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The Mutaween (مطوعين in Arabic) (variant English spellings: mutawwain, muttawa, mutawallees, mutawa’ah, mutawi’; better use mutawwa' since the w is stressed by tashdîd in Arabic script and the ' represents the Arabic letter 'ain) are the government -authorized or -recognized religious police (or clerical police or public order police) who enforce varied interpretations of Sharia Law within Islamist theocracies (in which the governments are either directly controlled by, or fall significantly under the influence of, Islamic clergy).
In contrast to the legislatively-restrained police forces of secular democracies, Islamist religious police have broad and arbitrary discretionary powers of surveillance and entry to property, detention and interrogation of suspects, and, in some places, summary judgment and execution of punishment for perceived violations of Sharia. While nominally tasked with disciplining Muslims, in less-tolerant regimes, such religious police invest themselves with the authority to harass and persecute non-Muslim dhimmi second-class citizens, "guest workers", and kafir or infidels into converting to Islam.
Term origin
"Mutawwa'în" (plural; sing. mutawwa') originally referred solely to Saudi Arabia's infrastructure of proselytization and enforcement of Wahhabist tenets; but the phonetic romanization "mutaween" has gained increasing use as an umbrella term indicating any religious-policing organization in an Islamic nation with at least some government recognition or deference, ranging from official state bureaucracies to unabashed terrorist enforcers aligned to powerful local clerics (e.g., the Komité and more militant Basij and Pasejis all simultaneously exist in Iran). Recently (2005), "mutaween" has appeared to describe the enforcement of Sharia by autonomous groups within Muslim enclaves located inside secular nations, and has also entered the lexicon of blogosphere slang as a sarcastic pejorative describing politicized, non-Islamic religious groups.
Mutaween in Saudi Arabia
The Saudi Arabian Mutaween are tasked with enforcing Sharia as defined by the government; purportedly the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice "comprises more than 3,500 officers plus thousands of volunteers...often accompanied by a police escort" who have the power to arrest unrelated males and females caught socializing, enforce Islamic dress-codes, prayer schedules, and Muslim dietary laws prohibiting the comsumption or sale of alcoholic beverages and pork, and seize banned consumer products and media regarded as "un-Islamic" (such as CDs/DVDs of various Western musical groups, television shows and film). Additionally, they actively prevent the practice or proselytizing of other religions within Saudi Arabia, where such is banned.,
The Saudi mutaween recently launched a website where people can anonymously report tips about "un-Islamic" activities within that country.
A notorious incident attributed to the Saudi mutaween occurred on March 11, 2002, when they prevented schoolgirls from escaping a burning school in Mecca -- because the girls were not wearing headscarves and abayas (black robes). Fifteen girls died and 50 were injured as a result. There was widespread public criticism afterwards, both internationally and within Saudi Arabia itself.
There is also widespread criticism of flogging as a means of punishment.
Notes
- "A Catholic Indian priest had just celebrated mass in a private house April 5, 2006, when seven religious policemen (muttawa) broke into the house.... The Saudi religious police are well known for their ruthlessness; they often torture believers of other religions who are arrested. AsiaNews sources said there were around 400,000 Indian Catholics in Saudi Arabia who were denied pastoral care. Catholic foreigners in the country number at least one million: none of them can participate in mass while they are in Saudi Arabia. Catechism for their children – nearly 100,000 – is banned." AsiaNews, April 10, 2006
See also
References
- "Saudi police 'stopped' fire rescue" BBC, March 15, 2002
- The Saudi Media Debates Flogging by the Saudi Religious Police Middle East Media Research Institute, January 19, 2004
- Saudis Arrest Christians For Spreading 'Poison' NY Sun, May 2, 2005
- Inside Saudi Arabia
- "Saudi minister rebukes religious police", BBC, November 4, 2002
- Website of Saudi Mutaween Template:Ar icon