Hot of the press! Women and cars in Saudi....what is the big deal??

Ok, so everyone heard about Saudi fatwa and high rank religious scholars discouraging women to drive in Saudi.   As I have anticipated there would be a lot of negativity about it in on various social sites.

I would like to bring light to the matter since I am a woman (that helps) and the fact that I have lived in Saudi.

First of all, we need to consider the social setting, the cultural setting and the religious responsibility Saudi Arabia has.It would also come in handy to tell you about how bad the road situation is in Saudi and why I would not even attempt to drive on it, whether man or woman.

Now, Saudi is a very culturally bound and religious bound country. It operates by religious law (shari'ah). It has a responsibility by uplifting the law, protecting the people and also protecting the most vulnerable, which are women and children.
A woman not driving in Saudi is not an issue as much as the Western propaganda tries to make it out to be. I am a woman and I don't drive and YET, I still get to where I need to be without any hassle. The big difference is, is that I am ALWAYS safe and never fall in the hands of strangers who can do harm to me.
The tradition of women not driving comes from back in the days where women never travelled alone. Even for Hajj it is better or even a must for a woman to do it with her husband. Why? Well, have you seen how crowded hajj can be and a woman can be injured or even be stepped on??
It also states in both hadith and Qu'ran is better for a woman to be escorted by her male relatives. There was a reason for this and this reason is still very much alive today.
In the modern times in the West women can drive, Mashallah. Women can just about go anywhere without her husband. However, with all of this women get raped, women get killed, women get assaulted, women get cursed on the road, women get to pay more for things just because people think they are weaker. And guess what is the solution they give us women in the western world......PEPPER SPRAY!!! Yes, a dude is about to rape you, just whip out your pepper spray and it will be alright!!  Women face danger all day every day. In Saudi, that almost never happens. Why? I will tell you why? No man is more afraid than another man. No man has the guts to curse at a woman if her brother or husband is near. Chivalry is not dead after all huh!

People think that just because men alone drive in Saudi, they think men have it all in Saudi. What does it all mean really? First of all, do you understand the responsibility of having to drive people around? That means, if your wife is at home and she has to go to the hospital, that man has to drop whatever he is doing and attend to her! It also teaches a man to treat his wife and family with love and respect. If she has to go somewhere he will have to go with her. There isn't even a choice for the dude!! So, he will have to cut his football match that he is watching short to attend to her. It teaches men to really care for the women in the family.
Also, just because men can drive doesn't mean they get up to no good. There isn't much no good you can get up to in Saudi. Most boys will go to the desert and relax with their friends, while the ladies are at home.  At the desert there is no woman chilling on her own, so it decreases the chance of illegal sexual intercourse, spreading disease and having illigitimate children. So, a dude can only do so much by driving. Wow, what a previlidge.
Secondly, it is beter for women not to deal or talk to weird dudes on the road. Let's face it, there are a lot of weird dudes on the road. Also, it protect her from not having to be annoyed, or ending up to fend for herself when her car breaks down.  Nothing is more painful and sad when a woman's car breaks down and all she can do is sit there or having to pull her abaya up to get down and dirty with the wheels and oils.

So, everyone doesn't seem to find the link between virginity and driving. There is alot of link. Already it is hard for people to meet in forbidden meetings, because women are always accompanied. So, if women start driving this will open the gates of men not fearing women anymore, men saying bad things to women all the time on the road. It will also make it easier for men to meet women, where as it is difficult now. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying women are sinners and the only thing they will do is sin. However, it starts from simply allowing women to go on their own where things bad minded people will cause annoyance and everything will only go pear shape. She might go and meet a girlfriend, and that girlfriend might introduce her to bad ideas or strange men and then.....sin.  This will also cause women to get lost and get raped. If a woman gets lost and can't find herself anywhere and some man claims he will help her, he might end up raping her. This is not far fetched. This happens all the time in South Africa....that is why we have one of the highest rape statistics. When she gets raped, what happens then? No one wants to marry a woman with spoiled goods, then who will answer to her then???  The scholars have a point in saying that the virginity could decrease if such a thing is allowed. Also the woman here are extremely coy, they don't know most of the things that go on in the outside world, they wouldn't know how to deal with driving in Saudi. It works for Saudi, so what is everyone else's problem?
People make as out to be that driving is the best thing that can happen in your life....no it is not. Look, I don't drive and STILL got around back in South Africa and thank god I got out of the road. This doesn't make me any less or any more than another woman or a man. You all forget that not long ago, South Africa didn't allow  woman to do many things on their own.......so what is the difference here?

A woman does have many choices in Saudi. She has the choice to go to school or not. She has the right to marry or not. She has the choice of furthering her studies.....how do you think girl schools operate?  They are not forced to anything they don't want. They prefer to do their own things and to be beautiful. We don't even have time back home for ourselves, because we are too busy with the pressures of society!
Believe me, most Saudi women are not missing driving!! It is not like they had it and then lost it???
As for the woman who got in the car and drove off wasn't thinking! She put herself in danger, by having the police (men) arresting her, could have said bad things to her or even treated her with harshness.
Also we need to keep in mind, Saudi can decide for itself whether they are ready or not to let women drive. It should not be seen as oppressed, cause no one is oppressed in the matter. I think we need to respect the country for what it chooses. They don't mingle in our salad, so let's not toss theirs

I would also like to add, it is not an Islamic thing. Muslim women can drive. They drive all the time in Turkey, Oman, Syria, Jordan and everywhere else. So people shouldn't make it into "a muslim thing". It is a cultural thing.

I want to end this blog by saying that I don't appreciate some people calling Muslim women "ninjas". That is our way of being modest and as a Muslim I am proud of making my God happy. Your curses and comments are just a sign of your jealousy, because you have to sell yourself to the world and we don't need to.  Other Muslim women shouldn't get discouraged by people's words of what they have to say about our dresses and clothes. We are lucky that we will never marry a man in the club !! Nor will a man have the guts to pass bad comments to us. Be strong in your faith and Allah will never give us something more than we can carry!.

Ma salam