In pursuit of online traffic and the constant competition for the craziest, more-out-there story, numerous blogs and news websites missed the not-so-fine line between a joke and actual news this past week, reporting that wife-cannibalism was A OK in Islam. But only if the husband is extra hungry.
For over a week, social networks raged over the labeled 'news' of a fatwa that allows for a man to eat his wife should he feel extremely hungry.
The fatwa, which was attributed to the grand mufti of Saudi Arabia, Abdel Aziz Bin Abdullah Aal al-Shaikh, permits cannibalism, and suggests that for a woman to allow her husband to munch at her flesh is a sign of obedience to the husband.
The grand mufti quickly refuted the allegations against him, commenting that it was false news promoted by the enemy to distract society from their main cause of solidarity. He said that the news aimed to dirty the image of Islam, which pays respect to all human beings, men and women alike.
According to CNN, the rumor originated in late March from the Moroccan blogger known by the pen name Israfil al-Maghribi who writes a column on the website Code. The column is called “Akhbar al-Tanaz” (News of Sarcasm) which is known to include made-up news for the purpose of fun and entertainment.
The Moroccan blogger expressed surprise and disbelief that the piece had actually spread as news.
Not only did the news spread like wildfire across the different websites and blogs, analyses started suggesting that Iran was behind promoting the news in light of its opposition against Saudi Arabia and the war against Yemen.
While the news may come off as absurd and highly unlikely to any sound human being, Saudi clerics have a questionable history of rulings that have been both real and outrageous, providing joking fodder for Muslims, Arabs and spectators from all over the world.