The Limits of Reform in Saudi Arabia

The man who heads Saudi Arabia’s infamous religious police made headlines recently when he publicly acknowledged that “Islamic sharia does not have a text forbidding women driving.” For many Saudis, this statement signaled a possible sea change in attitudes among the country’s hard-line religious establishment, at least on that issue. A source within the religious police later said they will not pull over and arrest women they see behind the wheel.
Saudi women are likely to put these assurances to the test on October 26, when activists have encouraged women throughout the kingdom to go out and drive. Nothing is yet certain, but activists believe we could be witnessing the end of the ban on women driving in Saudi Arabia. READ MORE
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