Farid, a Muslim, said once when he didn't run fast enough, the muttawas frog-marched him to the mosque, where he had to sit through an hour-long lecture on religion. Repeat violators can be jailed or deported.
"If someone wants to pray he will, but no one has the right to impose religion" on others, said Farid, who gave only his first name.
Batha market is a popular hunting ground for the muttawa. There, thousands of Saudis and foreigners -- mostly Asians from the Indian subcontinent or the Far East -- converge every day. Unrelated men and women could inadvertently brush shoulders in the busy network of shopping centers stretching several kilometers in all directions.
Under Saudi law, all citizens must be Muslim. Non-Muslim foreigners sometimes get caught up in the muttawa sweeps. The kingdom forbids non-Muslim public worship -- and often frowns on it even in private -- among the country's estimated 7 million expatriate workers, around half a million of whom are Christian. The kingdom also prohibits non-Muslim religious literature and public display of the symbols of other faiths.
Larry, 39, a computer programmer from the Philippines who gave only his first name, said he had been jailed for a day on three different occasions, including once for possessing a Bible.
"I told them that Christianity is my parents' gift to me and they let me go" after confiscating his Bible, Larry said.
In January, at least half a dozen Christian Filipinos were deported, after the muttawas found them holding religious gatherings, according to a diplomat in the kingdom who spoke on condition of anonymity. Several others were reportedly arrested and deported in sweeps in 1998 and 1999 for similar reasons, including distributing Christian literature in Arabic.
"Freedom of religion does not exist" in Saudi Arabia, according to the most recent US State Department survey of religious freedom around the world. The survey adds that the muttawas "continue to intimidate [and] detain citizens and foreigners."
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