The kingdom of Saudi Arabia is known by many around the world as a kingdom that observe certain culture due to their religion such as job specification between men and women. There are jobs which are described to be for men and other women, one of these jobs is supermarket cashiers who are all women. This is changing slowly and the government is determined to change the opinion of the public. Women are not supposed to drive.
Further steps to modernize the Kingdom such as University where male and female students share the same class have been done by King Abdullah. He also gave a green light to media to openly raise concern on economic problems and criticize decisions made by the ruling council. Women were allowed to pursue higher degrees and compete for top jobs. Those who opposed his decision were fired.
King Abdullah gained control of fatwas and answers to any question will be given by official panel on how the Saudis are supposed to live. Independent Sheiks among them Sheik Adel Al-kalbani have been in record in challenging the ban of music arguing that as long as a song does not promote sin the there is no need to ban it from playing in the local medias.
They also eliminated Trans-border Migration and large scale importation of labor which has helped to the youth to be employed in the private sectors. Many cities of the kingdom are in urban area.
In 2007 Grand Mufti urged the youth not to join jihad in Iraq or any other country. The kingdom was under attack consistence attacks from the Al-Qaeda but the clerics never accepted or approved the “Holy War”.
Free media is among the key area that Saudi Arabia is using in moving to modernization, top official Sheikh Saleh lost his job as the Chief of the supreme Judiciary Council after a fatwa in 2008 where he said that the owners of TV stations that showed immoral content to the public should be killed. His firing was seen as due to influence of the billionaires who own the TV stations. The most important thing is that Saudi Arabia is opening up it is not like old days.
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