We have a very important story out of Saudi Arabia, a profoundly relevant one for women living in the kingdom.

Saudi Arabia is known for its vice-squad Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the men who patrol Saudi Arabia for any intermixing of the sexes.

Old souq at Gizan via Flickr’s retlaw snellacThe Economist writes that perhaps the separation of the sexes has been a mistake. In the past few months top religious officials, including the minister of justice and the head of the religious police in the Mecca region, which includes Jeddah, have declared ikhtilat a modern term not proscribed by Islamic law. Saudi jurisprudence has erred, they say, by confusing conservative tribal custom with the rules of sharia, thus lumping the innocent mingling of the sexes with the true sin of khulwa, meaning an unmarried, unrelated couple’s “seclusion” in a setting that could tempt devilishness. In support of this argument, they note that wives in the Prophet Muhammad’s time are known to have served male guests and that even today, Saudis rely on maids and drivers in a practical form of daily ikhtilat.

Ultra Conservative voices have been oddly muted, the Economist writes, perhaps because a noted cleric was sacked after criticising the co-ed policies at the magnificent new King Abdullah University for Science and Technology.

I’ve written of other encouraging steps in Saudi Arabia, although we understand the precarious path the monarchy is walking in changing eons-old tribal laws considered to be the holy word of Muhammad. Of course I’m specifically rallying for women here.

It seems that the willingness to admit historical interpretations of the Quran that are lodged in tribal law and not sharia, opens a Pandora’s box that must be unveiled. As a Muslim woman friend of mine reminded me today, burqas and niqabs aren’t part of sharia law either. Modesty, yes. Veils, no. And Muhammad didn’t demand that the sexes be segregated.

We can’t rush to Celebrations with this news just yet. But we can cross our fingers and pray for the women of Saudi Arabia. Anne

More Good News: Hai’a chief’s ‘ikhtilat’ interview welcomed Saudi Gazette