Coldplay X&Y Album Art Generator. Cool.

Last Friday, 118 Saudis had released a statement warning against the dangers of allowing women to drive. The list of the people who signed the statement included Sheikhs, imams, judges, Islamic scholars, Islamic university teachers, several heads of Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice centers in the Kingdom, as well as some teachers at the Grand Mosque in Makkah and the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah.

The statement described the people who call for the right of women to drive as “the enemies of Islam.” How could they make such an accusation? Please, I’m sick of this “conspiracy theories” crap!

The statement says, “[w]omen driving cars is not permissible because the ruling of ‘closing doors that leads to corruption’ applies to it directly.” Oh my God, Not the “closing doors that leads to corruption” ruling again! They have been misusing this ruling for so long, and I can’t believe how they are willing to keep on misusing it. If we were to apply this (باب سد الذرائع) ruling on everything, we will do nothing. Because everything, (repeat: everything), can leads to corruption. You can use a knife to kill somebody, or you can use it to make the best meal he ever had. This is non-sense.

“[N]o Islamic scholar or good figure in society has called for women to drive and that all those who have been calling for them to drive are people who tend to damage the image of Islamic women,” the statement concluded. I want to know what the hell they mean by “good figure”? Are they implying all academics, writers, and government officials, including the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Prince Saud Al-Faisal, who called for the right of women to drive, are trying to damage the image of Muslim woman?

If we looked back in history, we will see clearly that these guys who signed the statement are the same kind of people who opposed King Faisal 30 years ago when he decided to start girls’ education in the country. They are using the same language, and the same lame excuses. What happened then? King Faisal said, “we will open the schools anyway, and if you don’t want your daughters to study at our schools then don’t let them.” King Faisal was a wise man. He did not weaken to those people, and today, more than 55% of students in Saudi universities are females.

The list of signatories included no women. Abdul Aziz al-Qasim, a legal consultant, told Asharq al-Awsat that was normal because this type of people do not want women to appear and participate in the society. He added that their ideology is fundamentally against the existence of women.

Why would we let these people hold our country back? Why can’t the government release a ruling allowing women to drive the same way King Faisal did? I am depressed. I am really depressed.

Inspired by a loved one (you know who you are), I’ve decided to make myself what I’d like to call My Fairouz Greatest Hits. This ultimate collection of Fairouz music is composed of 30 tracks on two audio CD’s. Fairouz is a true legend. Her angelic voice has been expressing the Arab emotions since the sixties, and I cannot believe that a young boy like me still can enjoy her music. If you are a Fairouz fan, please write your favorites in the comments. I mean, those 30 songs are my very favorites, but maybe I’m missing something here.

Latifah al-Sha’alan, one of my favorite writers, thinks the side against women’s driving is smarter than the other side that supports women’s right to drive their own cars. Why? Because the first side managed to turn the argument over what’s supposed to be a basic right, into a branching argument where every side use financial, social, and psychological justifications to invalidate the other side’s point of view.

If you can read Arabic, don’t miss this comprehensive report from Al-Majalla on the Saudi internet forums. It is a good read to understand how Saudis use the internet, and what effects it had on their lives. (Due to a stupid design mistake, you will face some problems if you tried to browse the website with Firefox)

Mshari al-Thaidi: “Intellectuals such as Friedman help, whether purposefully or not, al Qaeda impose its own vision of Islamic life, making it difficult for moderate Muslims to break free from this negative portrayal.”

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Secularism, doesn’t mean crushing religion, it just means creating a neutral space in which arguments between religious and secular people are settled by evidence, not dogma.

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One human rights truth, universally acknowledged, is that oil is an obstacle to democracy in every developing society. When a government can get what it needs out of oil derricks and ceases to derive its revenue from taxes, it loses any incentive to respond to the people.

-Michael Ignatieff