Gomaa's Latest Fatwa Is A Winner

By Neil the Ethical Werewolf

The Grand Mufti of Egypt, Ali Gomaa, has come out with a fatwa permitting women to hide premarital sexual relations from their husbands, either with surgery to reconstruct their hymens or by just not admitting their sexual past.  While we in the West have progressed far enough that it makes sense to just make fun of anybody who cares enough about hymens enough to think hymen replacement surgery is a good idea, it's probably a good thing to make available in a society where the murder of women who have premarital sex is a real possibility. 

Gomaa has been pretty good on women's rights, having previously declared that women may become heads of state in modern Muslim nations.  His fatwa output hasn't been perfect -- a while back he was opposing the display of statues.  But if Egypt moves towards having less statues but more equality for women, you won't see me complaining. 

Back to the virginity stuff.  I particularly liked the commentary from this guy:

Shiekh Khaled El Gindy, an Al-Azhar scholar and member of the Higher Council of Islamic Studies told The Daily Star Egypt that he agrees with the new fatwa.

"Islam never differentiates between men and women, so it is not rational for us to think that God has placed a sign to indicate the virginity of women without having a similar sign to indicate the virginity of men," El Gindy said.

"Any man who is concerned about his prospective wife’s hymen should first provide a proof that he himself is virgin," he added...

In Upper Egypt honor crimes are still committed. If a woman loses her virginity out of wedlock, she is considered a big shame on everyone and deserves to die.

In response to such ideas, El Gindy told The Daily Star Egypt that, "Islam does not care for the feelings of ignorant people, just as the law does not protect the idiots."

Thanks to Ann and Eteraz for this.  (The Eteraz diarist may have accidentally misattributed some of Gindy's awesome quotes to Gomaa.)