SEELYE: Questions include whether it’s permissible to find a spouse through the Internet. Can a man divorce his wife in a text message? And what about Internet chatting? Flirting between men and women is forbidden in Islam, but can they chat online? According to clerics here, it’s best if a third party monitors the chat.
ABU MALIH (through translator): The Qur’an did not mention these details in their entirety, but it guides us in our advice.
SEELYE: But critics question the advice being given. Islam Online may be using modern technology, but it’s spreading a very traditional message. The cleric who founded the site, Yousef Qaradawi, is considered a moderate in the region. But his fatwas have opposed women traveling alone without a male guardian, and he’s ruled against women being heads of state.
For secular Muslims like Dalia Ziade, such views are decidedly anti-modern. Ziade is a human rights activist. The 26-year-old accuses religious institutions in Egypt of spreading fundamentalist beliefs, like the veiling of women.
[blockquote]But recently, some of Azhar’s fatwas have come under criticism. Last year a cleric ruled that an unmarried man and woman could work together alone, which is normally forbidden in Islam, but only if the woman established a maternal relationship with her colleague by breastfeeding him five times. [/blockquote]
Just try sneaking that one past the sexual harrassment police.
That one was extreme, and was withdrawn, Jeffersonian. But we did stand in a passport line recently at the airport watching women traveling alone showing their permission letters from their husbands or fathers, and being sent to a side office for confirmation of the permission before getting approval to leave the country. This applies to Muslims, not Christians. In the article, Ms. Ziade’s observations are what I see here. More headscarves, more niqabs, and more harassment on the streets in spite of it.
Thanks for posting this, Dr. Harmon. It’s a good summary of the conflicts in the Muslim world today.