SAUDI WOMEN PROTEST : MEN SHOULD NOT CONTROL US ANYMORE

An open letter to the Saudi king is the latest
sign of growing demands from Saudi women
for basic rights and end to male controls
The grand mufti of Saudi Arabia recently
made an official statement saying that Saudi
Arabia would never abolish the guardianship
system, which legally grants men the ability
to control parts of a woman’s life. Some
Saudi women, opposing his views, wrote an
open letter to the king, petitioning against the
guardianship system, and asking that women
be treated as adults, not legal minors. That
debate has gone viral on Arabic Twitter.
Earlier this month, a clip emerged of the
grand mufti in Saudi Arabia, who is the head
of the Permanent Committee for Islamic
Research and Issuing Fatwas, knocking down
rumours that the country would ever abolish
the Saudi guardianship system, which
currently restricts adult women from rights
afforded to Saudi men. Sheikh Abdulaziz al-
Sheikh claimed that removing the
guardianship system would be a crime against
Islam’s teachings and said he saw no merit to
the trending hashtags calling for the end of
guardianship.
When asked if he was concerned with the
recent opposition expressed on Arabic Twitter
against the guardianship system, the Sheikh
said that the tweets and hashtags were “a
crime against Islam” and posed an existential
threat to Saudi society. “This is an evil call
that goes against the Sharia and the
instructions of the prophet,” he responded
sternly.
The guardianship system, as it stands now,
treats women, in effect, as legal minors. That
rule was put into place based on the Quranic
interpretation that states that guardians
should protect and care for their women.
“Men are the protectors and maintainers of
women…” Quran’s Al-Nisa, 4:34.
In Saudi Arabia, the default guardian is the
father, whose duty is to protect his daughter
until her husband becomes her new guardian.
This, of course, complicates issues if a girl is
born to a widower or if the girl grows into a
woman and never marries. In some cases, a
son may become the legal guardian to his
mother, thus becoming the authority over her.




Sourced and edited by DANIEL IKECHUKWU EKWUNIFE (08066298797)