Saudi Arabia's winds of change

By John Simpson World Affairs Editor, Saudi Arabia

Millions of pilgrims gather at Mecca each year

As the plane comes in to land, a little shiver of excitement and pleasure runs through the pilgrims as they sit, tightly packed together, in their white towelling robes.

For each of them, arriving here is the culmination of a lifetime's longing - the fulfilment of their duty as a faithful Muslim.

This is something they will talk about forever afterwards, something which will enable them to call themselves Hajji, and enjoy the respect that brings.

For the people who live in Jeddah, though, the period of the Hajj is simply holiday season.

Unexpected changes

There is nothing particularly special for them about seeing the vast crowds of pilgrims coming through on their way to Mecca: it happens annually, and has done for 1,500 years.

Jeddah is a pleasant, relaxed, cosmopolitan place, and the charming sea-front is dotted with little kiosks that sell balloons and sweets and blow-up toys to play with in the sea.

Discreetly, the word is going out that the old rules can be bent or even broken.

Soon, anyway, the white robes disappear from the streets as the pilgrims head inland to Medina and Mecca for the five packed days of the Hajj.

The people of Jeddah shrug - there were two million pilgrims this year, and perhaps there will be 2.25 million next year.

Good for business, but a bit disruptive to social life.

Social life, though, is slightly different this year compared with last.

There have been unexpected changes.

Headscarf off

You do not, of course, see women with their heads uncovered in the street.

But last week all the main Saudi newspapers, even the conservative ones, published front-page photographs of the best-known Saudi businesswoman addressing an economic conference in Jeddah with her headscarf off.

Women still cover their heads in the streets

Discreetly, the word is going out that the old rules can be bent or even broken.

Fifteen years ago, life was relatively relaxed in Saudi Arabia. Then came the Gulf War, and the government decided it had to allow in American troops and bases.

The idea of having non-Muslim troops in the country which holds the two most sacred sites in Islam enraged the fundamentalists.

Getting rid of them was one of Osama Bin Laden's chief objectives.

Militant extremists

In exchange for letting the American troops stay, the liberals in the Saudi royal family seem to have allowed the conservatives to have a free hand in setting down the rules for domestic social life - something the conservatives made the most of.

It is very hard, of course, to know what is going on inside the royal family - it is so vast, for one thing. But it is certain now that change is in the air.

It is certain now that change is in the air

Saudi Arabia has 20% unemployment, and it is a country in which nearly two-thirds of the population is aged 19 or less.

The danger that militant extremists will infiltrate this huge well of discontent is very great - in fact it is clear that it is already happening in large measure.

Only a few days ago there was a shoot-out with extremists in Riyadh, and last November the security police had a full-scale battle with a group of armed men inside the city of Mecca itself.

Joining the pilgrims

The liberals in the royal family and the government argue that the lack of social change and the discontent in Saudi society is playing into the hands of the militant extremists.

More openness is needed, they say, and for now, at any rate, they have won the argument.

In a few months there will be elections, purely local and highly limited, but elections all the same - the first time that will ever have happened in Saudi Arabia.

US soldiers in Saudi Arabia enraged fundamentalists

Foreign journalists were rarely allowed into Saudi Arabia.

I came once, in 1980, and was not allowed back until the end of last year, when I was given a visa.

This time, as I was talking to a government official I met by chance, I joked that I would like to follow the pilgrims to Mecca.

Normally officials pretend politely they have not quite heard, if you say something awkward.

This one did not. He started explaining that he could not see any religious reason why non-Muslims could not go to Mecca, as long as they behaved properly.

It could well happen in the future, he said. That really would be pretty extraordinary, of course - but as things are in Saudi Arabia this Hajj, I do not think we can assume it is altogether impossible.

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From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 31 January, 2004 at 1130 GMT on BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission times.