“How long can we sustain this approach toward women?” asked my friend, one of Saudi Arabia’s most enlightened and leading intellectuals. “I mean surely we have to give women their rights and stop inventing excuses.”

“Are you talking about driving?” probed the fighter pilot from across the table.

“Naturally that is one of the issues,” he replied. “I mean we claim to be making progress and engaging in all sorts of reforms but why are we the only country in the world that does not allow women to drive?” he persisted.

“I agree with you on that count,” the fighter pilot conceded. “Let me put things to you from another perspective. You are absolutely right. The driving issue does exist and it is going to change. I think that that’s just a matter of time. But what is it that is more important than that? If we talk about the rights of individuals, surely there are more essential things that are never mentioned and yet have more of an impact on society as a whole.”

“Such as?” questioned my friend.

“In any civilized country I think that one of the most basic rights of any individual is that of personal security. If you just look at the statistics of the so-called civilized countries that we are supposed to be aspiring to become, then you’d realize that we are doing a lot better than them when it comes to crime. Saudi Arabia is still very safe in comparison with most other places. If you look at the numbers, then countries such as America definitely fall short of the mark.”

“You’re right,” agreed my friend. “But what is your point? I don’t understand what it is that you are exactly trying to say.”

“My point is that we may have many many faults. Indeed we do, and no one can deny them. However, we have many corresponding benefits too. I think that our government does an admirable job when it comes to providing society with a sound and workable infrastructure. Just look at the basic level of health care afforded to our citizens. In the States, I know for a fact that a person could be dying on the doorstep of a hospital but no doctor would touch them if they weren’t covered by medical insurance. In our country at least, everyone is entitled to the same level of medical care. It may not be of the highest standards like in the US but nonetheless it is at the very least available to all elements of society.”

“I think you’re absolutely right,” I concurred. “But that does not obfuscate the point about women driving or generally being given their rights,” I added.

“Fair enough,” he replied. “My point is that do we want to become another America? Is that our aspiration?”

There was a consensus of opinion around the table.

“Definitely not,” reiterated one of my other friends.

“What we can do,” I remarked, “is try at least to improve upon our own model. We should not think of becoming anyone else because we are proud of who it is that we are. The trick is to redefine ourselves and maximize upon our own potential as a society. What is it that you think has traditionally held us back? If you look around the world, then it appears that most Muslims are backward and regressive. Why is that?”

“It really is amazing,” began the fighter pilot, “because if you look at Islam as a religion it really gives a carte blanche of enlightenment and very radical progress. Unfortunately the religion has been hijacked by those who do not understand its spirit and are more interested in the control aspect.”

“Actually,” interrupted one of the Kingdom’s most celebrated lawyers, “I would go a step further and say that the basis of all progress has to be freedom of speech. Without this fundamental right there can never be true reform.”

The problem that we face as Muslims worldwide is that we have become entirely dogmatic and rigid at the exorbitant cost of surrendering the true spirit of our faith. We need to analyze where it is that we have gone wrong over the course of ce