The Mutawa

Yes several times!!! Though never caught in any serious situation with them (Always had a narrow escape) :d

Most of the negativity about them is right. They never listen to you and are always rash.

The mutwaa or "religion police" there's so much negativity around them but don't believe everything you hear their main duties are to remind Muslims about their religion activities like praying, and to make sure nothing haram (forbidden) happens between  Muslims. Other than that They don't have the authority to do anything to Christians or non muslim people in Saudi Arabia, in case they stopped you make sure to inform them that you are not Muslim and they will let you go. I don't have anything negative towards them because in my personal opinion they are just trying to follow their religion and i respect them for that but some things which we consider "normal" they consider it forbidden.

interesting perspective tedd. if i get it right...depends which side of the coin u look at. in a saudi culture not obeying the religions is offensive. expats look at religious enforcement as offensive.
so a lady fully covered is an extremist in california beach while a lady in a mini dress is an extremist in saudi. I wish we could just be tolerant to cultures.

That is exactly what I meant "some things which we consider normal they consider it forbidden"
We must not forget that we are in an Islamic country which means different customes, different culture, and different attitude. Just like I want a Saudi person to respect my culture, I'll in Return respect his
But just like you said I really wish we could be tolerant to cultures.

@Teddd, excuse me! I'll just try to clarify a few things. May be because many of us are unaware of a listness number of incidents happening everyday.

My friend asked his wife to wait in front of Riyadh Gallery while he'll put the heavy grocery in the car, drive his car out of the parking lot and pick her up from a that convenient location. To his shock, the lady was no where. Next day, somehow he came to know that the poor lady has been in jail coz the respectable religious policemen doubted her to be someone trying to trap customers (abaya etc).

Take another:
A few years back, I went to a Mall while it was the prayer time. My friend dropped me in front of the mall mosque and said that he'll park the car in a good place, wash his hands etc (wudo) and join me in the prayers. When I got out of mosque, I didn't find him. Tried to call him but the mobile was switched off. I kept trying for some 30 minutes then took a taxi and went home.
Next day I asked him where had he been. The poor man was arrested while he was entering the washroom to make wudo. They doubted him to be someone trying to find out a hideout. The next common answer to all my logical questions was "Do they ever listen?".

And the list is endless and most incidents are unjustifiable.

Yes, the local culture and traditions have to be respected but...

thanks for sharing your experiece...as for me would like to meet with one to find out whats the deal. just as a learning experience

Imraan... You are located in Al ahsa which basically a small town attitude area.

Chances that you will run into Mutawa is almost 0% I am born and raised in Hassa and I think you shouldn't worry about it. chill, have fun and enjoy the nice weather of Hassa(Hofuf) area

thanks...just inquisitive
hasa is great

Something related: Have a look,

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article544771.ece

ouch
nasty

imraan007 wrote:

interesting perspective tedd. if i get it right...depends which side of the coin u look at. in a saudi culture not obeying the religions is offensive. expats look at religious enforcement as offensive.
so a lady fully covered is an extremist in california beach while a lady in a mini dress is an extremist in saudi. I wish we could just be tolerant to cultures.

wel said imran  may be this is the reality and we have to accept

imraan007 wrote:

interesting perspective tedd. if i get it right...depends which side of the coin u look at. in a saudi culture not obeying the religions is offensive. expats look at religious enforcement as offensive.
so a lady fully covered is an extremist in california beach while a lady in a mini dress is an extremist in saudi. I wish we could just be tolerant to cultures.

Back in 2007, I had hair till my shoulders... I was confronted by a mutawa accompanied by a cop in that mall beside ikea on exit 17... surprisingly, he was requesting me to get it cut with a smile... and more surprisingly, my dad rashly asked him whats wrong with it... then the cop started giving us dirty looks, the mutawa still maintained his smile, and walked away gesturing a haircut with his fingers...
thats about my only experience with them in 20 years

Nadimento wrote:

I hate those guys, I always have. I got into a lot of arguments with them. Most of them don't speak english so they just smile and let you go. The ones that do, well, I can't really hold my temper and these cops are seriously pointless, so you argue argue argue, he threatens to put you in his car, when you show him your American passport (my favorite part) he gets frustrated, and like a dog goes back and can't do anything. They have orders that they can't do anything to Americans. So ya.. their nothing to be scared of really, you just have to get to know the system and who really has power in this country!

You're lucky! You can get away with being a foreigner. The Haia the reason everything has to happen behind closed doors in Saudi and thus subject to criticism. New Haia rules in Jeddah is that you cannot celebrate your birthday at Fridays restaurants. WTF?!

I know a lot of people that need to get some work-related tasks done with members of the opposite sex, and instead of meeting in a public place, where everyone can see them, people have to resort to hiding everything as if they are doing something wrong.

They are not understanding, they scream and shout before asking what's going on. There are many stories about how corrupt they are. Remember the story of the guy that jumped out of the window of his apartment and died because he didn't want to deal with the Haia?

The general rule is:

If it's not your country, who cares!

You don't have to accept it or respect it just ignore it especially if you are not a Muslim.
You don't have the background knowledge or time to disseminate the truth & if this is actually what Islam is.
This is important, because many different nationalities come here & think this is what Islam really is!
Unfortunately, no one Islamic country really follow Islam as it's supposed to. People always have their own different agenda etc.


The problem with this in particular is:

They say this is our religion yada yada ... but the truth is that this is actually a deviation of Islam (Bid'aa)!

They use a Qur'anic verse etc to support this but that verse actually calls for doing this verbally not an actual physical enforcement (cops ... jail etc!) .
Prophet Mohammed (PUH) never did this only verbally telling people what's right or wrong & people have the choice to follow or not.
This is understandable & many do just that (as a society function) by giving advice to friends etc!
When you create a special group to do this (actually it's a job & they get salaries!) Then you pave the road for society wide hypocrisy because now it's not our job as society to direct ourselves morally but someone else's job!

Islam is about true freedom from all entities to really be able to find the truth & accept it (or not) but by not been truly free you can't make that all important choice!

They know all this, so the question: why they do it?

If you think a little you can easily figure it out

I ran into the mutawa boys a couple nights ago. Very interesting encounter.
I live in a western expat compound, and it was wednesday evening. Couple girls had called and wanted to come over for some chill-out, but they didnt know exactly where the compound was, so we agreed they would take a taxi to a location we both knew, and I'd drive over and pick them up from there.
They arrived, and sat in the taxi waiting for me. But a passing mutawwa patrol vehicle saw them, stopped, and questioned them - who they were, what were they doing there, etc. The ladies pretended not to understand Arabic (this always works, btw), and it was left to the Pakistani taxi driver to inform the mutawwa that the ladies "brother" - ie me - was coming to pick them up.
I arrived, walked over to the taxi and escorted the ladies to my car. As I was about to drive off,  a 2010 Yukon Denali with blacked-out windows jumped out of an adjoining alleway and blocked my path. A mutawwa dude leaned out of the car and summoned me over.
I strolled over and he asked me if either of the two women was my wife. I said no, they were just friends who were coming to the compound (this was like 1km away from the compound). He asked if I could produce their iqamas, and I pretended not to understand much arabic beyond that. I peeped inside the car: there were 3 mutawwas and one cop.
Communication having apparently broken down, I walked back to my car, got in, reversed and drove off towards the compound. They drove after me, flashing their lights and trying to overtake me - which I didnt allow. Once I reached the compound main gate (this compound has a large National Guard presence, as well as prominent signs declaring it a restricted area), they drove off and that was that.
Close shave.

Excellent story. But what about all the people that want to do what you did, simply "chill" with the opposite sex, and don't live in a compound?
B.S.

LovingRiyadh wrote:

I ran into the mutawa boys a couple nights ago. Very interesting encounter.
I live in a western expat compound, and it was wednesday evening. Couple girls had called and wanted to come over for some chill-out, but they didnt know exactly where the compound was, so we agreed they would take a taxi to a location we both knew, and I'd drive over and pick them up from there.
They arrived, and sat in the taxi waiting for me. But a passing mutawwa patrol vehicle saw them, stopped, and questioned them - who they were, what were they doing there, etc. The ladies pretended not to understand Arabic (this always works, btw), and it was left to the Pakistani taxi driver to inform the mutawwa that the ladies "brother" - ie me - was coming to pick them up.
I arrived, walked over to the taxi and escorted the ladies to my car. As I was about to drive off,  a 2010 Yukon Denali with blacked-out windows jumped out of an adjoining alleway and blocked my path. A mutawwa dude leaned out of the car and summoned me over.
I strolled over and he asked me if either of the two women was my wife. I said no, they were just friends who were coming to the compound (this was like 1km away from the compound). He asked if I could produce their iqamas, and I pretended not to understand much arabic beyond that. I peeped inside the car: there were 3 mutawwas and one cop.
Communication having apparently broken down, I walked back to my car, got in, reversed and drove off towards the compound. They drove after me, flashing their lights and trying to overtake me - which I didnt allow. Once I reached the compound main gate (this compound has a large National Guard presence, as well as prominent signs declaring it a restricted area), they drove off and that was that.
Close shave.

Loving Riyadh,
And Waht was fate of the your guests in the Taxi????

@NZRYAM - the two ladies were with me in the car. They stayed overnight and left the next day - I didnt want them to run into the Mutawwa lads while leaving the compound that night.
@Salahdal - well, let's just say if a man in riyadh, not living in a compound, invites unrelated ladies over and ends up in the mutawwa's clutches, tut tut. His family back home wont thank him for that decision.
If you dont live in a compound and you want opposite-sex company - dont. Save and drive to bahrain or fly to ethiopia or someplace else, Sri lanka, whatever. Now that Prince Nayef is crown prince, the mutawwa (who have his support) will only become more powerful. You dont want to mess with them.