CAIRO: The “cucumber” controversy continues as the opinions of a sheikh residing in Europe on how women should avoid certain foods due to their sexual resemblance has sparked massive outcries of frustration and anger. An Islamic scholar and chairman at Egypt's Religious Endowments Ministry said this sheikh could not be more “far from the truth.” Sheikh Gaber Taye' Youssef knows a lot about preaching and the process in which scholars are selected to be assigned to a job abroad. He expressed serious doubts that the sheikh sourced is even qualified for his position. “Nonesense and wrong, such talk is empty of any logic or sense and has no roots or relations with Islam or its belief system,” said Youssef when Bikyamasr.com interviewed him over the phone early on Saturday. “I don't think any reasonable scholar or sheikh who was educated at al-Azhar or any other grand and respected institution would think of such a thing and voice it as a fatwa for people,” he said. The issue at hand refers to a “fatwa” reported by al-Sawsana news website that said an unnamed sheikh based in Europe had called on women to avoid cucumbers and other vegetables that resemble the male organ. The statements have sparked massive anger across the world over the sentiments. “God says in the Holy Qur'an ‘eat and drink from what we have granted you,' and these opinions have no source in Islam or in our way of thinking,” Youssef continued. “Everyone is responsible for his or her words in front of God first, then people, and this person is accountable for what he says,” he added. Across the region, when the news was first reported in Arabic, a number of commentators and activists called the “cucumber” sheikh out on his statements, branding him an “unintelligent” person who was “seeking fame.” “The sheikhs who travel to work at mosques abroad are selected very carefully in Egypt and al-Azhar and the ministry spares no effort in making sure that they are sending the right people to represent them and do an honorable job, but I have no idea how this person was chosen or even got a chance to talk to people,” Youssef argued. Sheikh Youssef himself lived in Canada and Spain previously for work, and he cites how the image is completely different as the people working there “honor Islam and would never think of voicing such extreme and bizarre opinions.” The sheikh added that the “cucumber” sheikh might have been selected and chosen from the “street,” joking about the apparent lack of qualifications. About how such speech distracts people from real pressing women's issues in the region, Youssef said that the Prophet Mohamed honored women and said about them “women are the counterparts of men,” and Islam “granted them rights and obligated them with duties, so no one could belittle women, especially in Egypt,” he said, “where women are running for the parliament and even the presidency.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/ZxUXY Tags: Azhar, Cucumber, Cucumber Sheikh, featured, Islam Section: Editor's choice, Egypt, Latest News, Religion
