The controversy continues in Egypt over the issue of the wife's service to her husband and children, after previous statements by lawyer Nihad Abu al-Qumsan and doctor Heba Kotb;

The first held that there is no obligation for a woman to breastfeed her children, while the second said that there is no legal basis for a woman to prepare food for her family.

The controversy renewed during the past few days after a statement issued by the Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwa, and statements by Dr. Heba Kotb on the same subject, as well as a media coverage of the issue between supporters and opponents.

complementary relationship

Al-Azhar International Center for Electronic Fatwa issued a legal statement in which it said that the marital relationship is a complementary housing relationship, based on affection and forgiveness, and the preservation of the rights of men, women and children, and is not an equal or utilitarian investment relationship, and nurturing the spirit of materialism and hostility in which is a moral crime.

The statement stressed that "women's motherhood, taking care of her home, and graduating generations that are fit for society is a great message, which is not matched by a message, and claiming the inferiority of these roles is an unpleasant proposition, which is intended for women to abandon their most important roles and disintegrate their family."

He considered that "it is not appropriate for the sanctity of marriage and the position of the wife in it to be treated as a wage-earner in her family, by imposing a specific wage on her in return for the work of caring for her children and her husband, but the husband has the duty of alimony for her and their children, and the corruption of the family system permits the corruption of societies."

He explained that the duty of the spouses is to conciliate between them on the roles and tasks of their lives according to what they have agreed upon, and in the event of disagreement, the disputed matter is returned to the honorable Sharia and the stable norms that do not violate it, and marital rights are intertwined and arranged on each other.

The statement considered that a man's work outside the home "is an apparent service to his wife and family, in order to provide them with alimony, and a woman's domestic work is an internal service to her husband and children, until housing is achieved in married life."

Al-Azhar rejected random fatwas that incite women not to carry out their family duties, and said, "The custom of women serving their husbands and children, which is like a binding condition, and a man voluntarily helping his wife with housework is a Sunnah of our Prophet, the Messenger of God, peace be upon him, and the woman's spending on her home." From her own money is considered to be her cooperation with her husband and her kindness to him, and it is not obligatory for her.”

He warned against the woman's corruption of her husband and her family, and the man's corruption of his wife and family, and described the decoration of separation for them as "sabotage that is immoral and forbidden."

Obedience

Some of the pioneers of the communication sites re-published a video of the Sheikh of Al-Azhar during a program broadcast in 2019, in which he addressed the rights of women in Islam, during which he stressed that the right of obedience for the husband is not based on his release, but rather is restricted by many things;

The first is that obedience should be in relation to the affairs of the family, and the second is not to order it to disobey or to do something forbidden, meaning that obedience should be with kindness, like obedience to parents for a child is restricted to being kind.

The Sheikh of Al-Azhar explained that women are the most important pillar in building a righteous family and civilized societies, and Islam has enjoined her appreciation and respect for her rights.

Wife's message

On the other hand, Dr. Heba Kotb commented on the criticism leveled against her after her recent statements about not obligating the wife to prepare food and work the house, saying that she does not care about the campaign against her, and she still insists on her opinion that the wife is not obligated to work at home.

She added - during her hosting on the "Al-Hekaya" program on the "MBC Egypt" channel - that she does not object to the service per se, but rather her objection to the wording of the order in obligating the woman to serve the husband, and confirmed that her statements were misunderstood on social networking sites, And it is not against service, but against coercion of women.

And she saw that the wife's message is to "pamper her husband and adorn himself for him, and if the man can answer a maid or servant who helps his wife to provide her energy to adorn her husband, it will be better."

And she continued, "I do not call the woman that she does not work at home or cook, I personally cook and do everything in my house, but everything is with love and not obligation."

“I do everything in my house.”..


Family relations consultant # Heba_Qutb says that she is not against a woman serving her husband and doing household chores, but her objection is only to the wording of the command and forcing the wife to do so # Egypt pic.twitter.com/4KWjd3vrbr

— Monitor Network (@RassdNewsN) September 5, 2022

Do you know Mrs. Nihad_Abu al-Qumsan and Set Heba Qutb


in Egypt follow the Hanafi school of law in the rulings on marriage


, which states that the wife must serve her husband and that breastfeeding


is a series of war on family cohesion,


and they come today trying to distort a bond in which God spread mercy between us and try to turn it into a competition but into a battle pic.twitter.com /4cbOrxygLx

— Bint Al Abbas (@LSxLPFR1Dkax7oq) September 2, 2022

Speech is dead..when Al-Azhar speaks, it is silent without it.

pic.twitter.com/KsX9LcLQAN

— Abdullah Rushdy (@abdullahrushdy) September 4, 2022