How do religious agencies influence obscenity laws in Saudi Arabia and Iran?

In countries that grant a privileged position to Muslim concepts of law, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, special religious agencies play a powerful role in defining and suppressing obscenity. In these jurisdictions, legal frameworks are deeply integrated with religious precepts, and authorities utilize these agencies to enforce standards of public decency and morality.1

In Iran, for example, the morality police are tasked with enforcing specific regulations, such as those governing women’s dress and the requirement to wear the hijab. This enforcement is part of a broader state effort to uphold Islamic standards in public life. Similarly, in Saudi Arabia, the government relies on its close ties to religious institutions—historically influenced by the Wahhabi interpretation of Sunni Islam—to establish political and social legitimacy. The state is expected to uphold and apply Islamic law, and religious scholars have historically served as a major social and political force in shaping these societal constraints.23

Ultimately, in both nations, the definition of what is considered offensive or obscene is not merely a secular legal matter but is fundamentally derived from religious interpretations of morality.134