Brit: Having lived d in Saudi Arabia and I can attest to your statement.
However, the Religious Police, with their special religious squads, are still in full force in much of the kingdom.
The Mutawa , still do regular monitoring trips to malls and other public places. When the call to prayer comes on all business come to a complete stop, still many of these shop keepers and the shoppers were not heading to the mosque rather hanged around the mall or enjoyed a quick cig in their locked cars.
Then suddenly a pack of mad religious bulls come swarming out of the heavenly shaded big cars with nightsticks and start emendating the public to go to pray.