Mufti Puffery on Chicks' 'Rights'

Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah Al-Asheik (who, from the looks of his photo in the Arab News story, is a pretty chill dude) has some thoughts on the chicks and how to treat 'em:

JEDDAH: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Asheikh has strongly warned against maltreating women in any form and said this is totally against Islam.

In his Friday sermon in Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh, the mufti said only bad people treat women badly. 

"The psychological or physical abuse against wives, daughters and sisters is against the Islamic Shariah and the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh)," he said.

Al-Asheikh warned husbands and fathers who take the salaries of their wives and daughters that they are committing anti-Islamic acts.

"The fathers who make it a condition to have their daughters' salaries before they give their consent for marriage are equally wrong. Husbands who force their working wives to share in home expenses are committing erroneous acts. Islam made it the responsibility of the man to spend on the house," he told the worshippers.

The mufti also said it is haram (forbidden in Islam) when husbands ask their wives who request divorce to return the dowry before they consent to divorce. He also said burdening women with bank loans and letting them suffer the payment of installments is equally haram.

The mufti also said polygamy, which is allowed by Islam under the condition of being just and fair, is not a loose right. "The first wife should have all her rights," he said.

He also warned against relying on matchmakers who draw a bright picture of the groom who may turn out in the end to be an unethical and irresponsible man.

"Matchmakers should convey a true picture of the groom and the bride," he said.

The mufti asked people to make the Prophet a role model in his treatment of women, citing a number of Hadiths that the Prophet never maltreated women...

Of course, it depends on what your idea of "maltreatment" is. For example, many would consider marrying a child of six and having sex with her when she was nine to be less than exemplary behaviour. Then again, others--believers--take it as a green light to go ahead and take child brides. Some non-Muslims may also have a huge problem with Koranic instructions to treat one's wife as a "tilth"--i.e. as a field to be plowed whenever the heck he (but not necessarily she) is up for a game of marital agriculture. And the Mufti seems disinclined to address the fact that under the terms of sharia women have second class status, and that the Koran instructs men to hit their wives but to not leave marks.

Other that that, Islam is very pro-chick.