On October 4, 2009, international media reported that a Saudi cleric, Sheikh Saad bin Nasser al-Shithri was removed from Saudi Arabia’s Council of Senior Clerics. Reason: He had opposed gender-mixing at King Abdullah Science and Technology University, the first co-ed institution in the Desert Kingdom. King Abdullah, the country’s ruler, has been battling opposition from within the deeply fundamentalist ranks of Wahabis in his own country for a while. This time, he had his way. But, the setback for fundamentalism is still the exception, not the rule.

Joy C Raphael’s book Mutawas, Saudi Arabia’s Dreaded Religious Police, tells the story of the origins of the country’s religious Gestapo, and how they have become an integral part of the Saudi society. Speckled with terrifying real-life stories and observations on the way of the Saudi religious police, Mutawas is an eye-opener for outsiders dazzled by gleaming minarets and oil wealth of Saudi Arabia.

Raphael, who spent 14 years of his career as a journalist in Saudi Arabia, grew curious about the working of the Mutawas ever since he set foot in the Holy Land. Over the duration of his stay in Saudi Arabia – he later moved to other, more humane countries in the Middle East – he collected information about the religious police, finally leading to the birth of Mutawas, published by Turtle Books, an imprint of Zen Publications.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Prophet Mohammed, is the land of Wahabism. Muhamed Abdul Wahab entrenched his Islamic fundamentalist ideals on the desert nation with a wedding alliance with the ruler of Saudi Arabia. This means that the ruler of Saudi Arabia is the moral guardian of Wahabism, one of the most primitive forms of Holy Islam. Iqawan, an early band of religious zealots were the forerunners of Mutawas.

Supported by Saudi Arabia’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, Mutawas have a free run in the Saudi society, with forced conversions, physical assaults and personal espionage. In Saudi Arabia, women are prevented from exposing any part of their body, and are expected to be in long body-enveloping black gowns. Men and women are segregated, and even married couples are not allowed to be together in public. Women are no allowed to drive. There are no movie theatres in Saudi Arabia, though a flourishing market in pirated movie CDs survives. Worshipping false gods of Christianity, Hinduism and
Sikhism are barred, and even keeping a crucifix, a picture of Guru Nanak or a statuette if Lord Ram can attract jail terms and lashings. Beheadings are reserved for more serious crimes, and are not uncommon. And lording over this fundamentalism mechanism are the menacing Mutawas, who consider it their sacred duty to keep the Holy Land “pure”.

Technically, Mutawas have no powers to police: they are supposed to inform the police when they spot violations of morality. They are not expected to enter homes, or conduct searches. However, these rules are observed more in the breach. Except Riyadh’s diplomatic quarters which are out of bounds for the religious zealots, no place in Saudi Arabia is safe from the tentacles of the marauding Mutawas.

Mutawas are dressed similar to most Saudis – in ankle-length robe, with a head-scarf, but no black band. They have long beards, and wear leather sandals. Moving around in the residential and commercial nooks and crannies of Riyadh’s busy entrails in their large GMC Suburbans, they spread fear in the hearts of even god-fearing Saudis, and most expatriates in the city. After numerous complaints from foreign diplomats and wealthy Saudis, Mutawas were put through a training
programme in the past, but that has served little to reform the Wahabi bigots. Joy Raphael narrates the true-life tales of several Indians, Filipinos and westerners who fell afoul of the Mutawas, and had to pay dearly for their indiscretion.

Apart from watching over public morality, Mutawas also have a sacred duty to convert as many non-Muslims to their own faith – they call it reversion. Wahabis believe that everyone is born a Muslim, and some are then distracted and misled to worshipping false gods. Reversion will bring them back to the right path. Non-Muslim expatriates are forced to convert through threats, blandishments and outright bribing. One expat coming back to Saudi Arabia from Cairo was stopped at
Immigration and asked to convert to Islam because “Muslims are good. Very good. Your religion not good.” Those who struggle to make a living in Saudi Arabia to support families at home acquiesce, or at least do not object. Some workers are arbitrarily terminated from their work, and asked to convert if they have to continue in the country. If they do agree and change faiths, they receive cash gifts, salary hikes and favorable treatment.

Many expats work as spies for the Mutawas – some for financial gains, some out of religious conviction. They move around in expat circles, feeding inside information to the religious police.

There have been occasional, half-hearted attempts to reform Mutawas, but to little avail. Joy Raphael’s book throws light on the dark deeds of the Mutawas and what drives them. The cleric who poured scorn on co-education at King Abdullah University may have landed in trouble, but Saudi Arabia is still far from leaving the Middle Ages, where the Mutawas feel they truly belong.

BY A CORRESPONDENT

Ever heard of the mutawas? You may have heard something about the much-feared faith police of Saudi Arabia from your friends there. Or you may have read a bit here and there in the media or in books about the faith police spreading terror in the desert kingdom. There’s much, much more to know about them and their atrocities.

Who are they? What is their ‘holy mission”? How do they operate? “Mutawas: Saudi Arabia’s Dreaded Religious Police”, written by Joy C. Raphael (joycraphael@yahoo.com), who worked for 14 years in that country, provides answers to all these questions and tells a lot more.

Published by Turtle Books, an imprint of Zen Publications (zenpublications@gmail.com), “Mutawas: Saudi Arabia’s Dreaded Religious Police” is the first-ever book focusing solely on these ‘supreme guardians of public morality’ in the oil-soaked desert kingdom.

Offshoots of Islam’s Wahabi ideology, the mutawas — dressed in ankle-length white robes and chequered red and white head dress minus the circular black band on the head that all Saudis wear, are
everywhere in Saudi Arabia. Christians and Hindus are their primary targets. So are Islamic sects, like the Shiites, Sufis and Ahmediyas. Even liberal Sunni Muslims are in the mutawas’ crosshairs.

The great game of the mutawas is conversion. Those not converting voluntarily are coerced or blackmailed into converting by them or their agents. Mutawas also dangle financial baits to lure the
faithless to convert to Islam. The result: over the years, thousands of Hindus and Christians have gone over to Islam against their will.

Viswanath’s conversion is a case in point. The razing of the Babri Masjid, in the early 1990s, saw anti-Hindu sentiments rising to a crescendo in Saudi Arabia. Thousands of Hindus were summarily dismissed from jobs and expelled from the country. The sacking orders for Vishwanath, working for a prominent Riyadh computer firm, soon reached his table. In panic, he rushed to his boss.

“If you convert to Islam, you can save your job,” the boss coldly told him.

Seeing no other way out, since he had a huge housing loan to repay back in India, Vishwanath opted to convert.

There are thousands of Vishwanaths in Saudi Arabia today.

The mutawas are in every nook and cranny of Saudi Arabia. Do not pray if you are a Christian or Hindu. The mutawas are watching you. Do not watch porn films. The mutawas have their ears to your door. Do not talk to an unmarried member of the opposite sex. The mutawas’ eyes are alert. Do not drink. The mutawas are sniffing everywhere for the smell of liquor.

The mutawas, functioning under the Department for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, are not alone in zealously guarding virtue in Saudi Arabia – the civilian police assists them. And they have spies among the expatriates, working for financial gains.

The mutawas are a rock-solid institution in Saudi Arabia. Mutawas: Saudi Arabia’s Dreaded Religious Police is an eye-opener which can shock you.

Saudi Arabia is a country where women are not allowed to drive, in many cases, not allowed to work when they can come in contact with women, and not allowed out alone. And that country now gets its first ever female minister. She is Norah Al-Faiz, U.S educated former teacher and an expert in girl’s education.

Norah bint Abdullah al-Faiz was has been made the deputy education minister by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia in a recent cabinet reshuffle which also saw some conservatives losing their positions.

“This is an honor not only for me but for all Saudi women. In the presence of a comprehensive operational team, I believe I’ll be able to face challenges and create positive change,” she told Arab News. Faiz said she would study the state of girls’ education in Saudi Arabia before commenting on the task before her.

Norah Al-Faiz received her Bachelor’s Degree in Arts from King Saud University in Riyadh in 1978 and her Master’s Degree in Education from Utah State University in 1982. Before her new appointment, she was the director general of the women’s section at the Institute of Public Administration. Before 1993, Norah Al Faiz was controller of education techniques at the Institute of Private Education under the Ministry of Education from 1989. Norah’s appointment is the highest rank ever attained by any woman in Soudi Arabia.

Optimism about Kig Abdullah’s appointment of Norah Al Faiz and other reformists is tempered, though, because the society and bureaucracy still remains very conservative. There is fear that the appointment of the first female minister may end up as just a symbolic gesture. More important in the larger schemes of things are how the reforms brought in by the King will be implemented by the bureaucracy, which is still very conservative.

After ascending the the throne of Saudi Arabia in 2005, this was King Abdullah’s first reshuffle and an opportunity to replace the anti reformists – the chief of the Saudi religious police, Sheikh Ibrahim al-Ghaith, and the country’s most senior judge, Sheikh Salih Ibn al-Luhaydan. Among his most well-known achievements is an edict which declared that television channel executives who promote immorality can be killed. Ghaith, who runs the commission for the promotion of virtue and the prevention of vice, known as the mutawa, which enforces bans on alcohol and drugs, has gained a reputation for brutality. Both have been removed.

King Abdullah is known to be impatient with the pace of reforms in this most conformist of all Islamic countries. It is often said that Saudi Arabia is one of the few countries were the leaders are held back from reforms by conservative popular opinion.

Norah Al-Faiz’s appointment can be considered as a first step for a better tomorrow for women in Saudi Arabia but serious changes are needed, said an outspoken advocate of women’s rights on Sunday. She said the “guardianship system” is the first thing that should be removed by the new Saudi government.

According to the guardian system, a woman is still not completely in control of her life and her decisions because it is not up to her but her male guardian.

She noted that Saudi women still do not have the right to drive and are still recognized under Saudi law as the property of men.

Saudi Arabia’s Wahhabi school of Islam imposes a strict separation opposite sexes, burqa laws, and keeps them dependent on male guardians. It is unlikely Norah Al Faiz’s appointment to the minister post will change any of that. But it might be a small first step – one that would lead to more reforms, or to a major clash between reformists and conservatives.