Islamic guide to vegetable shopping - what's in and what's in the bin!
On the back of the mockery that has already not surprisingly arisen concerning the Muslim cleric who spoke out on his distaste for women handling phallic or 'penis-resembling' fruit and vegetables, Al Bawaba has thought to make light of the situation at hand. Forgive us if we've squeezed the lemon.
According to the unnamed, possibly Egyptian, Muslim cleric living in Europe, some fruits and vegetables, specfically those most penis-like to the female imagination, should be chopped and prepared, even purchased by their man-folk. Sounds almost like an antidote to the chauvenistic cliched 'women belong in the supermarket queue or kitchen', doesn't it? In fact, it's more disturbingly similar to the case of the (sexy) Saudi airport – that provided us with more insight into these Muslim clerics' 'idiosynchratic' mind-set than anything else.
The fruity Sheikh who aroused controversy, picked on certain fruits and vegetables that, he stated ' “resemble the male penis” and hence could arouse women or “make them think of sex.” '
With all that's flying around in the Middle East and world arena, namely the economic crisis, sanctions on Syria, existential threats to Iran, you'd hardly imagine that any one - let alone a busy Muslim Cleric - would go to lengths to ban women from handling their groceries.
According to our unnamed cleric, women can still indulge in their favorite vegetables, but only after their men have prepared and "cut it for them in a hidden place so they cannot see it."
Islam, particularly in the Middle East, just now has been the source of buzz and sensation from the tragic protest deaths, to the ludicrous ravings of some of the religion's qualified experts. Women driving in Saudi Arabia and the dangers that come with it to chastity and citizen morality --- captured the media's attention just recently, and already risk giving Islam a bad name some have been quick to point out.
In any event, here's some food for thought. The black-listed grocery items and the safe ones, according to one man's inevitably comic vision, following his guide-lines.
A guide to which members of the fruit and vegetable kingdom would be allowed or black-listed, 'Halal' or 'Haram'.
Ambiguous members are included -- and outside of Al Bawaba's loose classification, the reader can make their own mind up.
This vegetable palava has caused quite a 'stir' to date - and not just of wok-fry variety - particularly among a slurred Muslim community who refuse to suffer such sex-obsessed voices acting in the name of the good religion of Islam.
