Egypt4u

Saudi sheikh distances himself from fatwa obliging women to be accompanied while surfing the net, saying women are capable of distinguishing right from wrong.

A Saudi scholar has played down an Islamic fatwa (ruling) that forbids women from logging in online without an escort.

“The law for internet usage for men and women should be the same, even if the internet has useful and harmful websites,” said Sheikh Mohamed El-Aly, professor of Islamic law at Imam Mohamed Ben Saud University to Al-Youm Online, a Saudi news website, Sunday.

According to Islamic law, women are not allowed to travel without a male escort who is either her husband or a close relative she couldn't marry, including uncles, father-in-law and adult nieces.

In 2010, Sheikh Saad El-Ghamdi issued a fatwa banning women from logging in online without a chaperon sitting at her side.

“Women are similar to other beings, yet they are weak and emotional, which drags them towards what is against God’s rule ... The internet is full with tempting things that will be very hard for the weak woman to avoid ... Thus an escort who is aware of her weak psyche, which is prone to sex and emotion, is to accompany her while being online,” said Sheikh Saad El-Ghamdi in 2010.

However, Sheikh El-Aly has different views on women. “God blesses the Muslim woman with righteous thinking by which she distinguishes between what is good and bad for her,” he told the Saudi press Sunday.

The 2010 fatwa spread widely on social media sites. Sheikh Saad Ghamadi is a Saudi who graduated from the College of Sharia of the Islamic Imam Mohamed Ben Saud University.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/53070.aspx

A little light shining in the darkness for Saudi women.

Compared to:

DJKeefy wrote:.....prone to sex.....Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/53070.aspx

The words "pot" and "black" come to mind! Will they ever take responsibility for their "urges", and stop blaming women?! I won't hold my breath.

I agree WI, it is this blatant blaming of women for what is after all their own (male) uncontrolled sexual behaviour and lusts that just amazes me. “A woman must cover up because she may tempt me” “A woman cannot control her lusts” “We must mutilate her body because she may stray if she actually enjoys sex”
I notice that they never mention the opposite side of this arguments such as who exactly is the one who is being tempted? More to the point, why are they tempted? Do they have no control? If you as a man cannot walk about without being ‘tempted’ by every woman you clap eyes upon then it is you who should be wearing a bag on your head and not the woman. A simple solution would be a similar act of genital mutilation for the male who could of course get himself castrated as that would kill two birds with one stone, he would not be tempted and neither would she be lusting after him, he could also hit his willy with a hammer when the urge overtakes him, but I doubt if many of these uneducated chauvinists will go along with that one either, it would take away another method of dominating their women and they would have no one else to blame for their own lack of self control.

There is another element to this that I find hypercritical, they always go on about the fact that they have more respect for their women than Western men do when in fact it is the opposite, when my wife goes out shopping I do not assume that she is so randy that she will be lusting after everyone she sees, or unable to behave in a respectable manner, so it is I who have more respect for my wife and her integrity than this type of person ever will have for theirs.

Nailed it, H!

Everyone has "thoughts" while walking around, you wouldn't be normal if you didn't, but mercifully very few act on them in any way other than the acceptable. No harm in looking or thinking, though!

The thinking re: women in the middle east in general is archaic.

I've heard the rhetoric that women can't control themselves, they need men to protect them in all aspects of their life blah blah blah........IMO when both males and females live in a repressive social structure neither learns appropriate reciprocal 'social' respect. I'm kinda going with a 'kid in the candy store' analogy here but when all aspects of your life have been totally repressed, organized via randomly tossed out fatwas, you've been allowed virtually no free thinking or personal freedom and then suddenly you get a tidbit of 'freedom' OR a chance to have to think for yourself - well - can be like a kid in the candy store where you end up stuffing yourself and grabbing at anything and everything in sight with a non positive outcome.

Methinks you have to allow personal freedoms with guidance from childhood on combined with known stated social rules of open living and contact where appropriate behaviors are rewarded an inappropriate behaviors are sanctioned.

I'm betting that while women in Saudi are now allowed to 'log on' without a male guardian sitting beside them I'm betting all sites they visit are being electronically coded for scrutiny by the 'man' in their life. Sad, sad, sad situation.

You can bet your life they are

What is also sad re: Saudi life is that since men have such complete control over the lives of their (ahem) "women" they can also off them, put them into a 'women's room' (basically lock them away and deprive them of all human contact for years and years and years), drown them in swimming pools - well you name it they can do it without repercussion.

There is a social feature of Saudi life that prohibits other men from poking their nose into the actions of other Saudi men. It is taboo for one Saudi man to query the well-being of another Saudi man's 'women.' This also applies within families thus there is no recourse for a Saudi woman to 'run to' anywhere for help should she be mistreated. At best the other wives (give me a break) MIGHT help and assist her to the level they are allowed (in other words IF she is bleeding they might be able to sneak in a bandage). All I can say is thank the almighty I was not born Saudi or Yemeni or Egyptian etc etc etc.......cause Saudi is perceived as a 'rich' country seems the world has turned a blind eye to many of the egregious social issues inside this country.

I'm just waiting for the oil to run out, or an alternative energy source then we won't have to kiss ass anymore.

I'm of the opinion that we really do not have to pucker up now BUT those 'in charge' in the business world have deliberately kept us all dependent on oil/gas etc. I find it extremely hard to believe that we can fly to the moon but we have to run all our cars on gas AND any other new developments are cost prohibitive......

I'm not a conspiracy theorist but I just can't believe we all have to be so dependent on middle east oil......

A bit like 'The Man in the White Suit' you mean, LLL?

@RS - "Man in the White Suit?" - sorry am missing the meaning.......

Sorry, LLL! I didn't think! It's an old British film (1951) in which a man invents a fabric which never needs cleaning! Needless to say his invention wasn't 'encouraged', shall we say! This link explains it better than I can: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Man_in_the_White_Suit