Shaikh Abdul Mohsin Al Abaican issued a fatwa which is not going over well with his faithful or fellow Islamic scholars. It does seem in the upper Islamic ranks, lock step thinking is not part of the brotherhood--unlike in Catholicism.

Sometimes it's good to get another perspective on religious fundamentalism and the solutions that mind set can generate. Keep in mind while reading this, that other Saudi clerics are having apoplexy over this fatwa. It would be really nice if some of our Catholic bishops would have a similar kind of apoplexy over pronouncements from some of their colleagues.

Saudi Clerics Advocate Adult Breast-Feeding
Dana Kennedy - AOLNews - 6/5/2010

Women in Saudi Arabia should give their breast milk to male colleagues and acquaintances in order to avoid breaking strict Islamic law forbidding mixing between the sexes, two powerful Saudi clerics have said. They are at odds, however, over precisely how the milk should be conveyed.

A fatwa issued recently about adult breast-feeding to establish "maternal relations" and preclude the possibility of sexual contact has resulted in a week's worth of newspaper headlines in Saudi Arabia. Some have found the debate so bizarre that they're calling for stricter regulations about how and when fatwas should be issued. Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court and consultant to the Ministry of Justice, set off a firestorm of controversy recently when he said on TV that women who come into regular contact with men who aren't related to them ought to give them their breast milk so they will be considered relatives.

"The man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman," Al Obeikan said, according to Gulf News. "He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the women without breaking Islam's rules about mixing."

Obeikan said the fatwa applied to men who live in the same house or come into contact with women on a regular basis, except for drivers.

Al Obeikan, who made the statement after being asked on TV about a 2007 fatwa issued by an Egyptian scholar about adult breast-feeding, said that the breast milk ought to be pumped out and given to men in a glass. But his remarks were followed by an announcement by another high-profile sheik, Abi Ishaq Al Huwaini, who said that men should suckle the breast milk directly from a woman's breast. (Oh fer sure, why let a cup get in the way of a good thing.)

Shortly after the two sheiks weighed in on the matter, a bus driver in the country's Eastern Region reportedly told one of the female teachers whom he drives regularly that he wanted to suckle milk from her breast. The teacher has threaten to file a lawsuit against him. (The bus driver must not have read the fatwa because it doesn't apply to drivers. I'm sure there will be a clarification.)

The fatwa stems from the tenets of the strict Wahhabi version of Islam that governs modern Saudi Arabia and forbids women from mixing with men who are not relatives. They are also not allowed to vote, drive or even leave the country without the consent of a male "guardian."

Under Islamic law, women are encouraged to breast-feed their children until the age of 2. It is not uncommon for sisters, for example, to breast-feed their nephews so they and their daughters will not have to cover their faces in front of them later in life. The custom is called being a "breast milk sibling."

But under Islamic law, breast milk siblings have to be breastfed before the age of 2 in five "fulfilling" sessions. Islam prohibits sexual relations between a man and any woman who breastfed him in infancy. They are then allowed to be alone together when the man is an adult because he is not considered a potential mate.

"The whole issue just shows how clueless men are," blogger Eman Al Nafjan wrote on her website. "All this back and forth between sheiks and not one bothers to ask a woman if it's logical, let alone possible to breastfeed a grown man five fulfilling breast milk meals." (How does one breast feed if one is not producing milk? Oh well what are these little biological details when it comes to fulfilling God's Will.)

Moreover, the thought of a huge hairy face at a woman's breast does not evoke motherly or even brotherly feelings. It could go from the grotesque to the erotic but definitely not maternal."

Al Nafjan said many in the country were appalled by the fatwa."We have many important issues that need discussing," Al Nafjan told AOL News Friday. "It's ridiculous to spend time talking about adult breast-feeding." (But it's a nice strategy to avoid any discussion about the important things.)

Unlawful mixing between the sexes is taken very seriously in Saudi Arabia. In March 2009, a 75-year-old Syrian widow, Khamisa Mohammed Sawadi, living in the city of Al-Chamil, was given 40 lashes and sentenced to six months in prison after the religious police learned that two men who were not related to her were in her house, delivering bread to her. One of the two men found in her house, Fahd, told the police that Sawadi breast-fed him as a baby so he was considered a son and had a right to be there. But in a later court ruling, a judge said it could not be proved that Fahd was her "breast milk son." Fahd was sentenced to four months in prison and 40 lashes, and the man who accompanied him got six months and 60 lashes. (That proof thing is a problem, but what's the unprovablity of a ritual act when it comes to enforcing God's Will. Guess they'll just have to use instant replay in the future--as long as it's not considered pornography.)

The original adult breast-feeding fatwa was issued three years ago by an Egyptian scholar at Egypt's al-Azhar University, considered Sunni Islam's top university. Ezzat Attiya was expelled from the university after advocating breast-feeding of men as a way to circumnavigate segregation of the sexes in Egypt. A year ago, Attiya was reinstated to his post.

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It's good to see Catholicism is not the only religion whose teaching authorities are leading their faithful into some really interesting solutions to theological cul de sacs. Why is it that these solutions never involve the underlying assumptions. Especially if those assumptions are about gender and sex and completely demean women under the guise of 'honoring' them.

The good thing about this is God continues to shine light on some seriously defective theological abuses, propelling lots of people of all religions to move beyond the idiocy of their leadership.

God does seem to be moving all His people to think for themselves, make their own choices about their relationship to Him and others, and leave the power drunk middle men out of the equation. Breast milk indeed.