DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A./SAUDI ARABIA: THE SAUDIS REVERSE THEMSELVES, A MAHRAM IS NO LONGER NEEDED FOR GIRLS THAT WANT TO PARTICIPATE IN AN UMRAH

Saudi Embassy reverses course for U.S. Muslim girls
by Deborah Horan

CHICAGO - Until this year, the answer from the Saudi Embassy in Washington, D.C., was always the same: No.

A group of American Muslim high school girls could not enter the kingdom to make a sacred pilgrimage called Umrah to the holy city of Mecca. No, they could not enter Saudi Arabia, even under the supervision of adult female chaperons.

They could only make the journey to Islam's holiest sites accompanied by a male relative, called a mahram. This was tradition, observed since the days of the Prophet Muhammad.

In March, without explanation, the Saudi Embassy reversed its decision. Two days later, a group of 15 students and five women from the all-girl Al-Aqsa School in Bridgeview, Ill., boarded a plane to Jeddah, blazing a trail that they pray will be followed by other girls.

''It was like a visa from God,'' said Maai Shaker, a student who went on the trip. For the girls, who are anticipating graduation in June, the trip has become the highlight of their senior year.

It's unclear why the Saudis shifted their policy to allow the girls to travel without a male escort. A woman in the visa section of the Saudi Embassy would say only that the girls received a ''special permit.'' It's also not clear whether this was the first time the Saudis waved the requirement. But the situation is unusual.

The girls' trek comes amid a lively debate among Muslim women about their role in Islam and the balance between tradition and modernity, particularly among educated, Western Muslim women. In recent years, they have pushed the envelope, observers say, demanding rights such as equal access to prayer space in mosques that have forced a redefinition of what it means to be a Muslim woman.

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1) Saudi Embassy reverses course for U.S. Muslim girls