A mufti of their own

Yomna Kamel MIDDLE EAST TIME STAFF

While Egyptian women can be ministers, lawyers, doctors, and hold many other prestigious jobs, they are still shut out of the upper levels of the religious hierarchy. Now one religious scholar wants to become a mufti which is a high level cleric charged with giving out religious opinions on a wide variety of matters.

Professor Suad Ibrahim Saleh is one of many female experts in religious jurisprudence who considers herself qualified enough to work as a mufti at Dar Al Ifta - the official body responsible for religious rulings.

She and her female peers have received the same education as the male muftis and studied at the same university.

"Since Al Azhar University accepts male and female students to study jurisprudence at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, this makes both qualified to give fatwas," said Abla Al Kahlawy, a professor of jurisprudence at Al Azhar University.

To some extent these women already give out religious opinions, but only informally, and Saleh insists that they must work for the Dar Al Ifta itself, since it is the source people trust.

"We are professors teaching jurisprudence at Al Azhar University. Many of us are so qualified that we supervise PhD theses. Some of our male students, with the proper qualifications, work in Dar Al Ifta, while we are not allowed to practice this right simply because we are women," she explained.

"I personally talked to the Grand Mufti Farid Wasel and he promised to consider the matter. He seemed receptive to our demands, but nothing has changed," said Saleh.

Officials at Dar Al Ifta, however, were less positive about the fitness of women to be appointed to the prestigious body.

"We are not against having qualified women giving fatwas to the public, but they cannot work from Dar Al Ifta. Muftis of Dar Al Ifta, known as consultants or researchers, are appointed by the Ministry of Justice. It is the system used since the Dar was established in 1895," said Qassim Al Sherif, a mufti there.

"The minister of justice is the only government figure authorized to appoint muftis to Dar Al Ifta. It is a judicial post as well as a religious one. So, if Saleh wants to work in Dar Al Ifta, she has to be working for the Ministry of Justice," Sherif added.

The responsibilities of Dar Al Ifta and the kinds of fatwas they issue are different from those that are issued by Al Azhar and other religious bodies because they deal primarily with legal areas. New laws from the People's Assembly or sentences of capital punishment have to be approved by the Dar.

"They [the Dar] require a person who is qualified to judge according to Islam and to the law. This means he has both the religious and the judiciary experiences," he explained, concluding that the women were just interested in "social prestige."

Saleh maintains, though, that this is not the issue. Rather, she wants to be based at the Dar in order to be more accessible to women so as to be able to help them.

"I am not looking for a prestigious position. I just want to be there and meet women at Dar Al Ifta to answer their inquiries," she stressed.

In fact, something Kahlaway, Saleh and other female scholars emphasize, is that there is a concrete need for well-qualified Muslim women to work as muftis.

All of the muftis at Dar Al Ifta are men and many women are embarrassed to seek their counsel, especially if they are seeking fatwas about matters related to marital life. Women prefer to have female muftis address their personal questions, Saleh said.

Sherif, however, said that the Dar welcomes all of the public's inquiries and many women call them asking about very personal matters. "I think women are used to asking male muftis with no embarrassment," he maintains.

Some female Muslim scholars are actually already giving fatwas, but in an informal way. "We are guest speakers on many religious programs that appear on Arab satellite television channels like ART and Orbit where we give answers to questions," Kahlaway said.

She added that they also have their gatherings in mosques, and sometimes in their houses where hundreds of women come to seek counsel. "Some of these questions have simple answers while others are new and might a need a fatwa," she said.

Muslim women, according to Kahlawy, have the right to occupy any position as long as they do not neglect their roles as mothers and as long as they do not have to deal directly or privately with men. For example, Al Kahlawy said, female muftis should give fatwas only to women.

The controversy surrounding the appointment of female muftis is the second in as many years over women's attempts to enter a field that is the exclusive domain of men. Last year, the issue of appointing female judges was raised when lawyer Fatma Lasheen sought to become the first female judge in Egypt. Her application continues to be denied and the controversy surrounding it involves many of the same elements of clashes between proponents of conservatism and liberalism and religious and secular views.