Important questions

Following on from my post about Saudi Arabia's treatment of women, I was intruiged to find a site which gives various Fatwa (judgements on points of religion by Islamic scholars). Browsing the "selected fatwa" was quite amusing. One wonders what the criteria are for selecting these questions of huge importance.

For example: are you allowed to have silk curtains? To which the answer is "yes", but you can't have carpets with 50% or more silk in them. Obviously. Oh, and you can't have wall hangings or clothes made of silk. That's sinful.

The guy who wants to know if it's OK to take photos with women is in for a shock: "Image-makers will be in Hellfire, for every image they made, Allaah will create a soul that will keep on punishing them in Hellfire." With digital cameras, the soul factories must be running overtime these days.

You'll be happy to hear that it is permissable to show your elbows while praying (if you are a man). Other good news includes the fact that it is OK to wear a condom, as long as you don't do so with the intention of completely preventing pregnancy. I know I always wear a condom to only partially prevent pregnancy, so I think I'm good on this one.

Both men and women cannot dye their hair black. Though women are allowed to use other colours - with their husband's permission, naturally.

Apparently it is not compulsary to have sexual intercourse on the first night of marriage: well, not compulsory for the husband, anyway. If he wants to then it is compulsary for the wife.

But women don't get all bad news: they are allowed to study English Literature and other subjects, as long as they are accompanied by a man when travelling to her exams or otherwise leaving the house.

Finally, and most importantly for women, it is permissable for a man to take penis enlargment pills. Oh, but they mustn't pluck their eyebrows, as that would be sinful.

I simply do not know how I got by without this sort of advice before now.