One of the few positive upshots of the President's clash with the Muslim world has been the education of the west about Islam. What do they believe? What is the Hajj? What is the difference between Sunni and Shiite? Why the hijab?
The Muslim education of America broke fresh ground this week. Yes, read further for the breaking news about sex and the the world's second-largest religion.
First off, Salon.com ran a massive piece about an Egyptian sex advisor. Here are some highlights:
[Dr. Heba] Kotb [pictured], the first licensed sexologist in Egypt, believes that sex is a gift Allah intended for humans; her divine mission is to make sure that they're enjoying it. Every week, viewers throughout the Muslim world flood her station with calls, hoping to have their most embarrassing and intimate questions answered on-air. All sorts of sexual queries are allowed, with one snag: Sexual relations outside of marriage are haram (prohibited by Islam) and not open to discussion. In fact, Kotb, a wife and mother of three, draws her sex advice directly from the Quran. According to hertextual analysis, the Prophet Mohammed encouraged frequent sex and foreplay and decreed that female pleasure is, um, actually kind of important.
And from the Q&A with Kotb. Both surprising...
Q:Is the Quran concerned with female pleasure?
A:Yes, it is. The biggest chapter of the Quran is called "The Cow." There is a verse talking about the woman's rising pleasure. It's an order to the man to give the woman the right to have pleasure -- it orders the man to give the woman foreplay and also to get the wife to have sex repeatedly and to not wait for the woman to ask because sometimes she's too shy to ask.
Q:Why is sex such a controversial topic in the Muslim world?
A:It's culture -- it's not Islam, whatsoever. Islam is a very liberal and progressive religion. It invites people to have sex, of course within the marital frame. Prophet Mohammed never showed any offense to anyone asking about sexuality. On the contrary, he responded to every single question. The thing is, the culture overwhelms this.
..and not so surprising...
Q:You have encouraged women to explore their bodies -- does that include masturbation?
A:The woman, by means of instinct, does not need masturbation. She's not like the man
whatsoever. It's not a call of nature for her. So that's why I'm not very sympathetic with young women and girls choosing to masturbate. They're ruining their sexual future -- a woman has to remain blank until she gets married and by masturbating she's forming her sexuality.
Q:What are your feelings on homosexuality?
A:[Laughs] Well, I have a very famous opinion about homosexuality. I'm totally against
homosexuality being considered a gene or natural. It's a sin -- they're just like the alcoholics and the drug-takers. I'm also the reason for a lot of patients to have been cured -- so, no, I can't believe that it is natural.
Also on the Muslim battle of the sexes, the NY Times ran an article by Michael Slackman yesterday about the proliferation of fatwas in Egypt. What's a fatwa?
...fatwas, or religious edicts, are the bridge between the principles of their faith and modern life. They are supposed to be issued by religious scholars who look to the Koran and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad for guidance. While the more sensational pronouncements grab attention, the bulk of the fatwas involve the routine of daily life. In Egypt alone, thousands are issued every month....
Technically, the fatwa is nonbinding and recipients are free to look elsewhere for a better ruling. In a faith with no central doctrinal authority, there has been an explosion of places offering fatwas, from Web sites that respond to written queries, to satellite television shows that take phone calls, to radical and terrorist organizations that set up their own fatwa committees.
And what are the topics up for discussion? According to one sheik in the business...
...the vast majority of the visitors have asked [him] for help with their marriages.
“The greatest ill in society I observe is the lack of trust and knowledge between husband and wife,” he said. “A man will think masculinity is being a dictator.”
At 11:30 one recent morning, a young woman entered and sat in the chair opposite him. She held her son, about 4, on her knee as she explained that her husband had married another woman (four wives are allowed in Islam) and that the new wife was only 18. “He said he would spend five nights with her and one with me,” the woman complained. “Can I ask for a divorce?”
Under Islam, the sheik advised, all wives must be treated equally. So if she could not work the matter out “peacefully, then yes, she could ask for a divorce.”
That was her fatwa.
The fatwa that made it into the lede was one that has caused recent embarrasment in Egypt - one scholar wrote that because "there had been instances in the time of the prophet when adult women breast-fed adult men in order to avoid the need for women to wear a veil in front of them. 'Breast-feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage,' wrote the scholar, Izat Atiyah. 'A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breast-fed.'
And, reaching a little farther into the archives, there was a great piece last October in Der Spigel about sex and Islam. One of the most interesting bits was how the Web is changing a world that had erected strict taboos around sex.
The Internet is a refuge for hidden desires, even though it offers only virtual relief. Google Trends, a new service offered by the search engine, provides a way to demonstrate how difficult it is to banish forbidden yearnings from the heads of Muslims. By entering the term "sex" into Google Trends, one obtains a ranked list of cities, countries and languages in which the term was entered most frequently. According to Google Trends, the Pakistanis search for "sex" most often, followed by the Egyptians. Iran and Morocco are in fourth and fifth, Indonesia is in seventh and Saudi Arabia in eighth place. The top city for "sex" searches is Cairo. When the terms "boy sex" or "man boy sex" are entered (many Internet filters catch the word "gay"), Pakistan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt are the first four countries listed.
All grist for international understanding and diplomacy. Maybe America has more in common with the Muslim world than we thought.
No comments:
Post a Comment