Saudi king dismisses religious police head

[Mosamania]

RIYADH — King Abdullah dismissed the head of Saudi Arabia's powerful religious police on Friday, replacing him with a more moderate cleric, state news agency SPA reported without giving reasons.
Sheikh Abdullatif Abdel Aziz al-Sheikh a member of the country's most powerful religious family, was named in place of Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Humain, to head the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.
SPA gave no reason for the change.
King Abdullah, a cautious reformer, appointed Humain in 2009 to head the "mutaween" which ensures the strict application of the country's ultra-conservative version of Islam, as a step towards reforming it.
Humain hired consultants to restructure the organisation, met local human rights groups and consulted professional image-builders in a broad public relations campaign.
The commission also investigated and punished some out-of-control officers for misbehaviour.
It launched regular training sessions as well, including five-day courses on "skills to deal with witches and sorcerers" and the three-day "skills to deal with tourists."
This came after a number of cases in recent years outraged even Saudis and embarrassed the government.
In 2002, they reportedly prevented firemen from entering an all-girls school that was ablaze because of the segregation-of-sexes policy, and blocked the girls from escaping because they were not wearing the obligatory veil.
Fourteen girls were trampled to death and 50 hurt in a stampede after the fire broke out.
And the arrest a few years ago of an American businesswoman meeting a man in a Saudi Starbucks sparked a US complaint.
The new chief is noted for his moderate views on segregation.
In 2010, he backed the head of the religious police in Mecca, Ahmed al-Ghamdi, who was briefly sacked and then rehabilitated after saying Islam does not categorically require segregation and that shops could remain open during prayer time.
The religious police prevent women from driving; require them to shroud their faces and bodies in all-black, shapeless abayas; block public entertainment and force all commerce, from supermarkets to petrol stations, to come to a halt at prayer times, five times a day.
They are the reason Saudis do not have cinemas, that unrelated men and women cannot work in the same office and that young men fear their cellphones will be searched for "illicit" photos and messages from unrelated girls.
Although they fall under the interior ministry, they operate with great autonomy.
They maintain a close alliance with both the courts -- where all the judges are Islamic clerics -- and the powerful Grand Ulema, the supreme council of religious scholars who define the Islamic rules governing life.

AFP: Saudi king dismisses religious police head
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wooohooo. Another victory for the liberals. Mr.Abdullatif is one of the biggest callers for Women's rights and now he is the head of the religious police. Man this is great great news.

 

[lem34]

Ok Mossa I accept your point maybe we are seeing a different Saudi coming out. I hope they play a leading role in International relations away from extremism of Americans or fanatics

 

[Mosamania]

Ok Mossa I accept your point maybe we are seeing a different Saudi coming out. I hope they play a leading role in International relations away from extremism of Americans or fanatics

Mr.Abdullatif says it is okay for men and women to mingle and there is nothing wrong with that and that sex segregation is stupid and counter-productive. He was by far the least likely candidate in my eyes but when I just read the news my heart dropped. the past couple of months the Mutawaas were making life even more difficult now they will back down. I bet King Abdullah got the complaints and he took down the previous head and put this one in charge. Man this is wonderful news.

 

[Mosamania]

MIDDLE EAST NEWSJANUARY 13, 2012, 4:20 P.M. ET
Saudi King Appoints a More Lenient Enforcer of Morality


RIYADH—Saudi Arabia's king replaced the hard-line chief of the country's morality police with a more liberal cleric who has encouraged greater women's rights, a change welcomed by activists as a sign that the monarchy would continue to pursue cautious social reforms in the face of political upheaval in the Middle East.

Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al Saud on Friday appointed Sheik Abdulatif al-Sheikh to oversee the religious police, who roam the kingdom's shopping malls and streets enforcing a rigorous version of Islamic law among the 27 million residents of Saudi Arabia.

Sheik Sheikh opposed child marriage in his role as senior member of the Council of Senior Scholars, one of the two highest religious authorities in the kingdom. He also defended Saudi women's rights under Islam to work and to mix with men in public places, as long as they are dressed properly, in a 2010 interview with a London-based newspaper.

The king decreed, without explanation, that Sheik Sheikh would succeed Sheik Abdulaziz al-Humain as the head of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which enforces compliance to the ultra-puritan Wahhabi form of Islam.

Rights activists said they hoped the religious police under Sheik Sheikh would enforce a more lenient interpretation of Islamic law.

"The king has been trying to show a more tolerant version of Islam and al-Sheikh could finally make that happen," said a Riyadh-based human-rights activist. "Even though we weren't given a reason for replacing al-Humain, we know that it is because he disappointed the people and didn't carry out the reforms the king and the Saudis want," the activist said.

The move also allayed concerns among some more liberal Saudis about the king's naming last year of a conservative crown prince.

King Abdullah, who is believed to be 87 and underwent three back operations in less than a year, named his half-brother, Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, as crown prince in October, raising the prospect of Prince Nayef's ascension to the throne of the world's top oil-exporting country.

Some more liberal Saudis who say Crown Prince Nayef, as interior minister since 1975, has blocked social and political change and overseen crackdowns on political dissidents. He has been quoted as saying he saw no need for Saudi women to drive or vote. Many Saudis have watched for the government to take a more conservative turn with his appointment.

Many Saudis favor stringent enforcement of Islamic law and social code, leading even pro-reform Saudi officials to move cautiously.

The choice of a more liberal chief of religious police "could be an indicator that Prince Nayef is more moderate" than perceived, said Eman Fahad al Nafjan, a university professor and leading blogger on women's issues in Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Although the ruling al Saud family and senior religious authorities have maintained a close alliance, they have sometimes clashed over the government's attempts to limit the role of religion in education, to give women greater freedoms, and to standardize the country's Islamic legal system.

After the spread of popular Arab revolutions across the Mideast last year, the clergy stood behind the ruling family by issuing fatwas barring political protests, and the government appeared to back off efforts to promote social changes. Authorities arrested some women who broke the no-driving rule in a popular campaign last year.

Some activists argue that reforms by King Abdullah, who in September gave women the right to participate in local elections and to become members of the country's top advisory body, seem to be limited and may take years to be effective.

Sheik Humain, after his appointment by King Abdullah in 2009 with a mandate to reform the religious police, has been criticized by some Saudis for trying to knock back government initiatives to liberalize Saudi society.

Sheik Humain's dismissal came a week after a government deadline for Saudi stores to comply with a decree by King Abdullah ordering that only women can work in stores that deal with women's goods, such as lingerie. In recent days, religious police have harassed women who took such jobs, according to local media reports.

Such stores have been run by men, as restrictions on women and men interacting in public have largely limited women to working in health, education and a few office jobs.

Sheik Sheikh, in the 2010 interview, he argued that ikhtilat, the mixing of males men and females, isn't proscribed by Islamic law and that women can do all jobs in Saudi society.

Women working as clerks in stores dealing with women's goods wasn't only "permissible, but desirable," Sheik Sheikh told the Newspaper.

Saudi King Appoints a More Lenient Enforcer of Morality - WSJ.com

 

[livingdead]

How many people you know are liberal and how many are conservative( a rough percentage).

 

[Mosamania]

How many people you know are liberal and how many are conservative( a rough percentage).

20% liberals 30% conservatives. 50% don't give a damn.

 

[scholseys]

lol i like Saudi, whatever they do they take it to the extreme be it american puppetry or radicalism.

"Moderation is a fatal thing. Nothing succeeds like excess." - Oscar Wilde. I guess saudis are a big fan of Oscar Wilde.