RIYADH, 3 July 2005 — An associate professor of Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh has objected to the hiring of a Muslim woman as a pilot.
In a statement issued in response to a full-page advertisement by Prince Alwaleed ibn Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Co., congratulating Capt. Hanadi Zakariya Hindi for becoming the first Saudi woman to get a commercial pilot’s license, Sheikh Yousuf Al-Ahmad said the appointment was un-Islamic.
Al-Ahmad, who teaches Shariah law at the university, said the job would require her to travel without a male guardian and would therefore lead to her mixing with men.
Prince Alwaleed, who has employed Capt. Hindi to work for his company’s fleet of private jets, recently bought advertising space paying tributes to the first Saudi woman pilot in several local papers. The advertisements have elicited a negative response from religious conservatives.
In his statement, Al-Ahmad said the contract given to Capt. Hindi was unlawful as women should never be allowed to work as either pilots or airhostesses. For this reason, he said, even the advertisements were unlawful.
Several Internet sites operated by conservative Islamic groups have sharply criticized plans to let a woman pilot an aircraft. Al-Ahmad’s statement may thus have the tacit support of many.
Capt. Hindi, 24, obtained her commercial pilot’s license earlier this year. Her success led to a 10-year contract with the Kingdom Holding Company.
Last week a petition asking for an end to the ban on women driving in the Kingdom was submitted to the National Society for Human Rights. The signatories included 60 Saudi women.
A poll conducted recently in Riyadh, however, found that 88 percent of Saudi women refuse to drive cars. According to the women, driving is not a priority for a majority of Saudi women; most women believe the main women’s issues have to do with their right to work, marriage, divorce and domestic abuse.
In another poll, the chief researcher at the Academic Center for Women’s Studies said Saudi women who were in favor of women driving saw it as a requirement for modern life.
