Saudi Women Want the Freedom to Drive

May 27, 2011 by Dilshad Ali

Continued from Page 1

I've grown up hearing about how Islamic law requires Muslim women to be accompanied by someone who is her mahramwhen she goes outside of her home. At my house, we did what we had to do, which was basically not strictly following this law.

But several scholars over the past years have argued that the mahram rule is flexible and contingent upon what a Muslim woman can manage in her own life. For me, it would be pretty impossible (by my estimation) to follow this rule. I do have friends where I live who abide by this rule and have never gotten a license, have never driven themselves or their children anywhere.

As a busy, proverbial soccer mom of three kids, I am constantly amazed how these friends live. What would happen in an emergency? What if their kid was sick and needed to go to the doctor and their husband was unavailable to drive them? But amazingly, they make it work. They have made a choice, and they adjust their lives to that choice.

In Saudi, to drive or not to drive is currently not a choice. But perhaps after June 17, Saudi women will finally get to have their choice.

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Driving

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Sacred Texts

Saudi Arabia

Women

Islam

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About Dilshad Ali

Dilshad D. Ali is managing editor of the Muslim Portal at Patheos. An experienced journalist, she has covered Islam and Muslims in America for more than ten years for a variety of print and online media outlets, including Beliefnet and Illume, Islamica, and Azizah Magazines.

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