Saudi Poetess Blasting Extremist Religious Fatwas Reaches Finals For Million's Poet

There are some Saudi women who have courage, probably not many, but there are some! There are others, for God knows what reason, are perfectly happy with their lot in life in the oppressive Kingdom. Maybe they find some bizarre comfort in being subjugated by men. A little like battered wives who remain with their husbands even though they know it's unhealthy. But one can't chalk it up to ignorance, because one of the courageous ones also happens to be a housewife. A housewife, who writes poetry lashing out at the ridiculous, "evil" fatwas that Saudi Muslim clerics issue at will, never attended college. But her poems are good enough to have won her a spot in the finals for a poetry competition out of Abu Dhabi entitled "Million's Poet", which could net her the 1.3 million dollar prize next Wednesday, and at the least $270,000.00. But these brave poems, by Hissa Hilal, have also earned her more than acclaim, they've also earned her death threats from conservatives who are outraged she'd have the gall to have an opinion that happens to be critical of the Saudi clerics' extremism.

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But Hilal has drawn the wrath of Islamist conservatives in her country after criticising its strict segregation of the sexes and blasting fatwas that reject an easing to allow women to take on jobs that are currently for men only.

The Saudi mother's loud opinions have resulted in death threats on Islamist websites like Ana Al-Muslim, an online forum known for posting messages from Al-Qaeda, the Saudi daily Al-Watan said.

A participant in the forum even asked for her address, in an apparent threat to kill her.

"Of course, my husband, my family and I are afraid," she told AFP, adding that she has not been contacted directly with threats.

Her poetry is her way of fighting religious extremism that seems to be increasing in Saudi Arabia and all over the world, and which she believes has become

"..... a worrying phenomenon." "A few years ago, society was more open. Now, things have become heavier. Some men do not even shake hands with female family members as they did in the past," she said.

In her poem entitled "The Chaos of Fatwas," which she has recited during the popular televised competition, she boldly charged that the "evil comes from those fatwas."

A loose translation of part of her poem:

I have seen evil from the eyes of the subversive fatwas in a time when what is lawful is confused with what is not lawful;

When I unveil the truth, a monster appears from his hiding place; barbaric in thinking and action, angry and blind; wearing death as a dress and covering it with a belt [referring to suicide bombing];

He speaks from an official, powerful platform, terrorizing people and preying on everyone seeking peace; the voice of courage ran away and the truth is cornered and silent, when self-interest prevented one from speaking the truth.

Many felt she was targeting cleric Abdul Rahman al-Barrak's fatwa calling for death to those who promote mingling of the sexes, but she said she wasn't referring specifically to that fatwa, but did state that she is "against the idea of killing a human being because of his beliefs." As should all. She also believes that it is "a necessity for daily life," for the sexes to mix in the work place.

"We are always told: haram," or prohibited, she lamented. "This dangerous extremism is no longer limited to Saudi Arabia and the Gulf, but has spread to other countries like Egypt, Jordan and Syria."

It seems that King Abdullah is trying to do the right thing, but as always it's the uber religious extremist clerics who want everything to either remain status quo, or to make things more extreme. They seem to be doing this in many different Islamic nations, in spite of efforts to modernize and reform.

Radical Saudi clerics were infuriated when the reform-minded King Abdullah inaugurated in September the kingdom's first mixed-gender university, the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, on the Red Sea coast.

"Saudi Arabia has made great strides over the past five years" to improve women's status, Hilal said, praising the "courage" of the Saudi monarch.

In an attempt to prove his commitment to improving the status of women, the king appointed Norah al-Fayez deputy minister of education for women's education in 2009, the first appointment of a woman to a ministerial post.

I find it so pathetic and bizarre that she would be threatened with death for being critical of something worthy of criticism. Extremism in any form is damnable, and good for her to bring to light the evils of extremism. I hope she wins the the top prize, perhaps it would allow her to leave Saudi Arabia. She might need to, with all the death fatwas against her.