Religious rational for "sex after death" law?

oceanclub

This has to be one of the most bizarre stories to come out in a while:

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/04/25/210198.html

Egypt’s National Council for Women (NCW) has appealed to the Islamist-dominated parliament not to approve two controversial laws on the minimum age of marriage and allowing a husband to have sex with his dead wife within six hours of her death according to a report in an Egyptian newspaper

There's a reference to it on a Shia chat forum:

http://www.shiachat.com/forum/index.php?/topic/235001485-sex-with-dead-wife/

Supposedly the originator of the religious ruling behind it is a Moroccan cleric:

http://itooamhere.blogspot.com/2012/04/sheikh-abdul-bari-zamzami-controvery-in.html

My question really is - why on earth is an Egyptian parliament taking the rulings of what looks like a fringe cleric seriously enough to spend time passing a law?

P.

hivizman

More worrying is the apparent attitude to divorce:

Many members of the newly-elected, and majority Islamist parliament, have been accused of launching attacks against women’s rights in the country.

They wish to cancel many, if not most, of the laws that promote women’s rights, most notably a law that allows a wife to obtain a divorce without obstructions from her partner. The implementation of the Islamic right to divorce law, also known as the Khula, ended years of hardship and legal battles women would have to endure when trying to obtain a divorce.

Egyptian law grants men the right to terminate a marriage, but grants women the opportunity to end an unhappy or abusive marriages without the obstruction of their partner. Prior to the implementation of the Khula over a decade ago, it could take 10 to 15 years for a woman to be granted a divorce by the courts.

Islamist members of Egyptian parliament, however, accuse these laws of “aiming to destroy families” and have said it was passed to please the former first lady of the fallen regime, Suzanne Mubarak, who devoted much of her attention to the issues of granting the women all her rights.

What's particularly interesting here is the way in which rights conferred on women by the Qur'an and the teachings of Muhammad appear to be denied by "Islamists", which suggests that this is just another manifestation of "masculinist" cultural values. Of course, it's not just in Egypt that the claim of "preserving families" is used to defend male privileges.

wes

Well if the Muslim Brotherhood, want to act that stupid, with any luck they will be turfed out quickly at the next election.

wes

Just looking at the article again:

Egyptian prominent journalist and TV anchor Jaber al-Qarmouty on Tuesday referred to Abdul Samea’s article in his daily show on Egyptian ON TV and criticized the whole notion of “permitting a husband to have sex with his wife after her death under a so-called ‘Farewell Intercourse’ draft law.”

“This is very serious. Could the panel that will draft the Egyptian constitution possibly discuss such issues? Did Abdul Samea see by his own eyes the text of the message sent by Talawi to Katatni? This is unbelievable. It is a catastrophe to give the husband such a right! Has the Islamic trend reached that far? Is there really a draft law in this regard? Are there people thinking in this manner?”

The above is very confusing, as the source of this seems to be one guys article. So is there actually such a law?

oceanclub

wes wrote: »

Just looking at the article again:



The above is very confusing, as the source of this seems to be one guys article. So is there actually such a law?

Unsure, and I presume other original sources would be in Arabic.

Give that the source is pro-Saudi, it _could_ possibly be biased against Egypt (of course, give the kind of story, that's ironic):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al_Arabiya

P.

wes

oceanclub wrote: »

Unsure, and I presume other original sources would be in Arabic.

Give that the source is pro-Saudi, it _could_ possibly be biased against Egypt (of course, give the kind of story, that's ironic):

I don't think anyone is trying to pull a fast one, but the text of the article is confusing. It seems that the information is coming from an article written in one paper, and it doesn't name anyone who is drafting the proposed law etc. At the very least its bad journalism.

oceanclub

wes wrote: »

I don't think anyone is trying to pull a fast one, but the text of the article is confusing. It seems that the information is coming from an article written in one paper, and it doesn't name anyone who is drafting the proposed law etc. At the very least its bad journalism.

Given how easy it is to use hyperlinks, one of my bugbears of modern journalism is that it doesn't use them to support arguments. I mean, current articles about the new children's law don't even use its proper title, nevermind link to an online version of it.

P>

irishconvert

wes wrote: »

Just looking at the article again:



The above is very confusing, as the source of this seems to be one guys article. So is there actually such a law?

That is what I thought when I read it. It seems like he is outraged about a hypothetical situation where they may consider the law.

wes

irishconvert wrote: »

That is what I thought when I read it. It seems like he is outraged about a hypothetical situation where they may consider the law.

Yeah, it can be read that way as well. Either way, the story is very confusingly written.

**EDIT**
I am starting to think this is untrue. There has been no new information on the story, and there are still no quotes etc from a Egyptian politician, or any other sort of information to confirm that such a draft law exists in parliment, which I would assume must exist if such a draft law did exist. This seems to be just really bad journalism by all involved.
**END EDIT**

whydoc

'Necrophilia law'? Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, kids. At least until there's like, you know, some proof.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/0426/Egypt-necrophilia-law-Hooey-utter-hooey

oceanclub

whydoc wrote: »

'Necrophilia law'? Don't believe everything you read on the Internet, kids. At least until there's like, you know, some proof.

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Backchannels/2012/0426/Egypt-necrophilia-law-Hooey-utter-hooey

Ah, you beat me to it! Was just about to post that link myself... cheers.

P.

KamiKazi

Yea because Islam is known for it's rationality.... :rolleyes:

DERPY HOOFS

The dead body cant give concent therefore its rape

irishconvert

Ok, closing this thread as it turns out the original story is more or less a hoax.