Mufti issues fatwa barring women from the Presidency

Ali Gouma, the Mufti of Egypt, and the second most important religious authority in Egypt for muslims, issued a fatwa on women and the presidency yesterday.

"Under Islamic sharia (religious law), a woman cannot be head of state because it is one of the duties of the position to lead Muslims in prayer and that role can only be carried out by men,"

Well, that really closes the window on speculation for Mrs Suzanne Mubarak as president, dosen´t it?

It also shuts out more than 50% of the population that happens to be women and approximaytely 10 % of the population that are non-muslim.

Interestingly enough this quite the opposite of what NDP big shot Hossam al Badrawy stated in a discussion on the future of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt on al Jazeera show , aktar min Rai(More than one view/opinion)last week. But judging from the candidate lists of the NDP in the last parliamentary elections, late 2005, this fits like hand in glove with their ¨extremly genourous¨ policy of trying to promote women and Copts.

Ali Gouma, Mufti, Women in Egypt, Presidency