Saudi Government Prohibits Women From Visiting Burial Site of The Prophet Mohammed's (SAW) - A Woman Sentenced to Prison For Trying to Enter.
Firsthand Account Shared With Me By The Victim
“Just like victims of the gulags of the Soviet state smuggled their stories out of Siberia and into the hands of Alexander Solzhenitsyn, so too are Saudi women sharing their personal stories of abuse and oppression at the hands of the Saudi authoritarian monarchy”
On night a few weeks back as I was out I received a message from a woman in Saudi Arabia who wanted to ask if I would be willing to speak with and help relay the story of a firsthand victim of Saudi Arabia’s continuous human rights violations, female inequality, and the overzealous judges who hand out hefty sentences to anyone who is seen as disrupting order and the peace as they see it.
She entered the Prophet Mohammed's (SAW) mosque in Medina to pray and seek solace through Duaa ( a Muslim supplication to ask god for help) and prayer. As she tried to enter the area of the Prophet's tomb, she was denied entry - the reason was that she was a woman.
*Saudi government prohibits women from visiting Prophet Mohammed's (SAW) burial site. The Ministry of Pilgrimages does not cite the reasons for this ban.
Of course, they don't. If they tried to justify such a rule, they would find themselves swallowed by a Quicksand Vortex of their own making.
A simple request that was denied her purely because of gender and had nothing to do with religion. The question is, why? This is a question only The Ministry of Pilgrimages can answer. This writer would love to hear them try.
When she was denied entry, she decided her best chance was to dress in male clothing and attempt to bypass the guards in disguise. When she entered the mosque, she was spotted and arrested. She was arrested. Then released and placed under house arrest until a court date and judgment could be reached. For many years, she was banned from travel and had regular check-ins at the police station as if she was a violent criminal.
The charge was ‘Trying to be a man & Distubing everyone’ … If you ask yourself, how can this even stand up in a court of law today? Welcome to Saudi Arabia and many other countries where hefty jail sentences are handed out for something as simple as retweeting a tweet that says something contradictory to the official narrative of the country and the Royal family.
The victim said, “Who did I bother? I just wanted to make Duaa”. During the time she had to wait for a final verdict, she lived under a shadow of no information except that one day or one night, the police might come without warning to her home and take her to jail. The judge finally sentenced her to more than 3 months in jail.
Women are not just discriminated against at home, in the workplace, and in the streets. They are also discriminated against in the holy Mosque of the Prophet Muhammed (SAW) in Madena.
With a record, she could find it hard to apply for a visa abroad if she needs or wants to travel one day. And too often than not, when records of this nature are requested by foreign governments, the reply often never comes. Or they only release a vague record that says simply she was charged with ‘Disturbing the peace’… Which could mean anything…
The inequality, mistreatment, and human rights violations of women in Saudi Arabia continue, despite the media spinning machine MBS uses to push his agenda. Despite the defacto ruler's widespread approval of concerts, cinemas, and sports washing. Atrocities of all kinds are quickly sprotswashed over by the next sporting event MBS brings to flood the media, so blogs like this one fall to the last page of google so no one will notice them.
Saudi Arabia will never be seen as a modern country as long as it continues in this fashion.
*Articles on the ban of women entering the tomb of the Prophet in Medina:
https://www.siasat.com/saudi-arabia-only-men-allowed-to-visit-prophet-mohammeds-tomb-2255606/
