Women only watch football to stare at men's thighs: Saudi cleric

Cleric faces wrath of social media after issuing fatwa saying it should be 'haram' for women to watch football

A Saudi cleric faced the wrath of social media on Sunday after he issued a fatwa stating watching football should be ‘haram’ for women since it is only watched so they can stare at men’s thighs. 

In a fatwa that has been the subject of much ridicule, the local mosque imam ruled that women “do not care who wins the match, all they care about is watching the player’s thighs.”

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He added that a “woman seeing a foreign man is sinful, so what about seeing his thighs and tight kit?”

Angered by the fatwa, an opinion piece translated in English by the Saudi Gazette stated, “I cannot describe how embarrassed and annoyed I was after listening to a fatwa issued by a local mosque imam.”

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“To be frank, I do not know why women are looked down upon more than men. This is common among scholars and extremists. How is it possible for anyone to say that women only watch football to enjoy looking at players’ thighs?”

Further, twitteratti quickly got #WomenLoveFootballBecauseOfPlayersThighs trending in Arabic ridiculing the cleric’s statement.

One tweet mocked, “How did we get here? I love chicken thighs more…roasted and golden with barbeque and mustard and honey and more…”

https://twitter.com/historian_1/status/595389095016202240

https://twitter.com/3_athra/status/596660077005672448

Another tweet comprising of a photo of a few football players from the 1970s donning short shorts read, “it is good the players are not wearing 1970s football kits or your sins would be even greater!”

#المرأة_تحب_الكورة_بسبب_افخاذ_اللاعبين
كويس إن اللاعبين ما يلبسون زي السبعينات ولّا كان ذنبكم أعظم pic.twitter.com/QYhBRnpFaW

— حمد الماضي (@Almadhi89) May 3, 2015

This article originally appeared on Al Arabiya