300 women officials to help Makkah pilgrims

The General Presidency of Two Holy Mosques Affairs has appointed 300 women officials to cope with the increasing number of women pilgrims and visitors to the Grand Mosque in Ramadan.

The Supervisor of the Commission for Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice Khaled Al-Subaie said the women guides in the Grand Mosque undertook the task of enlightening women visitors on religious rites in Ramadan.

They instruct the visitors on how the visitors should conduct themselves in the mosque. They also take the women entering the mosque to the place reserved for women.

Al-Subaie added that 151 women guides were working in four shifts at various locations in the mosque including the courtyards. (more…)

Saudi Women can Forego Veil – Saudi Cleric

A leading Saudi cleric hit out at France for moving to ban Muslim face-veils, but approved Muslim women foregoing veils when visiting a country which outlaws them, a Saudi paper reported on Saturday.

A popular Saudi cleric said on Saturday it is permissible for Muslim women to reveal their faces in countries where the Islamic veil is banned to avoid harassment, while deploring the effort to outlaw the garment in France. (more…)

Saudi Arabia’s First Woman Pilot Hanadi Zakaria Al-Hindi

Captain Hanadi Zakaria al-Hindi is the first Saudi  woman to become a commercial airline pilot. She was born in Mecca, and passed her final exams at the Middle East Academy for Commercial Aviation in Amman, Jordan on 15 June 2005. She has a ten-year contract with Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal’s Kingdom Holding Company as a chief captain of his private jet, the Kingdom. Reports highlighted the irony that a Saudi woman is allowed to pilot an aeroplane but may not drive a car.

Hanadi Zakaria Al-Hindi will visit hospital later this month in a bid to cure a kidney problem that is hindering her promising career. She could not say whether the operation would lead to the whole kidney being removed or only part of it. The procedure, which takes up to four hours, usually has a good chance of success. Al-Hindi, who has already been offered a job as a flying instructor in case her dreams to become a pilot are shattered, hopes that she will be able to fly eventually.

KSA Female Teachers Demand Equal Pay, Status

According to Arab news, Saudi Arabian female teachers have demanded the same pay and status as their male counterparts, and are to file a court case against the Ministry of Education to enforce their demand.

Mona Abdul Aziz, spokeswoman for the campaign, said that teachers  both male and female have been demanding these rights for two years as part of a campaign group established to champion the rights of teachers, regardless of gender. She added that as a result of the initial campaign, the condition of male teachers improved but not of female teachers, and so they decided to form a separate group to attain similar conditions. The difference is attributed to the fact that female teachers come under the General Presidency of Girls Schools.

Abdul Aziz added that the demands for equality had upset male teachers who tried to silence the voice of female teachers, demanding they put a halt to their campaign. We had to leave the group and form our own website …yet we still face resentment and aggression, she said, adding that the group first lodged their demands with the Ministry of Education, then the Civil Services Office and finally the Ministry of Finance. (more…)

12 Years Saudi Arabian Girl Married With 80 Years Old Man

This is really a very shocking news for all Muslims that a Saudi father, whose name has not been released, sold his 12-year-old daughter to his 80-year old cousin for the equivalent of $22,600. The elderly man, who lives in the city of Buraidah, stands accused of raping the girl after the wedding. He has previously married three other young girls.

“She was raped and they took her to the hospital after the wedding night,” Wajiha Al-Huwaidar, a Saudi journalist who has been banned from reporting by the government told The Media Line. “Usually when the girl is very young, the authorities tell the husband not to touch her until after puberty. When he was interviewed, the guy just said she was old enough and he didn’t know she would get hurt.”  The girl, already in the custody of the elderly man, was reported to have shouted “I don’t want him, save me!” when contacted by phone by a journalist from the Al Riyadh, a local newspaper in the Saudi capital. (more…)