NOT THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER: Fat-Waaah-Waaah-Waaah!
Imams and religious scholars interpret the Koran and the teachings of Muhammad to issue fatwas that guide the faithful on matters of Sharia law. The New York Times reports that in Egypt, there is growing concern that "too many fatwas are being issued, and that many of them rely on ideology more than learning. … government-appointed arbiters of Islamic standards say the fatwa free-for-all has led to the promotion of extremism and intolerance." Case in point: The breast-feeding fatwa.
About a month ago, religious scholar Izat Atiyah issued a fatwa that unmarried men and women can be together at work only if the woman breast-feeds each of her male colleagues five times to establish familial ties. His "reasoning":
"Breast-feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage. ... A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breast-fed."
The mass media of the region ridiculed the ruling relentlessly, until Atiyah was suspended from his job as a department head at the Foundation of Religion College of Al Azhar University. He later withdrew the fatwa on the grounds that it was a "bad interpretation of a particular case."
No argument from The Stiletto. First, the fatwa betrays a profound ignorance of how the female body works: A woman who has not recently given birth cannot produce breast milk. Second, even if a woman had recently given birth and was lactating – which is completely outside cultural norms, considering she is unmarried and would likely be the victim of an honor killing as soon as her pregnancy became apparent – how could she produce enough breast milk to feed all her male colleagues and her baby? Third, by what stretch of the imagination is an unmarried woman’s modesty compromised if a man sees her uncovered hair, but not if he sees (and suckles) her uncovered breast?
Clarification: Under normal circumstances - that is, without administration of high doses of hormones produced naturally by the body in pregnancy to induce and maintain lactation after birth - women who have not carried a child to term or are not already breastfeeding a child cannot breastfeed more than one (or even one) grown man. It's best not to ask The Stiletto why she felt it necessary to post this addendum.
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