Saudi Arabia: Women Banned from Switching on 'Immoral' Air Condtioning by Islamic Cleric

You just can't make this sh*t up.   

FROM IBTIMES.CO.UK:

Saudi Arabia: Women Banned from Switching on 'Immoral' Air Condtioning by Islamic Cleric

By IBTimes Staff Reporter: Subscribe to IBTimes's RSS feed | May 16, 2013 2:27 PM GMT

A man identified on Twitter as Abul Ala and claiming to be a Salafist-Wahhabist cleric, has decreed women should not turn on air conditioners or coolers at home, in the absence of their husbands.

According to the Iran-based Al-Alam news network the cleric is alleged to have decreed: "turning on the cooler ventilator is prohibited for women in the absence of their husbands" because "the woman's act is very dangerous, and may bring about immorality in the society. When she turns the cooler on, someone may notice her presence home, and this might bring about immorality".

The news report also stated Salafist-Wahhabist clerics "have a distorted reading of Islam" and their decrees are "incompatible with common sense".

Salafist and Wahhabist ideologies are considered to be ultra-conservative branches among Sunni Muslims and such kinds of bizarre decrees and Fatwas (a ruling on a point of Islamic law) coming from clerics belonging to these sects are not uncommon.