This individual is a guest contributor. MEI is not able to assist with contact requests.
Dr. Eleanor Abdella Doumato writes on Islamic education, gender, and the Gulf region. Her most recent book is Teaching Islam: Textbooks and Religion in the Middle East, with Gregory Starrett.
It was in the summer of 1979 that Islam in Saudi Arabia became all about women. At the urging of ‘Abd al-‘Aziz bin Baz, then chair of the Department of Religious Guidance, Legal Rulings, and Propagation of the Faith, Interior Minister Prince Nayf sent a letter to government offices asking for cooperation in curbing practices offensive to Islamic principles. At the top of the list of condemnable behaviors were unsuitably dressed foreign women shopping or eating out in public.
