The Saudi version of Islam is th Wahhabi sect, one of the more strict ones. They demand their women to cover their faces while it was not stated implicitly or explicitly anywhere in the Qur'an. If it is among the hadits (Traditions), then not all sects practise it. I'm following the Syafi'i school, one of the great four Sunni Muslim sects. Wahhabi is not among them; it is only practised in Saudi & some groups in other Arab countries.
Anyway, there actually are some some hadits that consider woman inferior to men. One of them stated that women must be treated sternly because they are made of a crooked rib. However, the person that passes this hadits--Abu Hurairah, Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)'s companion--is not considered a just and unbiased person by some scholars, so his hadits are of low value (likely to be rejected). Another hadits from Abu Hurairah stated that man was made in the image of Allah, (which IMHO is contrary to what Muslims believe, and a good reason for me to doubt Abu Hurairah), and another stated that Adam was some 40 meters tall.
Anyway, Arab men are known to be notoriously hostile to women (There are authentic cases of Indonesian maids abused or raped by their Arab employers) so maybe the Sauds were only trying to protect the women...
I think so. Gonna look into this some more.
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