Reading an article on an Islamic cleric who has banned women from touching bananas and cucumbers for their sexual resemblance, I could not decide whether to laugh hysterically or cry for what Islam has become. 

He said that these fruits and vegetables “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex”. I know, you must be laughing at how ridiculous this is. It does not end there though; the unnamed sheikh, who was featured in an article on el-Sawsana news and who is currently residing in an unspecified European country, was quoted saying that if women wish to eat these food items, a third party, preferably a male related to them such as their father or husband, should cut the items into small pieces before serving them. Also, they should do that in a hidden place so that women cannot see them and be aroused. 

Freud, who invented the idea of a phallic symbol that this man is talking about, would have rolled in his grave upon hearing this. This man along with many other Islamic Sheikhs are tarnishing the reputation of Islam, and are misrepresenting Muslims. One reader said that these religious “leaders” give Islam “a bad name” and another commented that he is a “retarded” person and he must quit his post immediately.

An even more shocking article was on Mail Online on December 1st. It says that repealing a ban on women drivers in Saudi Arabia would result in “no more virgins”. A ‘scientific’ report claims relaxing the ban would see more Saudis – both men and women – turn to homosexuality and pornography. Read more: http://dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2068810/Saudis-fear-virgins-people-turn-gay-female-drive-ban-lifted.html#ixzz1gMAkUUeH What, it makes perfect sense! 

These conclusions were drawn by Muslim scholars at the Majlis al-Ifta’ al-A’ala, Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, working in conjunction with Kamal Subhi, a former professor at the King Fahd University.

In the report Professor Subhi described sitting in a coffee shop: “All the women were looking at me,” he wrote. “One made a gesture that made it clear she was available… this is what happens when women are allowed to drive.” 

How? How exactly is one thing linking to the other? There seem to be no reasonable explanation to this and even if there was, it would not justify this kind of discrimination between men and women. These kinds of legislations are stopping the Arab world from evolution, instead of thinking of better ways to take a step forward they are slowly slipping into a state of degeneration. 

These two are few of many examples of men pretending to be scholars in something the do not have a clue of. They plainly come-off as uneducated hypersexuals who cannot think about anything but sex. 

I decided to share the article on women driving in Saudi Arabia on the Facebook page of The Medway Islamic Society (ISOC) thinking that this was an issue every Muslim would want to contribute their opinion on. I realised that after ten minutes my post was deleted. This ideology that merely mentioning sex is a taboo is just absurd. Passivity will do nothing but contribute to an Islam everyone despises and looks down upon.