Mi d d l e Ea s t Po l i c y , Vo l . XVII, No. 4, Wi n t e r 2010

Re f o r m i n Sa u d i Ar a b i a : Th e Ge n d e r -Se gr e g a t i o n De b a t e Roel Meijer

Dr. Meijer teaches the modern history of the Middle East at Radboud University and is a senior researcher at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael.1

eform has been a buzzword in programs for followers4 gained the king- since Abdullah dom wide acclaim in the foreign press. became king in 2005. Follow- The kingdom has scored less well ing the attacks of September 11, with regard to the usual Western bench- R2001, the kingdom had been accused of marks for reform: creation of a conducive promoting an intolerant form of and environment for the emergence of a civil was under tremendous pressure from the society, implementation of elections for United States to reform education, curtail representative bodies, enhancement of the radical preachers and implement (some) rule of law and respect for human rights.5 democratic reforms. Although the Saudi Besides the 2005 municipal elections, very state at first denied a connection between little progress has been made on these 9/11 and , after the attacks on fronts; if many observers were hopeful and Saudi soil in 2003-05 by al-Qaeda on the sympathetic to King Abdullah’s attempts Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), it realized to reform the country, after four years of something had to be done. It found support his reign he still had few concrete results. among the more open-minded functionaries To be sure, the more open atmosphere and and intellectuals (“liberals,” the so-called restricted capacity of the religious police libraliyyin), who believed reform was to interfere in personal affairs have made the only way to save the country. They the country unrecognizable for those who felt encouraged by both the international have not visited it for 10 to 20 years. But pressures and the waning influence of the reform is precarious at best. The person- conservative Sahwa movement, responsible nel overhaul decreed by King Abdullah for the Islamic revivalism of the 1980s and on Valentine’s Day 2009, therefore, was 1990s. Reform of education,2 improvement intended to give reform a new boost and of the position of women,3 curtailment of was welcomed by the Western press.6 the more unregenerate xenophobic Wah- In this article, I will gauge the effects habi clerics, promotion of a discourse of of reform, not by looking at progress in the “tolerance” and “dialogue,” and a combina- development of civil society or elections, tion of repression of jihadis and mild rehab but by closely examining some aspects

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of the regime that are more difficult to In the following pages, I trace the measure, but are perhaps as important. I ikhtilat debate from its eruption in October will concentrate on the internal struggle 2009 to the start of its fourth round in May between reformists and conservatives as 2010. I closely analyze the arguments and well as the conflict between the liberal positions of the four main players around press and the conservative religious estab- which the debate has concentrated (Sheikh lishment. Without replacing Wahhabism’s Saad al-Shithri, Sheikh Ahmad al-Ghami- highly conservative ulama, who dominate di, Sheikh Abd al-Rahman al-Barrak, and the religious establishment, the educational Sheikh Yusuf al-Ahmad), examine their system and the courts — and maintain an backgrounds and allies, and assess the important hold on public opinion through support or neglect they have garnered in sermons and the internet7 — it is unlikely higher state circles. that reform will have any effect. Ev