Saudi Arabia: Women Banned from Switching on 'Immoral' Air Conditioning by Islamic Cleric

A man identified on Twitter as Abul Ala and claiming to be a Salafist-Wahhabist cleric, has decreed women should not turn on air conditioners or coolers at home, in the absence of their husbands.

According to the Iran-based Al-Alam news network the cleric is alleged to have decreed: "turning on the cooler ventilator is prohibited for women in the absence of their husbands" because "the woman's act is very dangerous, and may bring about immorality in the society. When she turns the cooler on, someone may notice her presence home, and this might bring about immorality".

The news report also stated Salafist-Wahhabist clerics "have a distorted reading of Islam" and their decrees are "incompatible with common sense".

Salafist and Wahhabist ideologies are considered to be ultra-conservative branches among Sunni Muslims and such kinds of bizarre decrees and Fatwas (a ruling on a point of Islamic law) coming from clerics belonging to these sects are not uncommon.

In April, a Salafist cleric called Sheikh Yasir al-Ajlawni posted a YouTube video claiming the rape of non-Sunni and non-Muslim women was acceptable by the Koran's standards. He was referring to rebel fighters in the ongoing Syrian conflict.

He claimed: "legitimate fatwa for Muslims waging war against Mr. Assad and trying to put in place a Sharia government to capture and have sex with Alawites and other non-Sunni, non-Muslim women".