Police Chief In Trouble For Supporting Mixing Of Sexes
What do you do when someone tells you that mixing of sexes is fine when the law of the country says otherwise? Go tell it to the police? But what if it is the local police chief who is saying this? This is the dilemma facing Saudi Arabia now when the local police chief, who is also a top cleric, openly supports the mixing of sexes in a country where sex segregation is the law. Now there is confusion as to whether the police chief is in trouble, with newpapers saying he has been fired from his job, and then retracting these reports later.
The Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a Muslim country. It is the largest Arab country in the Middle East. It is also called “The Land of the Two Holy Mosques”, referring to the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca (the Grand Mosque, the largest mosque in the world) and Masjid Al-Nabawi in Medina (the Prophet’s Mosque, the second largest mosque in the world). These 2 mosques are situated on the 2 holiest sites in Islam. Saudi Arabia is also the country where male guardianship for women and sex segregation are strictly enforced, although the current king is moving slowly to liberalize these.
Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi
Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi is the chief of the Mecca branch of Saudi Arabia’s religious police. He is also a top Muslim cleric. So what he says carry some weight, as he is both a cleric and a religious police chief. Now the religious police comes under the control of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, which is charged with strict enforcement of Saudi Arabia’s interpretation of Islam, including the practise of sex segragation to prevent the mixing of men and women who are not immediate relatives.
During a recent interview, Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi said: “Mixing between the sexes is just natural and there is no good reason to ban it.” Then, to make sure that he is well understood, Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi said in a speech last month: “You can write in the newspaper from my own mouth that I still hold to the view I expressed on gender segregation, and I won’t go back on it, and I’ll continue to repeat what I wrote.”
So what exactly did he write? In December last year, Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi wrote a 2-page article for the newspaper Okaz in which he argued that mixing of men and women in public was actually an accepted practice during the time of Prophet Mohammed. He further argued that Sharia law is silent on sex segregation in public. And to those who hold the conservative view that gender mixing is confined to immediate relatives only, Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi argued that the widespread practise of Saudi families having non-relative female servants in their homes contradicts this.
But sex segregation is not the only issue raised by Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi. In recent interviews he also said that Muslims do not need to attend congregation prayer every day. Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi said that Muslims need to do so only on Fridays, and that they should pray privately on other days. And Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi also questioned the need to close shops during prayer times.
Reaction From The Ultraconservatives
Sheikh Abdulrahman al Barrak issued a fatwa earlier this year saying: “Whoever allows this mixing … allows forbidden things, and whoever allows them is an infidel and this means defection from Islam … Either he retracts or he must be killed … because he disavows and does not observe the Sharia.” Sheikh Abdulrahman al Barrak added that anyone who allows his daughter, sister or wife to work with men or attend mixed-gender schooling is guilty of “a type of pimping”.
Saudi poetess Hissa Hilal shot to fame during the recent Million’s Poet Contest in Abu Dhabi with a poem attacking ad hoc and subversive fatwas, which many take to be an attack on this fatwa by Sheikh Abdulrahman al Barrak.
Last Thursday, there were reports of a protest gathering outside the home of Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi. They were protesting remarks by Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi about gender mixing and congregation prayers. Reports said that the youths demonstrating in front of Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi’s house mockingly demanded to mingle with female members of his family. Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi was abroad at that time.
Reaction From The Saudi Grand Mufti
Saudi Grand Mufti, Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh is upset with Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi’s comment on congregational prayers. In a recent sermon Sheikh Abdul Aziz al Sheikh said that the responsibility to attend congregational prayers is regulated by Islamic law, and anyone who questioned that responsibility is “leading people to hell.” He also said that Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi has no authority to speak on issues regulated by Islamic law.
Confusion
So what should the religious police do with its local chief whose very public view on sex segregation goes against the very raison d’etre of having the religious police? Under normal circumstances, Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi would be sacked if he does not resign. Afterall, why should he remain in the religious police who job is to catch people violating the sex segregation law in public and to ensure that shops are closed 5 times a day when men go to mosques to pray? Indeed an unnamed civil servant said that if Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi had said the same thing 10 years ago, “he would be definitely finished with his job within a day.”
But the situation today is different from 10 years ago. Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi is not the only person saying that gender mixing in public is acceptable. Even before Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi wrote his article for Okaz last December, Saudi Justice Minister, Muhammad al Issa, said that Muslims should not confuse public gender mingling with private meetings between unrelated or unmarried men and women. He said that the former is permissible in Islam while the latter is forbidden.
Moreover, the move to relax the strict sex segregation law seems to have royal approval. King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz recently opened the King Abdullah Science and Technology University, where male and female students study together. The king also dismissed a prominent hard-line cleric who criticized the university’s coed policy.
Given all this, is there any wonder that there is great confusion within the religious police on what to do with Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi?
To Sack Or Not?
Can Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi keep his job? Last Sunday, the chairman of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Humain issued a statement published in its website saying that Qassim al-Ghamidi has been replaced. This statement was picked up and reported by the Saudi state news agency, SPA. But shortly after its publication SPA wrote that the news was to be “deleted and not used.”
Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi said that the the director-general of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice had called him and told him to remain at his post.
So why is it so difficult to decide on Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi’s fate? Abdullah al Shammary,a political observer said: “There is something like a revolution inside the commission. There are huge discussions about its role.”
Wind Of Change
King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz is pushing a moderate agenda to steer Saudi Arabia to greater growth. The wind of change is blowing. One of the key drivers for change is the economy. As long as sex segregation and male guardianship continue to hold sway, Saudi Arabia is disadvantaged economically. The ban on public mingling is seen by many as a major barrier to modernising the economy and a reason for high unemployment among women. Professor Fawziah al Bakr from King Saud University puts it this way: “This is hindering society from going forward. Not only are women treated as inferiors, but you always have to have double buildings and double management.”
But in a Muslim society like in Saudi Arabia, change must be seen as approved in Islam. That’s perhaps where people like Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi can be that agent for change. He has the right standing – religious police chief and top cleric.
Think About It
Can Saudi Arabia afford to retain status quo? Is Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi likely to succeed in changing Saudi Arabia’s long standing sex segregation law? If so, what then is the role of the religious police going to be?
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