Summary of a report titled "The misguided Fatwas of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis"

We all have heard fatwas that sounded outrageous, even for Islam.  Here, in an official report is documented proof that even Muslims sometimes find their co-horts religious proclamations just a bit silly.

From India Today November 28

Fatwa: Women who swim in the sea commit adultery, should be punished

"When a woman goes swimming, as the word for sea is masculine, when "the water touches the woman's private parts, she becomes an 'adulteress' and should be punished."
- Summary of a report titled "The misguided Fatwas of the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis", as published in the Al Masry Al Youm.

A report by a committee set up by Al Azhar, one of the oldest and most prestigious Islamic universities in Cairo, to study the fatwas issued by the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis reveals how Islamists view women.

The findings of the committee's report were published in the Egyptian newspaper Al Masry Al Youm. In all, the committee studied 51 fatwas issued by the Brotherhood and the Salafis during President Mohamed Morsi's tenure.

According to the report, "the fatwas issued by both groups (the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafis) regard women as strange creatures who are created solely for sex. They considered the voices of women, their looks and presence outside the walls of their homes an 'offence'. Some even went as far as to consider women as a whole offensive."

Another fatwa prohibited women from "eating certain vegetables or even touching cucumbers or bananas", due to their phallic imagery which could lead women down the wrong path.

Another fatwa directed women to "turn off the air conditioners at home in the absence of their husbands as this could indicate to a neighbour that the woman is at home alone and any of them could commit adultery with her".

Another fatwa orders that girls as young as 10-years-old be married "to prevent them from deviating from the right path".

Another prohibited girls from going to school more than 25km away from their homes.

A strange one said that a couple's marriage would be annulled if they copulate with no clothes on.

Now I have heard of couples only doing it in the dark, but this...

Interestingly, one fatwa which made headlines all over the world was issued by the Al Azhar university which called for women to "breastfeed male acquaintances thereby making them relatives and justifying their mixed company". The fatwa was, however, later retracted.

At the same time, some of these fatwas also sanctioned the use of women as human shields...