Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Breastfeeding, the Temple Mount and Islam

As noted here


The Palestinian Authority minister of religious affairs warned on Sunday that rabbis had permitted Jewish women to breastfeed on the Temple Mount

Why a warning?

After all, it is written in the Quran, 2:233:


Mothers may breastfeed their children two complete years for whoever wishes to complete the nursing [period]. Upon the father is the mothers' provision and their clothing according to what is acceptable. No person is charged with more than his capacity. No mother should be harmed through her child, and no father through his child. 

Breastfeeding can be a delicate subject for Muslims.  A few years ago, the BBC reported on this scandal:

One of Sunni Islam's most prestigious institutions is to discipline a cleric after he issued a decree allowing women to breastfeed their male colleagues.  Dr Izzat Atiya of Egypt's al-Azhar University said it offered a way around segregation of the sexes at work.  His fatwa stated the act would make the man symbolically related to the woman and preclude any sexual relations.

The president of al-Azhar denounced the fatwa, which Dr Atiya has since retracted, as defamatory to Islam...Atiya, the head of al-Azhar's Department of Hadith, said...if a woman fed a male colleague "directly from her breast" at least five times they would establish a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work.

"Breast feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage," he ruled.

"A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breastfed."

There have been other similar declarations in favor of such an arrangement, although many suggest that the woman first extract the milk herself before providing the male with her breast milk.

Last November, there was an incident when a Jewish woman was mercilessly removed for attempting to suckle her infant.

What is the problem?  How intolerant can the Waqf and PA officials be, even within the framework of their own religious instructions?

How inhuman?

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