Throughout our stay here in the Magic Kindom K has been disappointed by the lack of encounters with the muttawa, aka religious police. So far, K in a year of coming and going between Riyadh other places has been asked to cover her hair once. And even then it was done in a very polite manner. It seems that the good old times when foreigners were beaten with sticks for revealing too much ankle are in the past. The new boss of the muttawa has according to some random reports gone as far as banning the muttawa from entering shopping malls. So it seems to be getting harder and harder to see any muttawa around.
However, last weekend we went abaya shopping and after that decided to go and check out Tahlia Street, which is a street very close to city center where people like to spend time during weekends. It’s almost like a normal shopping street anywhere else in the world where there are plenty of small cafes and people sit outside chatting and walking around. We found a nice little café right before prayer time and managed to get drinks at the family section and sat outside enjoying the weather. Then prayer time started, so the café closed and we starting making our way back to our car. We were in luck… all of a sudden from the other side of the street we stared hearing “haram, haram” (forbidden) and “salat, salat” (prayer). K was thrilled to see that it was no other than the muttawa themselves yelling at people sitting on the closed cafes’ terraces. Ha! We walked alongside (on the other side of the street) the patrol car and it was quite interesting to see how people all of sudden disappeared when the muttawa approached. We also witnessed some really cool motorcycle guys running away from them a little bit later.
However, last weekend we went abaya shopping and after that decided to go and check out Tahlia Street, which is a street very close to city center where people like to spend time during weekends. It’s almost like a normal shopping street anywhere else in the world where there are plenty of small cafes and people sit outside chatting and walking around. We found a nice little café right before prayer time and managed to get drinks at the family section and sat outside enjoying the weather. Then prayer time started, so the café closed and we starting making our way back to our car. We were in luck… all of a sudden from the other side of the street we stared hearing “haram, haram” (forbidden) and “salat, salat” (prayer). K was thrilled to see that it was no other than the muttawa themselves yelling at people sitting on the closed cafes’ terraces. Ha! We walked alongside (on the other side of the street) the patrol car and it was quite interesting to see how people all of sudden disappeared when the muttawa approached. We also witnessed some really cool motorcycle guys running away from them a little bit later.
