DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
An Algerian woman has filed a complaint with religious authorities after her husband threatened to divorce her if she does not breastfeed his friend so he can spend Ramadan evenings at the family home, press reports said.
The woman said her husband, who she described as "religious and conservative," wants her to breastfeed his friend, also "religious," so he can come to their house in Ramadan and have iftar with them, Kuwaiti daily Al-Seyassa reported on Sunday.
Under Muslim law, women are required to cover their hair and not be alone in the presence of "non-mahram" men – anyone other than a father, brother, husband, son, uncle or other unmarriageable man.
According to a controversial fatwa by an Egyptian scholar from Al-Azhar – which he later retracted and for which he was fired -- a woman can breastfeed an adult man five times in order to be alone with him as he would then be equivalent to her son.
The Algerian woman said her husband threatened to divorce her if she did not comply with his request, according to a statement by one of Algeria's most prominent preachers, Sheikh Shams Al-Din Borboni.
Borboni called for a halt to the influx of "imported fatwas," referring to the "adult breastfeeding" fatwa issued by Egyptian Dr. Ezzat Atiya. The fatwa – or religious ruling – led to his dismissal as head of the Hadith Department at the Faculty of the Foundations of Islamic Jurisprudence in Al-Azhar University after it was deemed "derogatory to Islam."
Sheikh Borboni said there was a similar incident when a merchant called to tell him that he has a female employee in his store and was wondering if he could apply the fatwa.
Atiya made the headlines after his highly controversial Fatwa was reported by Al-Arabiya.net in May.
“Breastfeeding an adult man five times makes it legal for the woman to sit alone with that man at a closed workplace. This way, the woman can take off her veil in front of her work-mate without being in violation of Islamic rulings,” Atiya said.
Atiya based his ruling on an incident that took place at the early days of Islam, over 14 centuries ago. The incident happened immediately after adoption was prohibited by Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) ruled that a woman should breastfeed her foster son so as to be able to receive him at home like her own son. |
