Dar Al Ifta, Egypt’s official body in charge of advising Muslims on spiritual matters, has shown that Egypt is not going to simply give up in the race back to the Stone Age between Iran and Saudi Arabia. The Muslim cleric have issued a fatwa prohibiting online chats between unrelated men and women. How they are going to monitor that fatwa is a bit unclear but it appears that even sending text messages to a person of the other sex is an affront to Islam. Clerics issued the fatwa with the warning that social media is “one of the tools of the devil and a way for spreading discord and corruption.”
What is interesting is that people on social media seem far less obsessed with sex as do these Muslim clerics.
Abdul Hamid Al Attrash, a senior Sunni cleric at Al Azhar, Egypt’s prestigious institution of Sunni Islam, insisted that “[f]rom the religious point of view, this fatwa is sound.” Of course from a sanity point of view, not so much.
Abdul Hamid Al Attrash insisted that “Chats between a boy and a girl who are strange to each other is prohibited because this opens the door to the devil and leads to illicit relations that are harmful to society. It is necessary to comply with this fatwa.”
Some people are turning to social media to object to the Fatwa on social media. One remarked “Chat is un-Islamic? Dar Al Ifta left everything illegal in the country and shifted its sights to online chats instead.”
That pretty sums it up.
Source: Gulf News
@Annie
He was taking “liberties” with other women. When I found out, he was toast and I never had another word to say to him. In hindsight, he did me a favor because I am a lot happier now.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
I have a feeling that the clerics are afraid of what their flock may learn from going online. Like the idea of running their own lives.
Yes, the mullahs should get their noses out of youthful flirting and start bombing, droning, and stealing valuable resources around the world like more advanced countries do.
Well, sheesh Squeeky. I’ve told my daughters that they should never live with a guy unless they are engaged. I’m wondering though, how can one live with a man you’re in a relationship with and not expect any “liberties” to be taken? Might as well live apart until that ‘spark’ gets ignited for real.
@Annie
Actually, the last one was very liberal. With his “attentions.” Sooo, I put all his crap on the curb in black garbage bags, and texted him and suggested he might want to beat the garbage trucks to it. Life has been so much simpler and less irritating since then.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
squeeky – I do appreciate your solution.
Squeekers, only 30, as you stated, and sworn off men? Maybe you’ve been dating conservatives? 😉
@Vixpix!
LOL! But to answer your question:
1. Because I zealously guard my privacy
2. I swore off men 4 years ago.
3. I watch the Lifetime Movie Channel, and I wouldn’t never go meet somebody I met online because he would end up being a stalker type, or a serial rapist/killer, and I would end up in an underground bunker or basement being a sex slave or something.
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
PaulCS — I’ll concede the chat point, but how do you figure that Obama put the Dar Al Ifta in power? They were there long before the current regime, and I imagine they would have been at least as obnoxious under the Muslim Brotherhood.
Vixpix 1 – I never said anything about Dar Al Ifta.
Squeaky, if Internet conversation between men and women is inherently sexual, why are you talking to PaulCS?
Vixpix1 – I would not call this an online chat. We are in a public discussion. This is more like being part of a townhall.
@PaulCS
I agree with you. It seems silly to us because we are sooo jaded. FWIW, “chat up ” from the Urban Dictionary:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=chat%20up
Squeeky Fromm
Girl Reporter
Sorry, but Obama did not put Dar Al Ifta in power. Try whining about something else.
Paul
“Much as we would like to make fun of him, what he says is accurate.”
You’ve got to be kidding! That’s a joke, right?
paulette – what I said is no joke. I do not agree with him doing it, but his reasoning for doing it is logically and statistically sound.
Oh…. But what about cat fishing….
Are they trying to start another Arab spring riot, or get the Islamic brotherhood riled up, or join ISIS? I wonder what kind of photos they uploaded on Apple’s Icloud?
Much as we would like to make fun of him, what he says is accurate.
These are the guys Obama put into power.
It is time for the rest of the world to publish a map of all the pirate territories and that includes lame Muslim territories. These places are not civilized nation states. Nigeria sets the standard for the lowest of the low. Perhaps Somalia. Then you go uphill to places like Egypt which has some semblance of government but still is unworthy of business trade or tourist travel. Fly over and flush.
Surprise! This is what a Theocratic, autocratic, male dominated society looks like.
Time to drag the Middle East kicking and screaming out of the dark ages.
To silence women who for the first time have a platform to voice their complaints.