Mick Hartley

The case of the menstruating notary, from the Middle East Times:

Five months after a global media frenzy was sparked by the appointment in Egypt of the Islamic world’s first female Islamic notary, 32-year-old Amal Soliman, now out of the international spotlight, sits patiently at home, still waiting to begin her first day at work, while her male peers are fighting to force the mother of three out of the job.

The major obstacle for Soliman has been the Committee of Egyptian Maazuns, who called on the minister of justice who appointed her, to rescind the decision, calling it un-Islamic for a woman to be a notary, or maazun.

The chairman of the committee, Muhammad Abou Ayeeta, said in a statement issued by the committee “the ministry [of justice] should refuse the appointment, because it is unacceptable that women would work in this occupation.”

He added that she should not be confirmed as a maazun because it would “afflict Egyptian history.” […]

Al-Azhar was quick to approve Soliman as a maazun, saying that gender is not an issue on the job. Yet, the leading Sunni institution argued that there are restrictions for a woman in the profession.

Officially, Al-Azhar says Soliman would be required to have an assistant to take over her required duties during menstruation.

“But when a woman is menstruating she must not enter a mosque or read Koranic verses and that will affect her job, so for this reason we say it is not advisable to have a woman maazun,” Al-Azhar’s deputy director, Sheikh Fawzi Zafzaf, said in a statement issued by his office.

The committee headed by Abou Ayeeta agrees, taking it a step further in their demands.

“Just end this fantasy and move on to people who can do the job.”