The Cabinet recently passed regulations clearly defining the role of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (Haia).
The new regulations broadly affects how the Haia operates in Saudi Arabia with a focus on outlining its duties and where its responsibilities end and where other agencies, such as security forces and local police, step in. By clearly defining the role of Haia, the authorities want to prevent incidents involving some Haia members who go beyond their limits and create problems for people — Saudis and expatriates.
The regulations effectively put an end to chasing and arresting individuals suspected of committing moral violations. Now the Haia has to rely on local police to conduct investigations and make arrests. New rules also stipulate that commission members are not permitted to demand identification or detain people.
Perhaps most important, the new regulations return the Haia to its original Islamic purpose to “encourage virtue and forbid vice by kindly and gently advising as carried out by Prophet Muhammad, peace upon him, and his rightful successors,” according to the Cabinet.
The Haia is not exactly toothless now. It still has the authority to enforce gender segregation rules, prohibit the sale and consumption of alcohol and keep women from driving cars. Social restrictions still apply and the commission is permitted to enforce these rules.
What the new rules do, however, require that all members display their identification cards with their names clearly legible and their jurisdiction of work. This will help reduce the potential for rogue commission members or vigilantes from enforcing their will on others.
The Haia should introduce strict hiring policy and avoid employing people with criminal convictions. It is however heartening to note that the Haia recruits must possess a bachelor of arts degree, which at least provides the commission with educated members who have the critical thinking skills to use better judgment in how to approach individuals suspected of committing a moral crime.
The new development is not really an overhaul of the commission, though this new definition of duties was long overdue. The Haia has for too long been permitted wide latitude in enforcing its own rules virtually independent of the government policy.
The new regulations hit the reset button by bringing back the Haia to the original concept of teaching people in a gentle manner the proper way to conduct our lives and the teachings of Islam through guidance not intimidation. Over the decades, the commission had morphed into an agency unrecognizable to most Saudis who support the concept of a Haia working in their communities.
Most Saudis support the Haia because none of us are perfect Muslims. By reining in the excesses committed by some commission members and weeding out the bad apples, the commission can take the new regulations as a positive step toward creating a new era in helping Saudis and expats understand the role of Islam in their lives. A new hiring process that identifies the extremists and the uneducated will prevent those individuals from being hired and provide the public with a more professional and more respected organization.
Instead of viewing the new regulations as an effort to clip the wings of the commission, the Haia should respond by committing itself to a complete internal overhaul to win the trust of the people it is supposed to protect. And by internal overhaul, I mean going through the current ranks of commission members and assessing their ability to carry out the job with the new regulations in mind.
There should be no grandfather clause that protects existing employees with a reputation for causing trouble and not following the spirit of the Haia’s role in society.
