Egyptian Preacher Says Men Can Peep on Future Wives in the Shower

An Egyptian preacher is getting blowback this week after he said a man should be allowed to peep on his future wife “while she is showering” before they are married.

“If you were really honest and wanted to marry that woman, and you were able to hide and watch her in secret, see the things that she wouldn’t usually let you see before marrying her, then it is acceptable as long as your intentions are pure,” Salamist preacher Usama al-Qawsi said in a video posted on Al Arabiya.

“One of the Prophet’s companions did that. Some disapproved and told him: ‘How do you do that when you’re one of the Prophet’s companions?’ The Prophet answered: ‘If you can see something that would make you want to marry her then go ahead and do it,’” he said, according to the Al Arabiya translation.

This fatwah (religious edict) goes against other Islamic traditions that prohibit women from showing their bodies to males other than their husbands and close family members. Egyptian Minister of Religious Endowments Mohammad Mukhtar rejected al-Qawsi’s fatwah, saying “where is the glory and masculinity in watching a woman shower?”

“Islam preaches that modesty should be in our nature and all religions concur,” Mukhtar said.

[Al-Arabiya]

 

Write to Charlotte Alter at charlotte.alter@time.com.