King Abdullah shook up his country this weekend by dismissing two religious leaders, and historically naming a woman to his council. 
That, along with other appointments, are part of the biggest shake-ups in Saudi Arabia in 20 years.
Noura Al-Fayez was appointed to the Saudi Council of Ministers. She will serve in a new position as deputy minister for women’s education.
“I’m very proud to be nominated and selected for such a prestigious position,” Al-Fayez told CNN on Saturday. “I hope that other ladies, females, will follow in the future.”
“People are very excited about this,” said Khaled Al-Maeena, editor-in-chief of Arab News, an English-language daily newspaper in Saudi Arabia. “This sends a clear signal that the King means business. Instead of appointing some bureaucrat, he appointed a woman.”
Analysts said they indicated King Abdullah’s determination to put his progressive stamp on the country’s ultra-conservative institutions.
In addition to naming al-Fayez to the council, the King sacked the leader of the Muttawa religious police. The Muttawa, who enforce Saudi Arabia’s strict-but-eroding Islamic social mores, such as complete separation of unrelated members of the opposite sexes, have been widely feared in Saudi Arabia.
Ghaith was replaced by Sheikh Abdul Aziz al-Humain, who quickly gave notice of changes to come.
“We will try to be close to the heart of every citizen. Their concerns are ours,” Humain told Al-Arabiya news channel.
The 83 year old Abdullah, who ascended the throne after the death of his half-brother King Fahd in August 2005, had made mainly minor changes in the administration since then, amid expectations to put his mark more deeply on the government.
Also, for the first time, the King named representatives of all four Sunni Islam schools of religious law to the Council of Ulemas, the leading clerics of the kingdom.
Previously only thinkers from the Wahhabi school which dominates the conservative Saudi version of Islam were represented on the council.
Still, the most powerful cabinet positions of defense, interior, and foreign affairs were unchanged, remaining in the hands of the key princes of the royal family who have held the jobs for decades.
