Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice
| الرئاسة العامة للأمر بالمعروف و النهي عن المنكر | |
Seal of the Committee
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| Agency overview | |
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| Formed | 1940 |
| Agency executive |
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| Website | https://www.pv.gov.sa |
The General Presidency of the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vices (abbreviated CPVPV; Arabic: هيئة الأمر بالمعروف و النهي عن المنكر ), also informally referred to as Hai’a, is the Saudi Arabian government agency employing “religious police” or Mutaween (مطوعين), to enforce Sharia Law within that Islamic nation.
The number of police is estimated at 3,500–4,000. Members patrol the streets enforcing dress codes, strict separation of men and women, salat prayer by Muslims during prayer times, and other behavior it believes to be commanded by Islam. They are known for having full beards (sometimes henna-dyed) and for wearing their headscarves (ghutrah or shemagh) loose without an agal—they often wear a besht as well—and for often coming from Saudi Arabia’s lower classes. They were empowered to detain and berate offenders and shut down businesses. Prior to the reforms of 2007 they were armed with thin wooden canes to strike miscreants. However, as of April 2016, the Saudi Council of Ministers has issued a regulation that stripped the religious police of all of their powers. At present they can only observe suspects and forward their findings to the regular police.
The police were formerly called the Committee for the Propagation of Virtue and the Elimination of Sin, also CAVES or CPVPV. They are also known locally as Hai’a (literally "committee", also transliterated as Haia or Hayaa), or mutawiyin (literally “the pious”, sometimes alternately translated as “the volunteers”). (See Mutaween for a list of variant spellings and an extended description of Islamic religious police.)
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Wikipedia