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Scholars Frustrate Extremists on Women Driving Issue |
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Tuesday, 31, May, 2005 (Comments in RED are Mine) http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=64646&d=31&m=5&y=2005 |
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JEDDAH, The reaction of the scholars, which frustrated their followers, was of two kinds. Some of the scholars, such as Naser Al-Omar and Safar Al-Hawali, kept quiet and did not comment on the issue. Others, such as Salman Al-Oudah and Abdul Mohsin Al-Obaikan, said there were no religious objections to women driving but that the community was not yet ready for it. The scholars agreed that if women were allowed to drive at present, it might lead to situations which would result in behavior which violated religious laws. In addition, some of the extremists referred to statements by the late Saudi scholars, Sheikh Bin Baz and Sheikh Ibn Othaimeen. They were among the most learned scholars in the Islamic world and their opinions and ideas are still respected in matters of religion. The extremists accused the present-day scholars of being less strict and less honest than the two sheikhs. Some of them said that Ibn Othaimeen said in the late 90s that women driving was religiously prohibited. Arab News, however, listened to a recording of the sheikh’s speech and he never used the word “haram” (forbidden) when speaking of women driving. What he said was that for women to drive was a “mistake because it could lead to corruption.” His idea was that the community was not ready to accept women driving. The extremists were particularly hard on Sheikh Al-Oudah for not commenting on what had earlier been published on his website. On the website, Islamtoday.net, the sheikh said that every religious issue could be looked at from one of two perspectives. The first concerns matters which are clearly forbidden in the Qur’an or the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh). “Those issues we do not discuss and should leave them alone since they are known to be applicable in every time and place,” he said. The other perspective concerns issues which are not clearly prohibited in the Qur’an or in the sayings of the Prophet (pbuh). “These are left to scholars to decide upon whether something is acceptable or not,” said Sheikh Al-Oudah. He pointed out that something might be acceptable in one place but not in another due to the principle of “preventing a reason for argument.” In response to the extremists, Sheikh Al-Oudah said that the scholars in the Kingdom had asked for keeping women from driving as part of the rule of “preventing a reason for argument.” Yet Sheikh Al-Oudah did not say whether the scholars from the Committee of Ulema in the Kingdom had made it clear whether women driving was religiously prohibited. Another scholar whose comments frustrated some extremists was Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Al-Obaikan who stressed that the rejection of women driving was not because it was religiously prohibited but rather because the community was not yet ready for it. Al-Obaikan, who is also a member of the Shoura Council, said the issue of women driving was not discussed by the council because the matter was not within its authority to discuss. |
Comments – Mine
Can these Scholars explain to those of us who are not Saudis, but are concerned about what is going on in the birth place of Islam in the name of Islam when they say “the rejection of women driving was not because it was religiously prohibited but rather because the community was not yet ready for it.”
Are we to understand by this that the Saudi women are not religious enough that they might misuse this facility & get involved in un Islamic activities or does it mean that the Saudi men may harass these women drivers & get involved in abaya chasing (equivalent to skirt chasing in Non Muslim countries).
We have to understand in every facility / right that are available to mankind in the world today (religious or not) there will be a small element of any society who will misuse it. For this reason are we going to deprive the majority of this facility. To give some e.gs. of these are
- Islam gives the man the right to have up to 4 wives at a time. Just because some men misuse it are we going to ban it.
- The Internet has a lot of good things about it. Just because some misuse it are we going to ban it.
The only thing that we can do is to put in place checks & balances whereby the misuses are stopped or minimized.
AB
"For to us will be their return; then it will be for us to call them to account." (Holy Quran 88:25-26)
Copyright © 2005 by AB
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