Saudi cleric says wives refusing sex over coronavirus not ‘sinners’
A Muslim cleric in Saudi Arabia says wives are permitted to refuse to have sex with their husbands who do not comply with precautions against the novel coronavirus.
“You are not a sinner at all … you are protecting yourself,” Sheikh Abdullah Ahmed al-Mutlaq, a member of a senior scholars’ authority in the conservative kingdom, answered a viewer who sent her question to a TV religious show called “Fatwa,” which is aired on state TV.
The woman said that her husband does not stay at home and is not sticking to the declared restrictions. She added she fears getting infected with the coronavirus if she responds to his desire to sleep with her.
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“Immunize yourself and stay away from him. If a husband is careless, so the wife has the right to refrain from him,” he added.
The kingdom has reported a total of 1,720 infections with the virus, with 16 fatalities. (dpa)
