chooses not to cover her hair and her Saudi husband are shopping. Muttawa approaches the woman: cover your hair! Says to husband: pray that Allah will forgive her! Saudi husband replies: No YOU pray that Allah forgives your behavior and for her want to wear hijab one day, otherwise leave her alone it's her decision!! Muttawa leaves the scene.

Also in Kingdom mall: western man runs into his female colleague from work outside a shop, they start chatting. Muttawa approaches them, asks them are they married. They ignore him. Muttawa starts beating the man on his legs with his stick. Western man looks at muttawa in a bad way and continues talking to colleague. Muttawa whips the western man even harder with his stick. Western man grabs the stick from the muttawa, throws it over the edge down to the first floor and continues conversation. Muttawa leaves the scene to retrieve his stick and does not return.

In Hayat mall: Western man is shopping, it's prayer time and the shops close. Two muttawas approach him and ask why he is not praying. Man replies because he isn't Muslim. Muttawas then drag him forcefully into the shopping malls mosque, and make him stand in the back the whole time watching the other men pray.When the prayer is finished they let him go.

A young western woman  goes to get take-out food with two male colleagues after work. They drive to the shwarma place and the men go out to get the food. Usually she would wait in the car but this time she decides to step out. Her hair is not covered and she has left her handbag in the car. Muttawa drives by, spots them and starts questioning them, how they know eachother and why they are together. She would have been fine if she had only took the bag with her to show her ID and say she is just walking around. The muttawas don't speak english and she doesn't know what's going on. So they are all shoved in the muttawa GMC and taken to the police station. The woman is interrogated and made to strip to her underwear in front of the female staff who are all laughing at her and demanding she strip naked. Nobody speaks english and she still doesn't know what is going to happen. She is given clothing to change to, and only then she realizes that they are putting her in jail! So she ends up spending two nights in jail, until her sponsor comes and gets her out. Its Ramadan so there's obligatory fasting for everyone. There are many other women in the large prisoncell crammed together lying on dirty floors or benches. Some women are crying, some even have small children with them. Alhamdulillah nothing worse happens to her and she gets out of jail because of influential sponsor.

Entrance to Janadriya festival area on womens only day.

Meet the Saudi Religious Police

As you might have heard, the streets and shopping malls of KSA and especially Riyadh are patrolled by the "religious police" commonly known as muttawa. Their officially called the Hai'a and they work for the Committee of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice. There are around 3500 religious policemen plus thousands of volunteers also known as freelance muttawas.
Here is a brief humorous guide for newbies in Saudi to understanding more about what muttawa actually are.

How to spot the religious police on the streets? How are they dressed?
They will be wearing white thobes that do not pass ankle length. The Big Boss might be wearing a golden-brown Harry Potter-style cape on top of the thobe. They will surely have a long beard and a ghutra (the head cover that resembles a table cloth to some) without the black igal on top. They usually roam in groups of two or even more to gain more intimidation factor. Muttawa usually have a stern, even scary expression on their faces and I have never seen a smile. Muttawas might carry a stick to beat a woman's or man's legs if behaving improperly or dressed immodestly.

How do muttawa get around? Are there any warning signs that they are approaching?
The Hai'a mode of transport are white GMCs with CPVPV logo on the side. The cars have megaphones on the roofs. During prayer times squads will be patrolling the city reminding people to pray with a very loud "haya al salah"  heard from the speakers. Another way to know is if you are a western woman and an angry looking man in a thobe is shouting at you in a loud voice to cover your hair. That would be a muttawa.


Here are the muttawa headquarters in Riyadh and a very brave woman who is not covering her hair and is exposing her forearm!

What is the job description of a muttawa?
Muttawas don't actually have an official job description. There has recently been talk in the media about the importance of having one following some very unpleasant and even violent actions taken by religious policemen. On their official website it is stated their duty is to "preserve Muslim society by guidance and good example". Muttawa seem to improvise as they go, acting as sort of  performance artists sometimes.
Most common duty of a muttawa is telling (sometimes shouting) women to cover their heads or hair. If the women under scrutiny are Saudi they will be asked to cover their faces or eyes depending on how much the woman is already covered.
If a muttawa squad encounters a woman and a man together under suspicious conditions, such as riding in the same car or shopping together, they will request to see a marriage license. If the couple does not have it, they will be taken to the station for questioning and interrogation. The police must be present in order for the Hai'a to actually arrest anyone.
Their duties also include blacking out haram figures from womens magazines (cleavage, legs, arms)blacking out women from inflatable swimming pool packages and basically wherever they find pictures of uncovered women. Hai'a might raid stores for haram goods such as music CDs, stuff that resembles crosses or other religious symbols, Barbies without abayas and forbidden books like Harry Potter and the atrocious Winnie the Pooh which features a piglet!The Horror! The confiscated items are brought on display at the yearly Riyadh Bookfair.

Here is an example of how dedicated the muttawa are sometimes:

How can one become a muttawa?
One way to become a member of the Hai'a is to commit a crime and get a jail sentence. While in jail,  it is good to memorize the entire Quran and become known as a "Hafiz". That way the sentence will be shortened, and once the convict is out they might be given a chance to practice the newly learned skills from jail in public by joining the Hai'a.

Here's another work of madness, uups I mean prevention of Vice of course!



Why do muttawa do what they do?
That is a very good question. There are some members that give the whole Hai'a a very bad reputation by harassing women in particular and going to extremes and resorting to violence. Muttawa are not popular among either locals nor expats coming to Saudi.
The picture given of Islam to foreigners is questionable and distorted because Islam teaches "there is no compulsion in religion" and that "to each their own religion and deen". Forcing people, especially non-Muslims to act and look like Muslims is certainly not what was done during the times of the Prophet Muhammed.


I have to be fair and admit I have met a few very polite, highly educated and well-mannered muttawas. I would even go so far as to saying they were perfectly gentleman-like in their conduct. They presented themselves in such a manner that it left a positive, interesting and good-intending picture of Islam.
So I guess we should never judge the book by its covers..Or in this case, the religion by some of its followers!