When Souad al-Shammary posted a series of tweets about the thick beards worn by Saudi clerics, she never imagined she would land in jail.
She put up images of several men with beards: An Orthodox Jew, a hipster, a communist, an Ottoman Caliph, a Sikh and a Muslim. She wrote that having a beard was not what made a man holy or a Muslim. And she pointed out that one of Islam's staunchest critics during the time of Prophet Muhammad had an even longer beard than him.
The frank comments are typical of this twice-divorced mother of six and graduate of Islamic law. Raised a devout girl in a large tribe where she tended sheep, al-Shammary is now a 42-year-old liberal feminist who roots her arguments in Islam, taking on Saudi Arabia's powerful religious establishment.
I have rights that I don’t view as against my religion. I want to ask for these rights, and I want those who make decisions to hear me and act.Al-Shammary
Al-Shammary is one of the most vocal and high-profile religious and women's rights activists within Saudi Arabia.
Al-Shammary graduated from the University of Ha'il with a degree in Islamic studies and became a public school teacher. At 17, she married a man twice her age from the same tribe. She had a girl, Yara, was divorced at 20 and then re-married, this time to the chief judge in Ha'il who'd overseen her divorce proceedings.
Al-Shammary’s journey to activism began on the day her daughter was taken from her.
Almost as soon as Yara turned 7, her ex-husband gained custody. Since al-Shammary had remarried, the court ruled that the girl should live with her father rather than in a house with another man.
For eight years, she fought her parents, her community and anyone who stood between her and Yara, whom she wasn't able to see.
When Yara's father fell ill and the grandmother passed away, he finally allowed her, then 16, to live with her mother again. Al-Shammary relocated to the more liberal city of Jiddah with all her children finally under one roof.
She shared her thoughts online on how Islam sees people, including women, as born free and equal, ideas she found in line with liberalism. So began a war of words – and of images.
Al-Shammary was detained at the women's section of Jiddah's Briman prison on 28 October 2014.
She was accused of agitating public opinion. She was never tried or convicted.
In prison, al-Shammary continued her advocacy behind bars, telling women that music is permissible and explaining their legal rights. She says female Muslim missionaries began appearing in prison more often, telling women their time there was the will of God.
She was released from detention on 29 January 2015. She continues to tweet to her more than 20,7,000 followers, though she says she weighs her words more carefully than before.
Yara supports her mother's activism, although she still wishes al-Shammary would not argue against the hijab or with influential religious figures.
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