Mazhar Shahin, the imam of Omar Makram Mosque, said on Facebook that he insists that husbands of women who belong to the Muslim Brotherhood and practice terrorism should divorce their wives.
“I do not care what others say,” he said. “Those women threaten society.”
Dar al-Ifta responded on Sunday to a religious edict issued by Sheikh Mazhar Shaheen, which recommended divorcing wives if they are discovered to be affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood, saying such edicts create controversy and division within the Egyptian society.
Magdy Ashour, academic adviser to the mufti, said in a statement on Sunday that “opinions by people not working on edicts create controversy in the society and help spreading division and difference between people and even members of one family.”
“Talks over divorcing a wife for affiliation to group or political party is a personal opinion, not a religious edict, affected by political variables, not a reason for divorce mentioned in religious books, especially with the strict warning against divorce without reason,” he added.
Shahin had said in a talk show that he hosts on TV, “One could marry woman and then discover that she belongs to a terrorist cell. If my personal interest did not conform with country’s interests, then the country’s interest should be above anything. If my wife’s interest did not conform to the national interest then my country comes first. This is the so-called jurisprudence of priorities.”
Sherif Taha, spokesperson of the Salafi Nour Party, said on his Facebook page on Sunday, that the edict, being a manipulation of religion, “devotes society division.”
Meanwhile, Azhar University Professor of Comparative Jurisprudence Soad Saleh said, “Women of the Muslim Brotherhood are now more dangerous than Jewish women. They approve violence and murder.”
“Muslim men should not marry Muslim Brotherhood woman,” she said in talk show on Sunday adding that her opinion is an edict with evidence. She explained that Islam allowed engagement for cordiality between the couple. “Brotherhood now approves violence and terrorism and hence they are the most dangerous against society.
“Islam allowed marriage of Jewish and Christian women as they do not incite killing of Muslims like the Muslim Brotherhood women do,” she added.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
