The
Mutaween ( muṭawiʿiyn; variant English
spellings: mutawwain, muttawa, mutawallees, mutawa’ah, mutawi’,
mutawwa') means "subjugated people" in Arabic is commonly used as a
casual term for the government-authorized or -recognized
religious police (or clerical police) of Saudi Arabia
.
More
recently the term has gained use as an umbrella term outside the Arab-speaking world
to indicate religious-policing organizations in some Islamic countries like Saudi Arabia and the former Islamic Emirate of
Afghanistan with at least some government recognition or
deference, who enforce varied interpretations of Sharia Law.
Etymology
"Mutawwa'în" (plural; sing. mutawwa')
originally was a casual synonym for the religious police of
Saudi
Arabia. In Saudi Arabia, the proper term for the
Saudi religious police is هيئة "hay'ah" which is Arabic for
"commission" and is a shortened version of "the Commission for the
Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices" which serves as the
infrastructure of
proselytization
and enforcement of islamic tenets.
Other uses and confusion
In the Muslim Arab world the more generally traditional meaning of
mutawwa is "
pious man" and generally refers to
any Muslim that "volunteers" to adopt all the orthodoxies of
Islam, including the non-compulsory ones such
as praying extra prayers or giving more charity. Consequently many
native Arab speakers will use "mutawwa" simply to refer to any
orthodox Muslim.
Change in use
The
phonetic romanization "mutaween" has gained increasing
use as a generic term outside the Arab-speaking world for any
religious-policing organization in a Muslim nation.
This may range from
official state bureaucracies to unabashed militant enforcers
aligned to powerful local clerics (e.g.Basij
in Iran
).
Recently (2005), "mutaween" has appeared to describe the
enforcement of Sharia by autonomous groups within Muslim enclaves
located inside secular nations.
Mutaween in Saudi Arabia
The Mutaween in Saudi Arabia are tasked with enforcing Sharia as
defined by the government, specifically by the
Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of
Vice (CPVPV). The Mutaween of the CPVPV consists of "more than
3,500 officers in addition to thousands of volunteers...often
accompanied by a police escort." They have the power to arrest
unrelated males and females caught socializing, anyone engaged in
homosexual behavior or prostitution; to enforce Islamic
dress-codes, and store closures during the prayer time. They
enforce
Muslim dietary laws,
prohibit the consumption or sale of
alcoholic beverages and
pork, and seize banned consumer products and media
regarded as un-Islamic (such as CDs/DVDs of various Western musical
groups, television shows and film). Additionally, they actively
prevent the practice or proselytizing of other religions within
Saudi Arabia, where they are banned.
Among the things the
Mutaween have been criticized or
ridiculed for include, use of
flogging
to punish violators,banning
Valentines
Day gifts,arresting
priests for saying
Mass,and being staffed by
"ex-convicts whose only job qualification was that they had
memorized the
Quran in order to reduce their
sentences."
Perhaps
the most serious and widely criticized incident attributed to them
occurred on March 11, 2002, when they prevented schoolgirls from escaping a
burning school in Mecca
, because the
girls were not wearing headscarves and abayas (black robes), and not accompanied by a
male guardian. Fifteen girls died and 50 were injured as a
result. Widespread public criticism followed, both internationally
and within Saudi Arabia.
In many incidents in 2008, they have been criticized for many
deaths occurring in separate occasions including one man's death
from a heart-attack that occurred while he was in their custody.
The employers of the man claimed that he would not have had the
attack unless triggered due to extreme pressure or stress.
In August 2008, a young Saudi woman who had converted to
Christianity was burned to death after having
her tongue cut out by her own father, a member of the
Committee.
See also
Israel:
References and notes
- SAUDI ARABIA Catholic priest arrested and expelled
from Riyadh - Asia News
- BBC NEWS | Middle East | Saudi minister rebukes
religious police
- The Saudi Media Debates Flogging by the Saudi
Religious Police
- Saudi Arabia: Gross human rights abuses against
women | Amnesty International
- Valentine's Day in Saudi Arabia by Stephen Schwartz
& Irfan al-Alawir 03/05/2007, Volume 012, Issue 24
- "200 Arrested in Mina for Celebrating Valentine's Day",
Arab News, February 18, 2004
- Catholic priest arrested and expelled from Riyadh,
April 10, 2006, AsiaNews
- Wright, Lawrence, Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to
9/11, by Lawrence Wright, NY, Knopf, 2006, p.149
- "Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue",
BBC, 15 March 2002
- Burned Alive For Changing Religion,
Alessandra Antonelli, ANSAmed, Aug. 13, 2008
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