Comments on: A multiple-choice question about fatwas

By: Tom Heneghan

Tom Heneghan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 17:32:10 +0000

Andrea (ReligionWriter) – Neither our article nor any other I found on this explained exactly what “symbolic breastfeeding” entailed. Most add another detail, though: it has to be done a minimum of five times to be valid. The Wikipedia entry “breastfeeding fatwa” has about as much as has been written on this in English, including some reaction. If anyone out there has more from the Arabic-language media, please let us know.

By: ReligionWriter

ReligionWriter — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 00:44:23 +0000

Thanks for alerting us to “symbolic breastfeeding”… unfortunately, the article doesn’t say exactly what the scholar had in mind when he said that. How exactly does a woman symbolically breastfeed her male colleague? It seems like HR would have to be involved, at the least.
The interesting thing about that opinion/fatwa, however outlandish, is it shows Muslim scholars engaging with the real-world issues of women and men working together in the secular workplace.

By: fern

fern — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 16:49:26 +0000

I’m not a Muslim, but I’d say #5. I started researching fatwas during a debate with a member of Hizb ut Tahrir. I wanted to answer his points from the same perspective a Muslim might who believed differently than he did. You’ve pointed out the more chaotic nature as anyone who wants can post what he or she calls a fatwa. It’s less transparent in the sense that often you don’t know the background of the poster so cannot evaluate their knowledge of Islamic law, nor if they even follow a traditional Islamic school of law.