Did the Saudi mufti issue a fatwa saying that men can eat their wives?

Question

According to some news reports, a leading Muslim leader in Saudi Arabia has permitted men to eat their wives (the whole thing, or only part if that's all they need) if they get hungry enough. This is apparently the mufti Abdul Aziz ibn Abdullah Al-Asheikh. The reasoning is so that they "become one as their bodies will fuse together after the husband eats his wife".

Did the mufti, or another religious leader, really issue a fatwa (Islamic ruling) that men can eat their wives if they get hungry enough?

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/193868#.VSaMmdz0aDk from 2 hours ago says, "**Did a Leading Saudi Cleric Permit Men to Eat Their Wives?** Disputed report claims Mufti etc." — ChrisW, Apr 09 '15 at 14:29
Related: [Can men **b**eat their wives?](http://skeptics.stackexchange.com/questions/9788/does-the-quran-advise-men-to-beat-their-wives-if-they-disobey-them) — , Apr 09 '15 at 15:09
I'm not defending him or anything but in late August 2014, he condemned the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and al-Qaeda saying, "Extremist and militant ideas and terrorism which spread decay on Earth, destroying human civilisation, are not in any way part of Islam, but are enemy number one of Islam, and Muslims are their first victims". — George Chalhoub, Apr 09 '15 at 16:09
@georgechalhoub - while one statement is just one data point, if ALL his fatwas that were published were to be analyzed and pointed to this claim being very out of step with his usual thnking, that'd be good evidence even if not proof. At first glance, that may be hard to achieve: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abdul-Aziz_ibn_Abdullah_Al_ash-Sheikh#Proclamations — user5341, Apr 09 '15 at 18:10
BTW, for anyone who claims this is a super-outlandish fatwa and denies it was issued based on "it's way out there", please note the "if they get hungry enough" qualifier. The fact that health and life of a man supercedes that of a woman isn't exactly outlandish in that culture. And in Judaism, dietary restrictions are definitely lifted (not sure about cannibalism) under a threat of hunger death. Most likely, they would be in Islam as well. — user5341, Apr 09 '15 at 21:28
@ChrisW Relevant concept for that article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines — Dan Staley, Apr 09 '15 at 21:52
This question is a lot more fun and a lot less Islamophobic if you choose a different interpretation of the word "eat"... :-) — R.. GitHub STOP HELPING ICE, Apr 10 '15 at 04:09
@slebetman I didn't understood. Can you please tell what it means ? ( I'm not a native English ) — An_Elephant, Apr 14 '23 at 09:00
@An_Elephant The act of pleasing a woman with your mouth instead of other parts of your body. It's actually allowed and is not considered wrong. As long as it's your wife. — slebetman, Apr 14 '23 at 12:02
@slebetman what do you mean by mouth ? Eloquence of his words or physical kiss ? Please be explicit. I cannot understand that what that comment means . — An_Elephant, Apr 14 '23 at 12:10

score 33 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 17 '20 at 09:41

Claim: Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, issued a fatwā permitting man to chop up and eat wife in event of extreme hunger.

Status: False

It's reported that the claim first appeared on a satire news website.
The fatwā is not found on the Sheikh's website.
The official press agency of the Saudi Arabia government quotes the Sheikh's denying it is true.
Other religious officials are quoted as saying that such a view could not come from any Muslim, let alone a scholar.

A news article by CNN arabic reported that Khalid ben Abdel-Rahman El-Shaye, assistant secretary general of the Global Commission for Introducing the Messenger, affiliating to the Muslim World League said:

الحقيقة أن هذا الكلام مختلقٌ ومفترى على سماحة الشيخ من أساسه، فهو كلام ممجوجٌ وتصورٌ سقيمٌ لا يمكن أن يصدر من أي مسلم أو مسلمة، فضلاً عن عالم جليل وشيخ كبير يرجع إليه المسلمون في بقاع شتى في شؤون دينهم. والقصد من اختلاقه التشويش والإساءة.

Translation:

The truth is that this is fabricated and made up from its basis. These ill thoughts cannot come from any Muslim, regardless of a great scholar who Muslims refer to from around the world. Their aim is to create harm.

Furthermore, the official Saudi Press Agency quotes the Sheikh's explicitly saying that the claim is false:

enter image description here

Translation:

The Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Abdullah al-Sheikh, denied that fatwā attributed to him claiming that "eat women meat in the event of severe hunger," stressing that this false claim aims stand behind the leadership against attempts to distract the nation from the Nile.

He said his eminence in a statement to Saudi Press Agency: This false fatwā comes in the context of distorting the image of Islam, which is the highest human affair and generosity, without exception, man or woman, and kept the rights to his religion and himself and his mind and presented, citing words of Almighty God (O ye who believe that the news come to you punk Vtbinwa that Tsibwa folk in ignorance of what you did repentant).

The Grand Mufti stressed the urgent need to unite the community and strengthen its resolve against the common enemy that lurks nation, and not to pay attention to the lies and falsehoods promoted in order to destabilize society, and dispersing its objectives, and the Nile from our country and the Muslim countries.

Additionally, the official website of Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh, binbaz.org.sa, shows no evidence of any fatwā of that kind: enter image description here

It is also reported that the alleged fatwā, has actually appeared first on a satire website in a Northern-African Arab country, has stoked controversy as many shared it over various social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

A fatwā in the Islamic faith is the term for the legal opinion or learned interpretation that the Sheikhul Islam, a qualified jurist or mufti, can give on issues pertaining to the Islamic law. ^src

Dear Next Person Who Finds Fault In A Single Semantic Shade To Disagree With In An Otherwise Awesome Answer, I will personally come to your house and bludgeon you to death with a giant Teapot. http://twitter.com/codinghorror/status/1165936105 — Sklivvz, Apr 09 '15 at 21:44
I'm inclined to think that such a claim may have come about due to an error in translation rather than malice on the part of the people making the claim. Of course if the source is a satire site, they're likely to put some humorous sauce on whatever they publish as well :) — jwenting, Apr 17 '15 at 09:51

Did the Saudi mufti issue a fatwa saying that men can eat their wives?

1 Answers1