JEDDAH: Women's clubs in the Kingdom have asked for a Shariah ruling to be issued to “put an end to the debate over the permissibility of frequenting the clubs and the legality of the activities they offer”. Male and female investors in the clubs, which provide a range of programs as well as sports-related activities, have asked for those who declare them impermissible to provide legal evidence showing that their services are forbidden or “admit to their legality”. Should the second option be taken, investors have asked for an “open and complete declaration” to that effect, to thereby “put an end to the long-running controversy on the issue”. Hissa Aal Al-Sheikh, a writer, said that no valid objections to women's sports clubs and women's practice of “their legitimate rights” exist, and that such views “forbid what is allowed”. “Anyone who stands in the way of the advancement of women and development is holding it up,” she said. “Not all views on projects concerning women should be taken into account,” Al-Sheikh said. “There is a group that is solely concerned with excessive strictness,” she said. “Sport is very important for all people as a whole, but particularly for women at the current time because they do not exercise as much as they used to, and this poses a threat to them.” Sheikh Ahmad Al-Ghamdi, head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Makkah, agreed. “I see no Shariah objection to women practicing sport or opening clubs enabling them to practice that legitimate right,” he said. “Those who object say that it is a call for women to leave their houses and mix with men, or they cite old fatwa rulings made on an individual ijtihad basis, or hold to customs and traditions.” Hinan Mousa, the supervisor of a women's club, said that women's concern for their health had led to a noticeable rise in numbers signing up to sports clubs in recent years. “The increase in leisure activities that involve no exercise, plus the rise in obesity and public awareness of the importance of exercise, have led to that rise,” she said.
