Azhar Grand Imam: Clerics of ‘irrational’ fatwas should be banned

CAIRO -21September 2017: Clerics who issue “irrational” fatwas (decisions or orders made under Islamic law), should be banned from issuing the fatwas, said Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Shiekh Ahmed el-Tayeb in an opinion article for Al-Azhar voice newspaper on Wednesday.

Islam places rules and ethics for giving fatwas, which should be abided by the clerics, he added. The Grand Imam continued that some clerics misuse the social media in giving their “irrational fatwas”, noting that some fatwas contradict with social reality.

The head of the Supreme Media Council banned senior Al-Azhar professor Sabry Abdel Ra’ouf from appearing on television after he issued a fatwa allowing husbands to have intercourse with their deceased wives on a show on LTC channel. However, he apologized and said his fatwas is a misinterpretation.

The topic first arose in May 2011, when Moroccan cleric Zamzami Abdul Bari said that marriage remains valid even after death, which raised the topic of a husband engaging in sexual acts with the corpse of their spouse.