Recent admissions by some clerics in Saudi Arabia that the monarchy's strict gender segregation may have been the result of Qur'anic misinterpretations could help align that country more towards its moderate peers. But it also raises questions about the infallibility of past Islamic rulings.
... Why are they saying this now? Why was this not revealed before? Were these "weak Ahadeeth" recently discovered? Why didn't more scholars speak up? If the separation of sexes is more of a cultural issue and not religious, then why place a "stamp of religious approval" on the practice? Why, Sheikh Muhamad al-Nujaimi, who supported a fatwa calling for death to those who advocate mixing of the sexes, was shown mixing with women himself at a conference in Kuwait. [altmuslim] Read more
