Are The Male Guardianship Laws In Saudi Arabia, A Challenge To Human Rights Of Women As Advocated In Islam?

Abstract

The work attempts to analyze the Saudi Arabian policy regarding the “Male Guardianship” laws imposed on women in relation to what extent Islam, the state religion of Saudi Arabia, supports the law. The work sheds light on the human rights of Saudi women that are violated due to the male guardianship laws, which treats women as legal minors and incapable of experiencing state recognized independence of any sort. Human rights as an issue will be discussed solely with reference to their definition as per Islam. The paper shall explore the issue using sources from the Quran, the Hadith, the constitution of Saudi Arabia and news articles reporting the instances of grievances of Saudi women due to this policy.