“I would fight to the death to prevent this,” Ahmed told me, abruptly rising to his feet, his face flushed with emotion.  Anxious to persuade me that Islam is the religion that most honors women, the young Saudi Arabian had opened his home to me and answered my frequent questions with surprising candor. But when I asked if he envisioned a time in the future when females in his country would be afforded meager freedoms, perhaps to drive or remove the veil, his answer was immediate and vehement.