The country where driving might lead to sex

[Amelia]

The country where driving might lead to sex

By Donna Abu-Nasr

3 June 2005

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - Consultative Council member Mohammad al-Zulfa has unleashed a storm in this conservative country.

His cellphone rings constantly with furious Saudis accusing him of encouraging women to commit the double sins of discarding their veils and mixing with men. He gets SMS messages calling on Allah to freeze his blood.

Chat rooms bristle with insulting accusations that al-Zulfa is "driven by carnal instincts". There even have been calls to kick him out of the council and strip him of his Saudi nationality.

All he wanted was for his colleagues in the government's legislative arm to discuss the possibility of conducting a study into the feasibility of ending the ban on women drivers - the only prohibition of its kind in the world.

The uproar may be astounding to outsiders but in strictly Islamic Saudi Arabia the religious establishment defines women's freedoms.

Conservatives believe women should be shielded from strange men; they say driving will allow a woman to leave home whenever she pleases and go wherever she wishes.

"Driving by women leads to evil," wrote Munir al-Shahrani in a letter to the editor of the Al-Watan daily. "Can you imagine what would happen if her car broke down? She would have to seek help from men."

Neither the law nor Islam, however, prohibits women from driving. The ban is based on fatwas, or Islamic edicts, by senior clerics who say that any driving by women would create situations for sinful temptation.

The same argument is used to restrict other freedoms. Women may not travel, attend school or work without written permission from a male guardian. They are not allowed to mix with men in public or leave home without wearing black cloaks called abayas.

Al-Zulfa brought up the issue a month ago in an open session of the Consultative Council, an appointed body that acts like a parliament.

"I know that talking about women driving is taboo, so I decided to take advantage of our discussions on a new traffic law," said al-Zulfa, a 61-year-old, Western-educated man with a salt-and-pepper mustache and a ready smile.

He proposed that a study be conducted to review the issue, arguing that allowing women behind the wheel would save Saudis both money and lives, since he believes women are cautious drivers. He suggested that only women over age 35 or 40 be allowed to drive and only in cities.

Many women activists welcomed al-Zulfa's suggestion but others lashed out at him for using the issue to project himself as a reformer.

Saudi women will not allow "the intellectuals to shine and their names to glitter at our expense", wrote Wajiha al-Huweidar in a strongly worded article.

"We will not permit anyone and we have not appointed anyone to speak on our behalf," she said. - Sapa-AP