I lived most of my life in KSA and moved to Oman 7 years ago.
Now you should know that there are two separate police units that enforce Civil Laws and Sharia Laws.
We had separate schools for girls and boys.
via Flickr
Once there was a fire in the girls block.
The firefighters rushed to the scene but the rescue attempt was stopped by the Religious Police.
Since the firefighters were men and the ones who needed help were of the opposite sex.
via Flickr
Many students and teachers including my sister died from smoke inhalation and lack of an emergency rescue service.
After the incident, the then Governor then lowered the authority of the religious police in the city.
My dad transferred to Oman the same year and weve been living here since.
Though technically we still live under Sharia Law in Oman, things are much better here.
The people and the Government are much kinder and tolerant.
We dont publicly and barbarically behead people.
Saudi Arabia was a bad experience for me and my family.
I lived in Riyadh for a few years while working with their military.
Anyway, here are a few points about living there…
In summary, 0/10 would not recommend a visit to Riyadh.
Im a Saudi, was born and raised there.
So people on TV kissing, any kind of affection could have the potential to mess with me.
Not many restrictions in childhood iirc and no stark differences in treatment between males and females.
Once I hit puberty, things took a turn for the worst.
I was not allowed to socialize with the other sex.
I couldnt talk to them or be alone with them.
Otherwise, it would be assumed that I was after something sexual.
I was basically treated as a horny animal who is not to be trusted around girls.
And girls, pick up on this too and learn to be afraid of the other sex.
Needless to say, you couldnt date or get to know the other sex.
Schools, government offices, restaurants, mosques were all segregated.
Shops and malls were policed and at some point, young males were outright banned from entering malls.
If youre a Saudi single male, youre constantly reminded of how undesirable you are.
The country has nothing to offer for fun.
No cinemas, of course, no bars or clubs.
Nothing but dining and shopping and some other few things.
And in most of these places youre greeted with a sign telling you, youre not welcome.
I do realize that despite how shitty this was, women had it worse.
Nevertheless, it was still a shit life.
I went on to university away from my family.
I still couldnt speak freely and discuss these new stimulating ideas that Ive just come across.
The way Saudi society is structured makes it really hard to deviate from the norm.
Individualism is highly discouraged.
Of course, he has a say.
It falls to society (people around them) to determine that and give their input.
This has to do with their image as well and how they are perceived by society.
If word gets out, their girls may never find suitable husbands and their boys may never marry.
Of course, it goes the other way.
My sisters and brothers may have to bear my sins.
So you keep your crazy thoughts to yourself.
You question nothing in public and stay the line.
Otherwise, people would fear associating with you and youd be ostracized.
This is getting too long, so I must end it.
Most people who say they have no problem with the system are people who are not affected by it.
Or not, but deep down they have no problem living such a life and accept it.
You are shit out of luck.
I have to say though that things are changing.
For instance, its more acceptable today to talk and be around the other sex.
Although it depends on which part of the country you are in.
However much of the restrictive laws are still there.
Making matters worse is the fact that this slow progress could be simply overturned whenever those governing deem so.
I no longer live there.
And hope that I never ever have to go back there, other than to visit family.
For me (29 male) the thing that bothers me the most is social freedoms.
Like we dont have bars and alcoholic beverages are not legal therefore expensive and hassle to come by.
Also not having bars and clubs.
Mandatory Hijab which is very loose in Iran but still bothersome.
Having to deal with social Islamic police.
I lived in Bangladesh for a little while, and while its not quite Sharia, there are elements.
So there are 2 sets of law, criminal and civil law and then religious law.
A lot of South/Southeast Asian countries with large Muslim populations do this.
So if youre Muslim, its Islamic law.
And youre Muslim if your family is Muslim.
So I was Muslim.
From what I understand its like this in India, Malaysia, and Singapore as well.
Thats pretty fucking bad.
I myself live in the UK but my parents are Pakistani.
When Taliban were in control, Sharia law was implemented (obviously) and things got violent quite quickly.
He mentions how his sister was accused of cheating by her husband.
He detailed how he saw her feet struggling and her arms straining.
When he came home, the brother said that his father did not speak for months.
Already been arrested once for being drunk.
I am an Indian national who moved to Jeddah at a very young age due to my dads job.
I even have cousins who attained citizenship here.
Used to an environment of co-existence, Saudi Arabia was definitely a shock.
I have many incidents but one always sticks out in particular to me.
My sister had recently come back from Toronto where she went for college.
We decided to go for breakfast and took an Uber to a restaurant.
I just told him we were siblings and sat back down.
My sister was seriously traumatized after watching me being tackled and beaten when I had shown absolutely no resistance.
I spent a day in jail before being released after several warnings about messing with Saudi nationals.
Of course, this doesnt make me hate Saudi nationals but left a very sour taste in my mouth.
The law has been more lax regarding Sharia in recent times though with changes in the royal family.
I lived for six years in Dubai as a western expat.
Its always much tougher for South and East Asian migrant workers who are treated like slaves.
In Dubai, a lot of westerners took stupid risks, like drugs and so on.
Most landlords will turn a blind eye but if neighbors complain, theyre obliged to act.
The main issue is getting raped, particularly by a local.
If you are sexually assaulted by an Emirati, just leave the country.
My father is an offshore oil and gas superintendent so our little family moved around a lot.
Around 10ish years ago we did a longish stint in Malaysia which has both Sharia and Civil Law.
I lived in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia.
Born and raised Saudi actually.
Growing, I thought the way of our life was normal.
There was strict segregation of the sexes.
Everyone was covered up.
Most women wore niqab and you only saw their eyes.
Schools taught 5 religion classes and not in an unbiased way.
We were taught Islam, sharia, that this is the one true religion.
We learned the evils of capitalism, socialism, and communism.
We learned about the evils of Zionism.
We learned to hate the nonmuslims and that jihad was the holiest most important thing.
In school, girls are required to wear abaya and hijab in 3rd grade.
By the time 7th grade comes, they are required to cover their faces too.
It is mandated by the government for all girls schools.
A legal guardian is required for all women, regardless of age.
A legal guardian is always male, usually a father or husband.
He literally dictates a womans life.
Her education, work, marriage, and travel.
Saudi Arabia is modern.
It has huge shopping malls and many men that want to see the women in their families succeed.
But the government is shit.
Blasphemy and hate speech is punishable by imprisonment and carries the death penalty.
Speaking against the judicial system will land you in jail.
Speaking against the monarch will get you jailed, too.
As my legal guardian, he had full authority to do that.
Im so glad Im an atheist.
Islam is such a horrible religion.
Thats when the terrorist Islamic state started.
They only stripped mosques of their right to talk politics a couple of years ago.
You asked about life?
Its horrible but livable.
Just thought Id share some of the fuckedupness this country is living.
Almost everyone is hypocritically good, but in fact, no one is.
Like I said its livable just not a life worth living.
Sorry for the rant but thought Id share this Id happily answer specific questions if you any wanted anything.
I lived in Saudi Arabia most of my life.
Not Saudi myself, and am a woman and left Islam.
I hate that place with a passion.
Thats also when my depression started.
For my BA I wanted to major in graphic design, which wasnt available in Saudi Arabia.
I told my parents that I wanted to go study abroad where my brother was.
Neither my permission nor presence were needed.
I really struggled with freedom of movement.
One time was pretty bad that I called the police and told them what had happened.
I made her promise not to tell any of my brothers, but she went ahead and told them.
I couldnt talk about it even to my closest friends.
She had no other male guardians alive.
As sad as it sounds, my fathers death was my ticket out of there.
Both of my parents are doctors and have moved to Saudi Arabia from another Arab country.
Starting off, everything closes during prayer time and opens up 20 or so minutes after.
Shops, malls, you name it.
There are no movie theaters in the country.
Pornographic sites are blocked and so are anti-Islamic ones.
Everything is segregated by gender.
Queuing to order from a fast food restaurant in a mall?
Oh, and schools are segregated by gender too.
Having partners(outside of marriage) is not allowed and so is displaying public acts of affection.
Never had a crush on anyone because Ive almost never interacted with a girl my age.
Honestly, the whole country is boring.
Ill also read a book or two every once in a while.
They dont mind any of the stuff imposed by Sharia law.
Most people here dont.
They never felt whats it like to have freedoms that people in more socially liberal countries take for granted.
Overall as a kid in pre 9/11 Saudi Arabia, I loved it.
We had a small boat about would go out to small islands in the Persian Gulf.
It was a lot of fun.
My mother had to wear an abaya which is just the black cloak when we were in public.
She stuck out pretty badly with red hair and blue eyes.
Sharia Law made my family a lot closer.
We basically all had to go places together.
My mom couldnt drive or go out unsupervised.
We had to eat at the family section of restaurants.
There were single sections for males by themselves.
Booths in places like Wendys or McDonalds had blinds on them for privacy.
My family went to church in secret.
We met at each others homes.
There was a black market for bibles and hymnals and stuff.
There are mutawa which are religious police and go around making sure people are following the religious laws.
We were yelled once or twice by them.
What really stands out to me though wasnt necessarily the religious stuff.
They are all male.
Most of them are working in SA and sending money home to their families.
They live in terrible work camps and ride around in buses with dead eyes.
When I visited my parents when I was older a lot had changed.
My parents lived in a compound now with armed guards everywhere.
Nobody went out to the desert or ocean anymore.
My parents rarely went outside of the compound, maybe once or twice a month.
The buses full of men with dead eyes were still there.
I lived in a 4-star hotel I Jeddah for four months.
As a woman ( on business) I was unable to leave the hotel without a co-worker.
There are no movie theaters, no bookstores.
One of my students was a Saudi 24 yr old social worker.
Its very well attended, people stand on car hoods for a better view.
Non Muslim living in Malaysia.
There is also a different class of bumi for Muslims and non-Muslims.
Okay, so Shariah is not so enforced there.
Speaking as a non-Muslim, Chinese, living in Kuala Lumpur, life is good.
Depends on how you look at things.
We can consume alcohol.
We can have pre-marital sex.
We arent forced to pray or fast or give zakat.
We have freedom of religion.
We can be gay or lesbian without fear of being kidnapped and sent to re-education camps.
The biggest complaint is that our taxes are used to prop up the Bumiputera privileges.
I was born and lived most of my life in Iran.
I am male, which means that my experience was not nearly as bad as others.
The religious police was disbanded a couple years ago.
But things get a lot worse when you are dealing directly with the government.
Thats not because theres a law stating so, but just because youll get fired otherwise.
That is a theme in Iranian laws.
About six months ago, I traveled back to iran with my mother.
because my mother did not have my fathers permission.
Talk about a ruined vacation.
Im a Malaysian Malay woman and really, it is not fun.
Example: During Eid, my little niece asked me out loud why Im no longer wearing my hijab?
I said cuz I no longer want to.
She replied, but you are sinning!
Shes nine years old for fucks sake.
Some other parents even force their daughters as young as 4 to wear hijab.
I was not happy when I saw that.
To clarify, I was raised super conservatively.
And I was one of them!
Even getting married under Sharia law is barbaric.
What the f is that shit?
I am an adult woman who owns her own properties and drives her own car.
What year are we living in?
And it would not be recognized as a marriage anyway.
And its not like I can denounce my religion: I was born with it.
So I am supposed to remain a Muslim till I die whether I like it or not.
And the punishment to denounce religion if youre a Muslim in this country?
They believe its Death.
I dont think it has ever been enforced though.
Firstly there isnt any monolithic shariah law.
Different countries ascribe to different strands of jurisprudence law (fiqh), which go beyond the Sunni-Shia divide.
Actual implementation varies depending on cultural norms, socioeconomic status, and personal temperament.
The country is Pakistan.
Had a rather enlightening experience on this.
I very nearly married a Muslim girl, specifically from Uzbekistan.
As others have noted, local law takes priority especially where local law is more restrictive.
This impacted us several ways.
Sex before marriage was strictly forbidden.
I (as the man) was absolutely in charge.
Getting past her thinking I could simply decide what was in her space took a lot of talking.
Pork was a discussed issue, as it is a common meat here in the US.
Consent to sex is completely different in concept.
Use of prostitutes was discussed.
Knowing there was a strong potential for divorce, we discussed what to do about it.
We had to build our own interpretation of the women must dress modestly.
We determined that this meant she needed to dress in a way that did not draw unearned attention.
This would require her to dress largely American.
This was acceptable because I (as the man and therefore absolutely in charge) told her to.
