Breastfeeding grown men, music sparks fatwa war

Riyadh, Jun 30: It's all out war between Muslim clerics, religious scholars and judges over the right to issue fatwas.

The war, that began over contentions issues such as one cleric's insistence that breastfeeding for grown men is not wrong while another ripping off the tag of 'haram' given to music, has recently gone public.

The tiff sparked off over Adel al-Kalbani, a Riyadh cleric, stressing that he has not found anything in the Islamic scriptures that deem music as haram or sin.

"There is no clear text or ruling in Islam that singing and music are haram," said Kalbani.

Besides being the first black imam at the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Kalbani is popular for his soulful and musical delivery of Koranic readings.

In Saudi Arabia, all forms of music is banned barring some folk music as music performances either in public or at home are considered as haram by the conservatives.

Another cleric who has raised eyebrows is Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obeikan, who endorsed breastfeeding for grown men.

Based on an ancient story from Islamic texts, the cleric stated that a grown man could be considered as a son of a woman if she breast-feeds him.

This goes against the religious ban on mixing by unrelated men and women in Saudi. This edict has also not gone in well with women activists as well as Saudi critics globally.

OneIndia News