I wasn't aware that Muslims had full freedom of expression and speech, or does that only apply to the women?
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CAIRO (AFP) - The blacklisting of a book on women and love by Sunni Islam's highest authority, Al-Azhar university, has stirred a dispute with the government and advocates of freedom of expression.
Samir Sarhan who heads the government-run General Publishing Authority said Tuesday that his institution "will not take the book off the market despite Al-Azhar demands."
The university's Centre of Islamic Research found that the book by renowned Egyptian poet Ahmed al-Shahawi 'Commandments on Women's Love' "used sayings of the Prophet Mohammed out of context to call on women to love without reservation."
It also "contains commandments calling on women to surrender themselves to passion, give themselves up absolutely and without shame, and parade naked before their lovers. It glorifies carnal pleasure, that's why we've decided to ban it," Sheikh Saber Thaalab told AFP Monday.
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"Such a decision constitutes a threat against freedom of opinion and expression ... Al-Azhar has no right to call for the confiscation of literary works," read the statement.
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CAIRO (AFP) - The blacklisting of a book on women and love by Sunni Islam's highest authority, Al-Azhar university, has stirred a dispute with the government and advocates of freedom of expression.
Samir Sarhan who heads the government-run General Publishing Authority said Tuesday that his institution "will not take the book off the market despite Al-Azhar demands."
The university's Centre of Islamic Research found that the book by renowned Egyptian poet Ahmed al-Shahawi 'Commandments on Women's Love' "used sayings of the Prophet Mohammed out of context to call on women to love without reservation."
It also "contains commandments calling on women to surrender themselves to passion, give themselves up absolutely and without shame, and parade naked before their lovers. It glorifies carnal pleasure, that's why we've decided to ban it," Sheikh Saber Thaalab told AFP Monday.
**
"Such a decision constitutes a threat against freedom of opinion and expression ... Al-Azhar has no right to call for the confiscation of literary works," read the statement.
