text: Uh, Islam takes many forms, and in Saudi, a fundamentalist approach is very much in place, similar to Christian fundamentalism. Culture often dictates how the religion is engaged in its culture. If it were actually a religion of violence, billions more Muslims would already have taken over the world. 
  Look at the United Arab Emirates. Jennifer Anniston is in two of Emirates Airlines major television ads. 
  I lived in Saudi Arabia, and I know how the religion, which is actually very split when it comes to "sects" around the world, varies due to "culture". Shia vs Sunni is just one example. (I also took social psychology in college.) 
  Fundamentalist Christians in different denominations and sects have and have had strict more codes on dress in the past. Cultural development, not religion, has changed this. The Amish still dress like they do. Mormon women are criticized by peers if they wear hot miniskirts and low-cut tops, etc. 
  That they released her says volumes.