Before you start a dialogue with Arabs, laymen or scholar, you have to convince them that a world outside their narrow perceptions exists, according to a Palestinian writer. Keeping this in mind makes it easy to understand the conflicts and differences in our society.

Islam, as we know, has things which are clearly permitted and things which are not. Unfortunately society has mixed these clear matters up with others that may or may not be permitted. Many scholars will not even consider you a human being because in their description, a human being is something totally different from you. You must therefore prove to him that you are one of those who live on this planet in the midst of the scholar and his idea of human beings.

The heated exchanges over the matter of permitting women to drive reveal a society incapable of dealing with social realities and understanding change. It is alleged, wrongly of course, that Islam breeds terrorism. But the ideas being advocated by several Islamic scholars support these misconceptions. Their style of thinking does not tolerate any dissenting voice on any matter. Such minds understand only a monopoly and only a clear and inflexible truth.

Terrorism in all its diverse forms is, undoubtedly, a temporary or permanent reaction to some ideas, groups or methods springing from a narrow environment. It struggles against all opposing views and differing thoughts and aims at a single viewpoint and decision. A terrorist group that promotes murder and destruction is dangerous. Even more dangerous is the intellectual terrorism that targets killing the freedom of thought and expression of both the individual and society. Intellectual terrorism aims at the total destruction of all social achievements. It is an irony that terrorism utilizes the facilities, regulations and broad values of society to suppress those who differ with the terrorists.

The controversy over the issue of women’s driving is an example of the danger of mixing social issues with religious ones. The motive is to ban women driving with the help of a religious fatwa so that all discussion on the subject would be conclusively ended. Driving, however, is only a worldly matter and is far from religion. What is “halal” (lawful or permitted) and what is “haraam” (unlawful or not permitted) are very clearly defined by the Prophet (peace be upon him) who also said “You know better about worldly matters.”

The debate about women driving has crossed all reasonable limits. Society has found itself up against the impossible task of solving the serious problems of modern life with the instruments of traditional customs and traditional thinking. The spread of globalization and accompanying developments are bringing in revolutionary changes in the lifestyles of people in many societies. Societies such as ours, on the contrary, will continue to be unsuccessful in their quest for a way to guarantee the preservation of their heritage and culture and the quest will leave them finally in a state of constant conflict. A society which turns away from modernization and accepts only the benefits of modern technologies will find itself unable to adjust to change and will soon be gripped by the fear of losing its social and intellectual status. In such a situation, our society seeks the help of religion and relies on fatwas to protect its interests.

The fear expressed by those who wish to deny women the right to drive is ironically unrelated to the technology that kills thousands of people annually; the denial is rooted in the fear of women exploiting their rights. It is not logical to depend on a religious edict that harms the interests of a considerable section of society; on the other hand, society needs strict regulations to deal with violators of regulations if the fear is about unscrupulous people.

Ours is a law-abiding country where there is no reason to worry about women driving beside men who are aware of religious values, conduct and manners, quite apart from the punishments awaiting the violators. At the same time, the issue is basically a widening gap between social customs and the realities of every day life.

The failure of society to deal correctly with the issue of women driving has prompted it to seek the help of religion to elevate what is purely a mundane social issue to the level of a serious religious one. If the matter is left as a social issue, it will call for free discussion among supporters and opponents, apart from setting out rules and regulations governing driving. Such discussions will show that there is an incompatibility between social values and religious values. The social values in the country permit a woman to be alone with a foreign driver. Religion, on the other hand, does not permit women to be alone with men. A foreign driver’s presence in the car with a woman is religiously unjustifiable. The issue here is how a religiously untenable matter can be socially justified if not acceptable. The complexes related to male domination have led to the backwardness of women in our society.

Religious fatwas should not be exploited to cover up the failure of society to keep pace with modernity. A society that is not confident of its young men and women will never make real progress. We should stop accusing our women and intellectuals of immorality under the impression that the issue of women’s driving is a matter that falls under the purview of religion.