MADINAH: A woman, who claims members of the local branch of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice harassed her while she was in a car with her husband, intends to take her case to Madinah Gov. Prince Abdul Aziz bin Majed.
“I will never forgive the commission member for his degrading behavior toward me,” she was quoted by the Al-Madinah newspaper in a report published yesterday. The 22-year-old woman — whose name was not published to protect her identity — was referring to one of three commission members who tailed, pursued and then detained the couple temporarily as they were driving home near Madinah at around 1 a.m. Sunday morning.
“It is unbecoming for the commission members to do such a thing as it damages the reputation of the body,” she added. “The commission’s move has spawned lurid rumors about my husband. We aim to bring the matter to the attention of the governor.” The couple were accused by the commission members of being in a state of seclusion (khulwa). In Islam, an unrelated man and a woman are not allowed to stay together in a secluded place. The commission interprets this to apply to vehicles as well.
The head of the Madinah branch of the commission, Abdullah Al-Zahrani, told Arab News on Monday that the man and the woman are not married. Local police have rejected the commission’s claim that the woman stopped on Sunday morning was different from the one who, along with her husband, are asking the governor’s office to intervene.
“How can the commission members say that another woman was with my husband in the car while I was with him when the commission members humiliated us,” the woman said.
The commission members of Al-Jurf, west of Madinah, stopped the woman and her husband on a road. The couple claim they were tailed, chased and temporarily detained.
“It is not appropriate for commission members to behave with a woman the way they did. They forced us to stop our car by ramming into it after a chase,” she said. “One of the members ordered me to leave my husband and get into his car. When I did not comply with his order he entered our car. My husband asked him to come with us to our relative’s house so that he can prove that we are husband and wife. But the member started to yell as my husband tried to drive the car. When my husband stopped the car, the member grabbed the key. By the time a police patrol reached there in response to our earlier call for help.”
