You used to see them everywhere. If you walked through a mall in Riyadh or the old souks of Jeddah fifteen years ago, you couldn't miss the men with the short thobes and long beards. They were the Saudi religious police, known formally as the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPVPV), but everyone just called them the Mutawa.
They had power. Real power.
They could stop you for playing music too loud. They could scold a woman for a stray lock of hair or an "un-Islamic" abaya. They'd shut down shops the second the prayer call started. Honestly, they were the face of the Kingdom for decades. But then, almost overnight in the grand scheme of history, they vanished from the public eye.
Where did they go?
It wasn't a total disappearance, but it was a decapitation of their authority. To understand Saudi Arabia today, you have to understand what the Mutawa were—and what they’ve become under the Vision 2030 reforms led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
The Height of Power: When the Mutawa Ruled the Streets
The Saudi religious police Mutawa weren't just a group of volunteers. They were a government agency with a massive budget and thousands of employees. For years, their legitimacy came from a decades-old pact between the House of Saud and the ultraconservative clerical establishment.
They enforced a specific, Wahhabi interpretation of Islamic law.
I remember stories—and these are well-documented—of them patrolling "family sections" in restaurants to make sure men and women who weren't related weren't sitting together. They’d carry thin wooden sticks sometimes. Not necessarily to hit people, but to tap on shop shutters or point at people they thought were breaking the rules. It created a constant state of low-level anxiety for a lot of people, especially the youth and expats.
The turning points
There were moments where the Mutawa overstepped so badly that the public started to turn. One of the most tragic and infamous incidents happened in 2002 at a girls' school in Mecca. A fire broke out. Reports from Human Rights Watch and various international news outlets at the time stated that the religious police actually prevented schoolgirls from escaping the burning building because they weren't wearing their headscarves and abayas properly. Fifteen girls died.
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That left a permanent scar on their reputation.
Then came the age of the smartphone. Suddenly, every time a member of the Saudi religious police harassed a woman in a mall or got into a shouting match with a citizen, it was on YouTube or Twitter within minutes. You'd see videos of them being aggressive, and for a country trying to modernize, it looked terrible. It was a PR nightmare that the government couldn't ignore anymore.
2016: The Year Everything Changed for the Saudi Religious Police
In April 2016, the Saudi cabinet issued a decree that basically stripped the Mutawa of their teeth. It was a massive shock to the system.
The decree was blunt. It stated that the Saudi religious police Mutawa were no longer allowed to:
- Pursue or chase people.
- Ask for identification.
- Arrest or detain anyone.
Instead, if they saw something they thought was a violation of "morality," they were told they had to report it to the regular police or the drug enforcement agency. Basically, they were demoted to observers. No more chasing cars. No more dragging people into their field offices.
It was a total neutering.
The change was immediate. You started seeing people playing music in their cars. Women started wearing colorful abayas instead of just plain black. The "gender segregation" in restaurants began to crumble. It’s hard to overstate how weird it felt for people who had lived under that thumb for forty years. It was like the air in the country suddenly got lighter.
Why the Mutawa Still Matters Today
You might think they're gone, but the Saudi religious police still exist. They still have offices. They still have a website. They still have a budget. But their mission has shifted toward "advocacy" and "guidance."
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They mostly do awareness campaigns now. You’ll see their booths at festivals, but instead of yelling at you, they’re handing out pamphlets about the importance of prayer or the dangers of extremism. It’s a complete 180-degree turn in branding.
The Rise of Public Decency Laws
Interestingly, as the Mutawa faded, the government introduced the "Public Decency Law" in 2019. This is handled by the regular police, not the religious ones. It covers things like wearing pajamas in public, playing loud music, or displaying "unseemly" behavior.
Some people argue this is just "Mutawa-lite" under a different name. But there's a huge difference: the regular police are professional, uniformed, and follow a strict legal code. You don't have a guy with a beard yelling at you because he personally thinks your pants are too tight. It’s handled through fines and official citations. It's more about "order" than "morality."
The Complexity of the Shift
We have to be honest here—not everyone in Saudi Arabia was happy about the Mutawa losing power.
There is still a very conservative segment of the population that feels the country is losing its identity. They liked the "prevention of vice." They felt it kept society "pure." If you talk to older Saudis in more rural areas like Qassim or the outskirts of Riyadh, some of them still miss the old days. They see the new concerts, the cinemas, and the mixing of genders as a sign of moral decay.
But the youth? They are a different story.
Around 70% of Saudis are under the age of 30. For them, the Saudi religious police Mutawa represent a past they want to forget. They want to go to MDLBEAST music festivals. They want to work in offices alongside women. They want a "normal" life. The government realized that to keep the youth happy and to grow the economy, the religious police had to go.
Nuance in the "New" Saudi
It’s easy to paint this as a simple "good vs. evil" story, but it’s more complex. The sidelining of the Mutawa was a calculated political move. By stripping the religious establishment of its street-level enforcement power, the leadership consolidated power. It's a top-down reform.
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The Saudi religious police weren't just about religion; they were a power center. By neutralizing them, the Crown Prince removed a potential obstacle to his Vision 2030 plans. It was as much about politics and economics as it was about social freedom.
Surprising Details You Might Not Know
Most people don't realize that the Mutawa actually had a "special units" section. They had teams dedicated to fighting sorcery and black magic. Seriously. In Saudi Arabia, "witchcraft" was a crime they took very seriously, and the religious police had a specific department to track down people they accused of being charlatans or sorcerers.
Another thing? They were actually quite tech-savvy toward the end. They had an app where people could report "violations" anonymously. It was a bit of a "Big Brother" vibe that thankfully didn't last long before the 2016 crackdown.
What This Means for Travelers and Expats
If you’re planning to visit Saudi Arabia now, the experience is unrecognizable compared to 2010. You will likely never even see a member of the Saudi religious police Mutawa. If you do see someone from the CPVPV, they’ll probably be sitting at a desk or standing near a sign, looking fairly harmless.
- Women's Dress: You don't need a headscarf (unless you're in a mosque). Most foreign women don't even wear abayas anymore, just modest, loose clothing.
- Prayer Times: While many shops still close for 15-20 minutes during prayer, it's no longer strictly enforced by roving bands of religious police. In many places, like pharmacies or supermarkets, they stay open or just let you finish your shopping inside.
- Music: It's everywhere. In cafes, in cars, at festivals. The days of the Mutawa smashing CDs or yelling at shopkeepers for playing pop music are dead.
Is there a risk of them coming back?
Highly unlikely. The momentum of the current reforms is too strong. The Saudi economy is being rebuilt around tourism and entertainment. You can't have a world-class tourism industry if you have a Saudi religious police force harassing tourists at the beach or in hotels. The "old" Mutawa model is incompatible with the future the Kingdom is buying.
Moving Forward: Actionable Insights for Understanding the Kingdom
The story of the Mutawa is a masterclass in how societies can change at breakneck speed when the political will is there. If you're trying to keep up with what's happening in the Middle East, don't just look at the headlines about oil. Look at the street level.
- Monitor the "Public Decency" Fines: If you want to see where the line is drawn today, look up the Saudi Ministry of Interior’s list of public decency violations. That is the new rulebook.
- Follow Local Voices: Don't just read Western analysis. Follow Saudi influencers and journalists on platforms like X (formerly Twitter) or Snapchat—which is huge in Saudi. You'll see the reality of daily life without the religious police.
- Recognize the Regional Ripple Effect: What happened to the Saudi religious police has sent shockwaves through other conservative countries. It’s a blueprint for modernizing a religious state.
- Respect the Culture: Even without the Mutawa, Saudi Arabia remains a conservative, Islamic country. Modesty and respect for local customs are still the "soft" rules that make life easier for any visitor.
The era of the bearded man with the stick is over. The era of the "soft power" Kingdom is just beginning. It's a wild transition to watch in real-time. If you haven't looked at the Saudi social landscape since 2015, you're looking at a country that basically doesn't exist anymore. The Saudi religious police Mutawa are now a relic, a memory that some hold onto, but most are happy to leave in the rearview mirror.
To stay updated on the legal shifts in the Kingdom, check the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) regularly. They post the actual decrees, which is far more accurate than second-hand rumors you might find on social media. Understanding the legal framework is the only way to truly navigate the new Saudi landscape safely and respectfully.