The King, the Mufti & the Facebook Girl: A Power Play. Who Decides What is Licit in Islam?

Khalid Chraibi has written an insightful in-depth piece about the Saudi women driving issue. You can link to it here  While the entire piece is too long to paste in, the abstract is below.

The King, the Mufti & the Facebook Girl: A Power Play. Who Decides What is Licit in Islam?

By Khalid Chraibi, published in CyberOrient, Vol. 5, Iss. 2, 2011

Abstract

Saudi Arabia enforces a ban on woman driving on the grounds that it is prohibited by sharia law. Women’s associations have actively denounced this ban for years, arguing that it was the only Muslim country which had such a peculiar interpretation of Islamic law. A power play is taking place online on this subject between the ulema (who support the ban), the Saudi authorities and feminine associations. This situation raises the question: “Who decides what is licit or illicit in Islam?” Muslim women’s associations merely ask for the implementation in Muslim countries of the “best practices” in Islamic law which exist anywhere, as a substitute for those laws which are unfavorable to women’s rights or do not protect their interests adequately.

"It is human beings (with all their frailties) who interpret the sharia"
Ali ibn Abi Talib

"Women in Saudi Arabia: to drive or not drive? That is not the question.
The question is: When?"
Somayya Jabarti (2011)

Link to the rest of the article here.