Search A Light In The Darkness

Saturday 13 February 2010

Muslims warned not to go through airport body scanners because they violate Islamic rules on nudity

Islamic scholars have forbidden Muslim travellers from passing through full body scans at airports because they violate religious rules on nudity.

The Fiqh Council of North America issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, yesterday warning Muslims not to go through the scanners.

‘It is a violation of clear Islamic teachings that men or women be seen naked by other men and women,’ read the order. ‘Islam highly emphasises haya (modesty) and considers it part of faith. The Quran has commanded the believers, both men and women, to cover their private parts,’ it added.

The ban is the latest privacy blow to the controversial x-ray machines now in place at Heathrow, Manchester and many airports around the world.

In the U.S., there are now forty scanners in nineteen airports and could be as many as 450 by the end of the year. They were implemented as part of a global security crackdown ordered after the thwarted Christmas Day bombing when Nigerian former London university student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab smuggled explosives onto a US-bound plane hidden in his underpants.

Some Muslim-American groups were said to be supporting the fatwa last night. In the U.S., the Transportation Security Administration said Muslims will have the option of a pat down search by a security guard. However, in Britain, travellers who refuse to pass through the scanners could be barred from boarding. The Muslim Council of Britain has not yet responded to a call for comment. The powerful council of ten scholars that issued the fatwa is affiliated with the Islamic Society of North America. (Daily Mail)