There is “Arabization” cynicism in responding to this trend, precisely when in Saudi Arabia itself, there is “relaxation” towards religious formalism. It’sIt’s kind of a paradox. In this context, two readings can be made of what happened in Saudi Arabia. First, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is aware of the “wrong policies” in the past, in this case, one of which is the rules that “shackle” women. So to achieve progress as proclaimed in Vision 2030, they must remove these shackles.
Second, what happened in Saudi Arabia is “aware” us that what is called aurat and how to cover it is something that “can be interpreted” —at least a new interpretation is needed that is contextual to the times and localities. This is nothing new. So many classics debated this issue centuries ago. The latest and most exciting interpretation came from Muhammad Syahrur, an Islamic thinker from Damascus. He is known as a liberal thinker who always raises the issue of sharia liberalization and deconstruction of interpretation.
One of the issues that he reinterpreted is the issue of women’s genitalia. After tracing the texts of the Qur’an, hadith, and classical books, in his book Nahwa Usul Jadidah Lil Fiqhil Islami (2000), Syahrur concluded: “Awra comes from shame, namely a person’s dislike of showing something, both from his body and behaviour. And this shyness is relative; it can change according to customs. So the chest (al-juyub) is permanent, while the genitals change according to time and place.”
With such limitations, Syahrur’s genitals are “what makes a person ashamed to be seen”. He also concluded that the awrah had nothing to do with halal-haram, both from up close and afar. So linguistically, genitalia is relative.
We don’t know yet whether the Vision 2030 means that Saudi Arabia has started to abandon Wahhabism and then base its policies on the interpretation of Syahrur. However, it is clear that by revoking the law that requires women to wear headscarves, Saudi Arabia has given women the freedom to choose how best to dress. And will continue to appear as the “Boy” from Saudi Arabia.
Note: translated by editor from https://www.duniasantri.co/si-boy-dari-arab-saudi/