Dubai to allow females to issue fatwas: report.

Summary: The United Arab Emirates' city of Dubai is set to appoint female muftis by the end of next year in an unprecedented step that allows women to issue fatwas, or religious edicts, press reports

The United Arab Emirates' city of Dubai is set to appoint female muftis by the end of next year in an unprecedented step that allows women to issue fatwas, or religious edicts, press reports said on Tuesday.

Six Emirati women are being selected for a training program that starts early next year, the National newspaper reported, quoting the Dubai's grand mufti Ahmed al-Haddad as saying. Haddad issued a fatwa in February authorizing women to become muftis and in May he called on qualified candidates to apply for a training program that includes instruction in Sharia law and legal thought.

"A woman who is learned and trained in issuing fatwas is not limited to her role of issuing fatwas that relate to women only, but rather she is qualified to issue on matters of worship, jurisprudence, morality and behavior," the paper quoted him as saying.

Haddad played down the prospect of a major backlash from religious conservatives.

"The controversy over female muftis is not necessarily over this point, but about whether or not a woman should be appointed as the grand mufti of a state," he said. "And this is not what we're trying to do at this point."

Last year, Egypt appointed its first female Islamic notary with the ability to perform marriages and divorces but the country generally rejects the appointment of women as grand muftis.

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