RIYADH, 21 January 2004 — Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh yesterday issued a scathing condemnation of Saudi women who showed up unveiled at the Jeddah Economic Forum and mixed with men.

“We followed up what happened at the forum and which should be denounced... namely, the mixing of men and women and the latter’s appearance without wearing the hijab ordered by God,” the mufti said.

“This is prohibited. (Moreover), newspapers published their pictures in this state which violates Shariah,” he said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency.

Not only did newspapers splash the pictures of these women, but some portrayed their conduct as “the beginning of the liberation of Saudi women — as if they were being constrained by Islamic law,” said the mufti, who also heads the Kingdom’s Council of Senior Islamic Scholars.

“I warn against the dire consequences that such practices will have,” he said.

“What is even more painful is that such outrageous behavior should have happened in Saudi Arabia, the land of the Two Holy Mosques, whose rulers consistently abided by Shariah without fear of criticism... and remain on this right path, thanks be to God,” the mufti said.