Egyptian Cleric Permits Divorcing a Wife for Supporting the Muslim Brotherhood: She Is Like a Time Bomb in Bed

On a recent TV show, Egyptian cleric Mazhar Shahin issued a fatwa permitting Egyptians to divorce a wife if they discover that she is a Muslim Brotherhood supporter. Following are excerpts from a Dream 2 TV show, broadcast on February 4, 2014, in which Shahin explained his fatwa.

TV host: Let’s hear the fatwa by Sheik Mazhar Shahin, which has stirred controversy and anger.

Sheik Mazhar Shahin: If you marry a woman and after a while you find out that she belongs to the MB, and that she is a sleeper cell in your own home… In other words, there is a Muslim Brotherhood sleeper cell in your home, a time bomb sleeping right next to you in your bedroom. This is a whole new difficult situation.

I’d like to emphasize that if my personal interests clash with those of my country, my country’s interests come first. If my wife is at odds with the interests of my country - my country comes first. If the interests of my religion are at odds with anything, they always come first. This is called prioritizing. Which should I sacrifice - my wife or my country, Egypt? At the end of the day, my wife is just a person. I mean “sacrificing” in the sense that pleases Allah. I don’t mean killing her. I would break up with her, give her all her legal rights, as Allah willed it, thus protecting my country and my patriotism.

I say this because I know that many viewers suffer from this problem. A man who wakes up one morning to find himself next to a sleeper cell, with a time bomb in his own home. Let me say, here and now: She is welcome to renounce the Muslim Brotherhood, and live with you in a way that pleases Allah. But if she persists in her terrorist notions, which are at odds with your country and your religion - let her go back to her father.

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What if I come home and find my wife stepping on the Egyptian flag? What if I find her playing a song that opposes the Egyptian army? What if I find her belly-dancing for joy, because a general was slaughtered and his blood shed on Egyptian soil? What if I found her belly-dancing for joy, on the day of the bombing of the security headquarters in Cairo, or on a day when an airplane was downed in a criminal attack? What if I come home and see that instead of fixing lunch for the kids, she is preparing Molotov cocktails? What if I catch her cursing the military, the legal system, Al-Azhar, and the Church? What if she is talking on the phone organizing tomorrow’s demonstration?

If I say to her: “Get back to your senses and let’s raise our kids in peace,” and she answers: “No, this is what I believe in, and I will go on with this” … In such a case, am I [not] allowed to divorce her?!

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