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Azhar: Saudi fatwa a bit 'extreme'

CAIRO: A Saudi Arabian scholar has sparked new controversy and ire among Egypt’s al-Azhar scholars after issuing a fatwa that authorizes the killing of any individual that allows for the the interaction of men and women and called for the end of their co-existence in the workforce and education.

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 Al-Azhar has described the new fatwa, or Islamic opinion, published by Saudi religious scholar Abdel Rahman al-Barrak, as “extreme.”

The Saudi scholar issued the fatwa and published in on his personal website this week, saying that “anyone that permits the interaction of men and women should be killed,” describing anyone that permits these sort of relationships, as an apostate “that must be killed.”

Barrak described men who allowed their sisters or wives to work or study within the presence of men as “pigs who don’t feel any kind of jealousy or honor.”

Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt, in response to the fatwa, said that mixing between girls and boys is “religiously permissible to seek knowledge with a commitment to morality and values set by the Islamic Sharia.”

Gomaa noted that there is nothing in Islamic law that prevents the mixing of young men and women, “whether in schools or universities and among others who seek knowledge.” He was quoting the words of the Prophet when he added that “seeking knowledge is obligatory on every Muslim man and woman.”

Soad Saleh, a professor of comparative jurisprudence at al-Azhar University and President of the Women’s Committee of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, said that Islam does not forbid the mixing of boys and girls to seek knowledge, or in the workplace, and that the origin of these things are permissible unless expressly forbidden.

“Women played a big role in the dissemination of science and knowledge throughout the Islamic history, and have also taught the men in various fields,” Saleh said.

She expressed what she called “profound astonishment” over the opinion of the Saudi scholar, saying “it is not, in any way, say, there is no means to authorize the killing for all those who support the mixing between boys and girls to seek knowledge or in the workplace” and described the fatwa as “extreme.”