Donne al lavoro in Arabia Saudita: no, mai

Another Saudi Step Backward

The Saudi government recently issued a decree banning the ‘wild fatawa’, religious rulings given by any Tom, Dick, or Harry imam. Instead, fatawa would only be issued by a central, authoritative body of senior religious scholars. This, it was believed, would get rid of the strange statements, like the one encouraging men to nurse from unrelated women so that they could be in their presence without sin. Now, that body, the Senior Board of Ulema, has issued its first judgment and it’s a bad one.

The new fatwa explicitly bans women from acting as cashiers in markets and as vendors (presumably in shops), because it potentially involves a mixing of the sexes. And, as we are often told, albeit indirectly, by the religious authorities, a Saudi man and Saudi woman cannot be trusted to be in each other’s presence lest they go at each other like rutting minks, even on a public street. The Saudi libido must be astronomical. Is there a Guinness Record in the offing?

Of course, this ruling runs smack into history, where women in Arabia—and yes, during the time of the Prophet and including women of his family—held positions in commerce, in trade, in the day-to-day economic activities of the cities and towns. Alas, now, for the literally poor Bedouin women who set up their blankets along the streets, selling their crafts in order to earn paltry amounts of cash. Saudi women are now being signaled that any co-mingling of the sexes is going to be viewed harshly. Alas for those women who’ve had the luck to find jobs in offices.

I continue to be amazed that religious authorities continue to treat the country’s population as a group of hyper-sexed adolescents. Isn’t self-control a part of Islamic doctrine? Isn’t maturity the ability to discern when certain actions are appropriate and when and where not? If the sight of women is so inflammatory to some men, perhaps the lesser evil would be for those men to pluck out their eyes in order to avoid sin.

Saudi Gazette/Okaz

Clerics endorse ban on female cashiers

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s top government-sanctioned board of senior Islamic clerics has endorsed a fatwa that calls for a ban on female vendors because the mixing of sexes at the workplace opens the door for all evil (or Fitnah)”.

The Senior Board of Ulema, chaired by the Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Aal Al-Sheikh, said in its ruling Sunday that the mixing of sexes is forbidden and women should not seek jobs where they could encounter men.

The board urged women to stay away from these jobs for the sake of Allah Who will reward them accordingly, citing Qur’anic verses and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

The decision comes after a conservative preacher was reprimanded in August for violating a government-mandated restriction on fatwas by calling for a boycott of supermarkets employing female cashiers.

via xrdarabia.org