Grotesque

When I read this news item, I could not believe my eyes. Here is the news item. What do you think?

We all know that in Saudi Arabia men and women cannot mingle. There are strict Islamic laws banning a meeting between a man and a woman who are not related. But there are many circumstances when women come into contact with unrelated men.

In order to tackle this problem, the Saudis have issued a fatwa forcing these women to breastfeed these men so that they are considered “relatives” and not lovers. The real problem is not this. The real problem is how do these men get the milk.

According to the Gulf News, Sheikh Al Obeikan, an adviser to the royal court stated, “the man should take the milk, but not directly from the breast of the woman. He should drink it and then becomes a relative of the family, a fact that allows him to come in contact with the woman”. The woman has to pump her breast milk in a glass and give it to the man. Not very palatable, I think.

Not all agree with this solution. A prominent sheikh, Abi Ishaq Al Huwaini, argues that men should drink the milk directly from the source. With strict laws in that county on these matters, how this can be possible?

In 2009, a 75 year old woman was thrown in jail for six months and given 40 lashes after the religious police found out that 2 men, not her relatives, were in her house. In fact, they were delivery boys delivering breads. One of the boys told the court that this old lady breast-fed him when he was infant and therefore he was allowed to be there. But the judge decided that it could not be proved that he was her “breast milk son”. They were given 6 months in jail and 60 lashes.

This clearly shows how clueless men are. All these arguments between government officials, mullahs, and the sheiks and no one bother to ask a woman if it is logical. It is also logistically impossible to implement. First of all, in order to breast feed you have to have just had a baby to do that. And, some women are not capable of producing breast milk. Also, many women do not want to share this sacred moment between a mother and child with a random grown man.

The thought of a huge hairy face at a woman’s breast is grotesque.