JEDDAH, 23 May 2005 — A number of Saudi extremists are conducting Internet campaigns against a recent recommendation by a Shoura Council member that women should be allowed to drive.
Though the issue was not tabled and was part of a discussion of the new traffic rules that the Shoura was to discuss, the forums were full of voices lashing and blasting the chairman of the Council. Maps pinpointing the location of the chairman’s house in Riyadh along with his mobile phone number and home fax number have been placed on the Internet. People are being asked to call him or pay him a visit in order to condemn any discussion of women driving.
A writer on “Al-Sahat,” one of the most influential Internet forums, distributed the names and mobile numbers of several Shoura Council members along with the names and numbers of religious scholars and also the Grand Mufti.
His schedule was included as well as when and where he could be found.
“The sheikh is at his mosque every Friday from Friday prayer time until after Isha – the last prayer at night,” said the writer, who stated that the best time to talk to the Mufti was at that time.
Another writer said: “We have to condemn this act; we are all obliged to pay a visit to the chairman of the Shoura Council at his house in Riyadh to stop him from allowing this to happen.” One extremist took another angle when he accused the Shoura members of disobeying the report by the “Ifta Committee” which is the highest committee in the Kingdom and decides what is religiously acceptable or not. “We remember the late Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Bin Baz and his committee when they made it clear that it is forbidden for women to drive in Saudi Arabia. Why are they discussing it now?” said the extremist who stressed that this was a clear violation of the committee’s decision and so must be stopped. On the other hand, the vice chairman of the Shoura Council, Mahmoud Tayba, told some reporters that the Shoura was not to discuss the issue of women driving but rather they were to discuss a new traffic system.
The issue of women driving is an idea from one of the Shoura members, Mohammed Al-Zulfa, who recommended that the subject be discussed. Al-Zulfa mentioned in an earlier article in Arab News that it was time to get rid of the one million foreign drivers and allow Saudi women to drive.
However, Al-Zulfa’s suggestion angered the extremists who accused him of interfering with religious decisions and assuming the right to give religious opinions which — they allege — he knows nothing about.
“Al-Zulfa must be kicked out of the Shoura Council,” said a writer who said that the member was not someone he was proud to have representing him or the Saudi people.
