Saudi Arabia is a land of predicament for Saudi women seeking opportunities but facing constraints. They are neither allowed to drive nor vote, but some good news has emerged. They can now stay at an all-woman’s hotel. Saudi Arabia recently opened its first hotel for females only. It is big news in a country where sensitivities about having male guides are so predominant that last year two Saudi clerics issued a fatwa forbidding women from accessing the Internet without the presence of a male guide. The hotel offers luxurious accommodation with a full-range of health and beauty care for ladies to indulge themselves in. It provides Saudi females a sanctuary from the prying eyes of males. Saudi Arabia goes to great lengths to ensure segregation between unrelated men and women. Uninterested, unemployed youth are opened to alien cultural influences via satellite and the web but are told in mosques that this influence is decadent.
On the other hand, as Saudi Arabia opens a women-only facility to maintain the segregation, rather, make it a part of the norm, the basis of 'jurisprudence' that calls for this segregation is being revisited by the Turk Islamists. Islamic-established theology faces challenges in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Saudis consider segregation as an integral part of society, as ordained by Islam. The justification for such male domination is said to root in the interpretations of Islamic traditions.
A slight diversion is important so as to highlight the root cause of this new intellectual freedom and enquiry within the course of Islam. What has been the catalyst, and why now?
