Saudi Lawyer Creates App for Women's Rights

Recently, I came across the website of Saudi lawyer Nasreen Alissa, who in 2016 launched a mobile application designed to help women understand their rights. It’s an impressive initiative—and perhaps a quiet reminder that Saudi Arabia hasn’t always made enough effort to explain itself to the outside world. In the absence of accurate narratives, it becomes easier for stereotypes and prejudices to persist.

But what is the reality about women’s rights in Saudi Arabia, in any case?

It is true that in many Saudi families, women are still controlled by their fathers, brothers, husbands, or whoever may serve as their legal guardian. The term guardianship (wilayah) is well known—and often cited—as the system that enables this. In Islamic law (Sharia), which forms the basis of Saudi law, a woman is placed under the protection of a guardian.

Notice the distinction: protection, not control.

Unfortunately, this nuance is often lost. Some men misuse their position, interpreting guardianship as unchecked authority rather than a moral and legal obligation to safeguard. In such cases, what is framed as protection becomes a vehicle for control—and that’s where rights begin to erode.

The Qur’an says in Sura An-Nisa: “Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend from their wealth.” The scholar Ibn Al-Qayyim interpreted this verse to mean that men are financially responsible for women—but also responsible for how they treat them, how they respect them, and how they uphold their dignity. When those obligations are not fulfilled, it becomes abuse—not authority.

This is precisely why Nasreen Alissa’s work is so important. Based in Riyadh, with a legal practice and regular media appearances in both Arabic and international outlets, she has taken her advocacy a step further by developing a tool that empowers women to understand their rights under Sharia.

Because when men invoke Sharia to justify their control, the only way forward is to understand what Sharia actually prescribes.

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