Scholars should support change

THE late social scientist Dr. Ali Al-Wardi had narrated a story in which a religious scholar advised a disciple not to send his son to school and warned him about God’s punishment if he did so. The man immediately removed his son from school rolls and repented. After some time, the man saw the scholar sending his own son to school without any prick of conscience. He then quickly sought admission for his daughter in the school. When the scholar came frightening him again talking about God’s punishment, the man said: “Try to mislead another person this time. I don’t want to send my daughter to work as a housemaid for your daughters. You have already made my son a sweeper for your sons.” I remembered this story when a cleric, who used to oppose Saudi parents sending their children to Western universities for higher studies, circulated a congratulatory message through his Twitter account on the graduation of his son from an American university. His tweet drew a large number of responses from social media activists attacking the cleric's double standard. Suddenly people saw him wearing a suit and celebrating his son’s graduation in the US. People could not believe the man’s strange behavior. Actually, there is nothing unusual in the behavior of that cleric. We have noticed such double standards from scholars throughout Islamic history as well as among the clergy of other faiths. Napoleon Bonaparte once said: “I am surrounded by priests who repeat incessantly that their kingdom is not of this world, and yet they lay their hands on everything they can get .” A few days ago a local newspaper published a statistical report on rising number of divorcees among working Saudi women, suggesting women’s work is one of the major reasons for divorce cases in the Kingdom. Based on this report, some clerics tried to circulate messages through the social media to emphasize their argument that women working outside their homes would be catastrophic. At the same time, they do everything possible to get their daughters and sisters employed. We should understand the fact that these religious scholars are also human beings and they show human nature by trying to protect their mundane interests. But the issue is they oppose every change in society. A substantial portion of society backs this resistance initially, thus obstructing resolutions to carry out reforms. For example, a number of strategic plans have been formulated as part of Vision 2030 to expand job opportunities for women and expedite economic growth. The vision aims at encouraging foreign direct investment and boost trade. This requires enacting new commercial regulations and setting up of special commercial courts. Unfortunately, some clerics oppose this move saying it goes against the Shariah. By creating job opportunities for women, the government wants to reduce the unemployment rate but these clerics go against this policy frightening people about the punishment of God for allowing their women to work in a mixed environment. Now my question is whether the public has realized the contradictions and double standards of these religious scholars? Some people may be suffering from mental conflicts in the beginning and when the conflict disappears they would see that contradiction. Others may legitimize such contradictions saying we are allowed to take positive things from the West. So I don’t see any problem in the actions of some clerics that contradict their previous views. We wish our religious clerics and preachers would not obstruct society’s path to progress by sticking to outdated dogmas. They should build bridges of harmonious relationship between religious teachings and modern requirements. They should approach modern cultural and intellectual ideas and thoughts with an open mind and should not stand in the way of social and economic reforms. It’s unfortunate that some members of society still live in the past and oppose new ideas and developments in light of their narrow and extremist views.