Thanks to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques and the Crown Prince, the usurped rights of women have been restored. These are rights that no rational person can deny; rights to education, driving and travel that were taken away from Saudi women in the past.

There are evil forces that target this country. They do not want this country to move forward. They do not want good or prosperity for the Kingdom.

These evil forces were intent on destroying half of our society. The Saudi woman for them had the right to go out twice in her entire life: once to her husband’s home and the second time to her grave.

These forces are cruel and unjust. They have morally killed the Saudi woman. Instead of burying her when she was just a child, they killed her every day, buried her in the dark, made her suffer and justified their crime and excessiveness with illogical and un-Islamic reasons which fooled many people.

The Saudi woman has, therefore, regained rights that were denied her, such as her right to drive and travel freely. This right was denied without providing any good reason.

The Saudi woman suffered every day from this slow death and secret burial. It is, therefore, imperative that we thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and his Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman for enabling women to regain their rights and for emancipating them from injustice, tyranny and exploitation.

The issue is not whether or not women can travel alone. It rather concerns the God-given rights of women which they were denied because of obsolete traditions.

The enemies of development and progress justified these traditions claiming that they were the rules of God and were meant to protect women.

However, the usurpation of their rights does not provide protection, honor or dignity to women. Rather, it caused a great injustice and harm to them and to all of society. It made the Saudi woman an exploited individual without dignity or honor.

It was only the reformists and the great leaders who enabled women to regain their rights.

The restoration of the Saudi woman’s rights was done after careful study of her condition and the Shariah rules that are based on equality and justice.

The royal decree which has empowered Saudi women and enabled them to regain their usurped rights has lifted an unfair hegemony that was imposed on women by the enemies of progress depriving them of their human rights.

The royal decree enabling a woman to travel without the consent of her male guardian has put an end to the machinations of the enemies of progress who wanted to impose their unfair control on women and society.

No one will oppose the royal decree except those who are intent on denying women their God-given rights.

The usurped rights of women have been restored by a wise and decisive leadership which does not want to see any injustice befall the citizens of this country. The leadership is determined to lead the Kingdom to a bright and beautiful future.

Congratulations to every daughter, sister, mother and wife. Congratulations to every woman doctor, teacher, lawyer, trader or industrialist and to every woman in our beloved country.

-The author is a Saudi legal adviser and writer.