Religious police terror
The Muttawa prowl the streets looking for people disobeying the strict Islamic laws of the Kingdom, shouting at them to cover up or close for prayer. Laura of Arabia looks at this fearsome force.
Since King Abdullah came to power last year, Saudi has been on a slow but steady path of reform. One that will ultimately give women the same rights afforded men in this ultra conservative Islamic country, and afford all people the right to self determination, freedom of expression, association and movement.
But the one thing that keeps the reform process from picking up any speed is the omnipresent Religious Police force. They're separate from regular police, but until recently have enjoyed as much power. Officially known as the Interior Ministry's Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, and locally known as the Muttawa, they are praised and loved by some, but loathed and feared by as many others.
How to spot a Muttawa
Once you've seen a member of the Religious Police, you'll never miss one again. They (and there are reportedly some 3 500 of them on government payroll, plus thousands of volunteers) have an intense, menacing look about them as they walk the streets and malls on the lookout for anyone wavering from the path of Wahhabi Islam.
Physically you can easily spot them too. For instance, their thobes (the white 'dresses' Arab men love to wear) are shorter, reaching between knee and ankle as opposed to 'on the ankle'; they all have full beards, some dyed an orangey red, presumably with henna, and they wear red and white chequered shamaghs, the flowing head coverings, but without the black braided cord known as an igaal. If you're as puzzled as I was about how this all holds together, the scarf-like covering is kept in place by a skullcap aka taqiyah, worn underneath. Another sure way to know the Muttawa are coming is they'll be carrying a whip or cane that may or may not be used on errant citizens.
Sometimes they move in groups, but even if they're out on their own, the Interior Ministry recently laid down a law that they have to be accompanied by a regular police officer. If not, the Muttawa may not approach or apprehend citizens and you can refuse to go with them to their detention offices. Also recently, another law was passed that required employees to wear ID tags that clearly identifies them as real dinkum officers, and the department's logo has to be clearly visible on their GMCs (preferred mode of transport for these guys) during working hours. This came about due to a barrage of complaints from the general public who have been harassed, often for the slightest 'infringement' by what's known as self-styled or 'freelance' religious police. And there are many of those, believe me. I have been at their receiving end for not covering my head, for smoking in public, for lifting my abaya too high on the escalator, for taking photographs of fish...
How they do their religious policing work
The Muttawa have their own dedicated website (sorry, it's in Arabic, but you can translate some of it using google translation service), that states the mission of the Muttawa, competitions, news, info on their magazine, a vote and whatnot. Their mission is straight out of the Quran:
"The Prophet (peace be upon him) said that if anybody sees anything abominable, we must try to remove it by hand; if not, you must speak against it; if not you must hate it at least because it is the weakest of iman (faith)."
The website also hosts sections that describe in detail what is regarded as haram (forbidden) and what's not. For instance, on the Contraventions page they warn of items found in shops that pose a threat to public morality and may be confiscated if found by the Muttawa.
Items such as Barbie dolls in mini skirts, a children's plate featuring a picture of Pocahontas holding a bird in her hand, music CDs featuring women in skimpy clothes on the cover, shapely perfume bottles by Jean Paul Gautier, and Valentine's Day gifts such as pillows shaped like red lips and teddies atop a hearth-shaped box of chocolates.
They also offer an online tip-off service where members of the public can inform them of any contraventions. There are spaces to fill in your name, email address, the city where the deviant act took place, a dropdown to select a category of evil doing, and a spot to describe the event in detail.
Categories (loosely translated, thanks Habibi Nabil) are:
Person not attending prayers
Men chasing after women to get their telephone numbers
Women seen wearing excessive makeup
Shopkeepers selling contraband goods
General moral misbehaviour
Engaging in Western behaviour such as couples holding hands or kissing each other in public
Involvement with drugs or alcohol
Other
On the ground, the Muttawa's most important tasks are as follows: ensuring drugs and alcohol aren't sold; checking that women wear the abaya and headscarf; ensuring all shops are closed during the five daily prayer times; making sure that men and women who are spotted together in public are related; ensuring women don't smoke in public; and preventing the population from engaging in "frivolous" Western customs such as Valentine's Day. Not so long ago they raced around the suburbs shooting down satellite dishes beaming Western filth into Saudi homes, and confiscating camera cell phones. But people didn't stand for that.
They've also scolded salesmen for dressing elegantly, waiters for serving food with a smile and young women for carrying pictures of heartthrobs, such as actor Leonardo di Caprio. In some cases the squad forcibly cuts men's hair for being in their view too long.
In the past, Shi'ite Saudis (who are a minority here) were detained until they signed documents renouncing their faith, which the Sunni Wahhabi school of Islam regards as heretical. In April 2006 the Muttawa stormed a private house where an Indian Catholic priest was organising a prayer meeting in the lead-up to Easter. So they're tasked with keeping other faiths out, and, during Ramadan, ensuring no-one sneaks a cigarette, shwarma or cup of water during daylight hours.
In May 2003, a Saudi reform newspaper published several reports of people being mistreated by the Religious Police, including the story of one woman who had been beaten and held in solitary confinement for riding alone in the back of a taxi. A couple of weeks ago another local newspaper reported that a member of the Commission was sentenced to lashes and imprisonment because he had defamed a woman in public because she did not cover her face. The male member of the family refused to forgive him and brought two witnesses to court who testified that they heard the man use unprintable words when addressing the woman.
Sheikh Ibrahim ibn Abdullah Al-Ghaith, president of the Commission has admitted that his officials have made mistakes, including holding married couples for questioning when they were found in "suspicious circumstances", but that the Commission took disciplinary action against overzealous officials adding "they are only human".
Generally, the Muttawa inspire fear in most of Saudi's residents, whether local or expat. In Riyadh and surrounds, they're especially active and even non-Muslim expat women are forced to wear a headscarf. Recently a friend of mine, who had just arrived in Riyadh and was shown around the shops by her Philippine driver, was apprehended and both her and the driver taken off to the Muttawa offices for questioning. Thankfully, their papers were in order. She was let off with a stern warning not to appear in public in the company of a non-related man again, and given some Islamic literature to ponder. Last year another friend of mine had her ankles whipped while strolling through a mall, because the Muttawa deemed her abaya too short.
Just a couple of days ago the religious vice and virtue squad set up special centres in all cities with the intent to "register complaints on sorcerers and charlatans, track them and terminate them." This after it came to light that many Saudis were consulting Indian healers and so-called "witch doctors" for problems such as spousal infidelity and inability to conceive.
Possibly the most horrendous act this government department has ever committed was in March 2002 when a fire broke out at a girls' school in Mecca. The Religious Police prevented male passers-by as well as the fire rescue team from coming to the girls' aid because not only were the girls not wearing abayas, they were not related to their male rescuers. The girls were effectively locked in the burning building, with the result that 15 of them died and scores more injured. This sparked rare outrage among the public, with one Saudi journalist renaming the force "The Commission for the Promotion of Death and the Prevention of Life" in his column. The uproar eventually resulted in the head of a religious institute controlling girls' education being forced to resign and his department closed down.
So when the Saudi government recently released a statement to the world that the powers of the Religious Police where to be curtailed, you could feel a bump as half of Saudi jumped with joy. On further inspection, I realised that maybe we jumped to quickly – the latest statement, though welcome and a sign things are pushing ahead, merely means that when a member of the public is apprehended by the Muttawa, the officers have to take him/her to a police station, and not to their own interrogation quarters where they can be held indefinitely and punished as the squad sees fit. Still, this gives especially foreign women a slightly better chance to defend themselves, since few Muttawa speak any language other than Arabic. Mind you, not many police do either. Anyway, it's a good sign.
But just as we thought we could relax a tad, another girl friend of mine phoned furious and in tears telling me that she had just been harassed and shouted at in a shopping mall on Tahlia street. Tahlia Street here in Jeddah is sometimes called the "Champs-Elysées of Arabia". It's lined with designer shops and boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops, glitzy malls and is frequented by the rich, royal and white collar expats. And since I arrived people have told me it's the one spot in Jeddah the Religious Police are banned from. Because the wealthy shop owners want the public to relax and spend lots and lots of money without being intimidated and harassed. So understandably, we all love going there, and the girls and I have even seen a Saudi girl, without an abaya, sitting with her boyfriend in a cubicle kind of area in a coffee shop. We were close to hysterical.
In an obvious show of defiance, days after the statement's release, Muttawa popped up on Tahlia street and started shouting at women to cover themselves, wash their faces, and so on. My friend, who like myself doesn't wear hijab, was followed and shouted at by a horde of some 10 Muttaween threatening her while waving their sticks in the air. She told them to mind their own business and found refuge in a Mugg and Bean where she phoned her taxi driver. When he arrived she sped across the mall and jumped in his car. The Muttawa, ran shouting after her, but when they realised she'd got away, turned their energies on two unsuspecting and uncovered British women.
Another snippet worth mentioning is a report in the English language Saudi Gazette that the Commission is considering employing women as religious police officers. Some Saudi women see it as a great opportunity, as it'll provide an income while they fulfil their religious duties. Other women say the government has no right to meddle in other people's lives in the first place, and that most Saudis feel their interference has created a state of fear and apprehension amongst people.
This fear and apprehension has at times caused members of the public to boil over and launch counter attacks on the Religious officers. As happened in December 2004 when 11 young guys pounced on, punched and kicked members of the Muttawa who tried to detain one of them for hanging out with a girl to whom he was not related. Incidents like this are rare, but with more than half of all Saudis under the age of 25, who knows for how long.
Even more worrying is the fact that as of January 2006 other Islamic countries are also employing forms of religious policing, including Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Libya, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nigeria, Sudan, Uzbekistan and Yemen, according to this Wikipedia article on the Muttawa. Great reading and links for those who want to know more.
A last interesting tidbit. Unlike beleaguered Bafana Bafana, Saudi's soccer team has made it to the World Cup in Germany. According to this article their German hotel hosts are shielding the Saudis from all possible Western ways as they take up 59 of its 159 rooms for the finals. They put their staff on sensitivity courses, ordered them to dress modestly, removed all alcohol from mini bars, Bibles from bedside tables, and blocked all porn channels for the duration of the Saudi team's stay. Mmm. Wonder if they're giving the British team bangers and mash, DVDs of Spice Girl concerts and rides in red busses.
That's it for now. If there's anything in particular you'd like to know about life in Saudi Arabia, or if you'd like to comment on this article, send me an email at lauraofarabia@gmail.com.
South Africans in Saudi, pop in at the South Africans in Saudi Expat forum where you can post questions or answers and connect with others in your area of the Kingdom.
Laura of Arabia
If you conduct yourself properly, fear no one. – Arabic proverb
Image captions:
Image 1: A photo from the Muttawa website, showing items such as a Barbie doll in a tutu, that are not to be sold in shops as they contravene Wahhabi Islam rules for societal morals.
Image 2: Evocative perfume bottles considered 'haram' (forbidden). Yet, most of these items are on sale despte the Religious Police's warnings and best efforts.
Image 3: Under instruction from the Religious authorities, a woman is completely blacked out on this cover for a mattress. The same black koki process is applied to things such as swimming pool adverts and womens magazine covers where women show some flesh.
- Women24