I totally disagree with those who claim that the Muslim world has reached the pinnacle of ignorance and backwardness. It's enough to witness the cutthroat competition between Sheikhs who vie to come up with the necessary fatwas to elevate the status of Muslims in the world; to present an enlightened image of Islam, to prove that it's the religion of reason, progress, modernity, justice, fraternity . in short, the religion of the future. Our Sheikhs in the Arab and Muslim world - not only in Egypt - are concerned with nothing save the issuance of ingenious fatwas to reach a modern interpretation of religion that proves how Islam is a religion for all time, one that is abreast of progress and modernity. Hence the fatwa prohibiting photographs and sculpture, which came out despite Imam Mohamed Abdu's declaration, almost one century ago, that they are halal. But because the world is constantly progressing, the abstract school in art is continually taking over our modern times from all that is figurative. But Islam, these sheikhs must be trying to prove, was the one which said it first. Hence also came the adult breast-feeding fatwa at an age stigmatized for being immoral - can anyone think of a more appropriate fatwa?! The competition between our revered sheikhs has reached such heights that not a week goes by after the issuance of a new and ingenious fatwa in one country, before another fatwa crops up in another to out-do it. One of our very own respected sheikhs recently came up with a fatwa to enlighten the faithful as to the dangers to which women are subjected if they ride taxis with male drivers. This, they claim, is in violation of a sharia tenet prohibiting men and women from being alone together, and so it is haram, especially at night. It is, however, permissible during the day because - according to the text of the fatwa - being alone with a man is considered an illicit violation of the sharia at night, but only a violation (not an illicit violation) of the sharia during the day. If a woman has to use a taxi after sunset, she must in this case be accompanied by a sharia-approved male guardian (mihrim) or only use a taxi with a female driver. No excuses because there are at least five or six women taxi drivers in greater Cairo alone. None of the sheikhs of any of the other Muslim countries seem to have thought of such an ingenious fatwa, which sparked the jealousy of some Saudi sheikhs, two of whom issued an even more "ingenious one. According to the Riyadh-based Elaf website, Sheikhs Othman El Khamis and Saad El Ghamdy have prohibited women from using the internet, citing "women's maliciousness . They added that, should a woman be required to use it, then she may only do so in the presence of a mihrim - but not just any old mihrim, only one who meets the specific criteria outlined by the fatwa; that is, he must be aware of "women's wily and immoral tendencies , according to the exact wording of the fatwa. This is the same mihrim stipulated by the Egyptian fatwa, the one who must accompany the night-riding taxi women. Surely he too must be acutely aware of "women's wily and immoral tendencies referred to by the Saudi sheikhs, or, indeed by the Saudi citizen, who, the Saudi press reported, divorced his wife lately when he caught her "alone with the television in his absence, watching men on the screen. Pray tell, can any behavior be more "malicious or "immoral than that?! I call on all those who still have hopes for the progress of Muslims to abide by these fatwas. Indeed if we hid women under the niqab (full face cover), prohibited them from using taxis and from being alone with the TV set or using the internet without a mihrim, then we will guarantee our place in the 21st century, which the rest of the world has entered a few years ago, while we still stand at the doorstep of the Middle Ages. for no apparent reason. Mohamed Salmawy is President of the Writer's Union of Egypt and editor-in-chief of Al-Ahram Hebdo. This article is syndicated in the Arabic press.
