A leading Islamic scholar and an adviser at the Saudi royal court, Abdullah Muhammad Al-Mutlaq, has given Muslim women the permission “to refuse to have sex with their husbands during the coronavirus outbreak.”
According to Islamic law (al-Bukhari 4851-4852, in the Book of Marriage):
The Prophet said, “If a man Invites his wife to sleep with him and she refuses to come to him, then the angels send their curses on her till morning.”
The Prophet said, “If a woman spends the night deserting her husband’s bed (does not sleep with him), then the angels send their curses on her till she comes back (to her husband).”
No believing woman wants to be cursed by angels until morning. Such permission from an Islamic authority such as Al-Mutlaq allows women to escape this curse while at the same time acting in the interests of their own health. Without permission, she is left defenseless. This edict by Al-Mutlaq is consistent with the Saudi guardianship program, in which women must be given permission by men in their lives, considered to be her male guardians — usually her father or husband but he can also be her brother or even son — to perform basic tasks such as going shopping for food. Women in Saudi Arabia are in complete reliance on whatever permission is granted by Islamic authorities or her male guardians. All this is in accordance with Islamic jurisprudence.
Women’s rights defenders in Saudi Arabia are rotting in jail, because women are not to be decision-makers. Any allowance thrown out to women to improve their oppressed status (e.g. permission to drive) is decided only by male authorities. Such allowance establishes male supremacy, but the world is framing it as Islamic “modernization.”
So now that women have been given permission by the high-ranking Islamic scholar Abdullah Muhammad Al-Mutlaq, they now have the specific right to deny their husbands amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“Saudi cleric tells women they CAN refuse sex with husbands during coronavirus outbreak,” by Henry Holloway, The Sun, April 4, 2020:
A SAUDI cleric has told women it is okay to refuse to have sex with their husbands during the coronavirus outbreak.
Religious scholar Abdullah Muhammad Al-Mutlaq, an adviser at the Saudi royal court, gave the advice while appearing on a live state TV call-in show.
Al-Mutlaq received a call from a viewer asking if it was a “sin” for her to refuse her husband sex during the pandemic lockdown.
The viewer appeared to be fearful of a twisted interpretation of Islamic law peddled by some ultraconservative scholars that wives have to submit to their husbands.
Al-Mutlaq, a member of the kingdom’s Council of Senior Scholars, gave a forward-thinking response as he said she was well within her rights to kick him out of bed.
The cleric has previously intervened to go against extreme traditionalist teachings as Saudi Arabia continues to make efforts to modernise and reform.
Saudi Arabia however is hit by coronavirus – like the rest of the world – with more than 2,000 confirmed cases and 24 deaths.
Authorities have a lockdown in place, and the Saudi government have deployed religious clerics in an attempt to urge people to take precautions to beat coronavirus.
Al-Mutlaq appeared on TV to answer questions about the pandemic, including the query about a wife’s rights with her husband.
News outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported the viewer asked: “My husband never stays at home and couldn’t care less about the measures in place. I’m terrified he’ll give me the virus.
“When he asks me to sleep with him, I’m going to refuse because I’m scared for myself and my kids. Am I falling into sin?”
Al-Mutlaq said: “If he isn’t listening to you and if he isn’t staying at home, you’ve got no reason to be worried [by rejecting his advances].
“You should avoid him and keep away from him.
“He must self-isolate for 14 days.”
He added: “You are not a sinner at all, you protect yourself.”….