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Kuwaiti preacher Othman Al-Khamis sparked controversy after his fatwa “is not permissible to create mixed WhatsApp groups.”

On Thursday, he appeared in a video that appears to have been filmed in one of the councils, as he read a question directed to him saying, “What is the ruling on mixed WhatsApp groups to study at the university?”

And he replied: “It is not permissible to participate in mixed groups in which women and men and young men and women study at the university, it is not permissible at all.”
He added that “the teacher can put the students in a group to record attendance, for example, or to specify specific lessons.”

He pointed out that if the matter was otherwise, “such as the sunset of sideburns, it is not permissible, because Satan is present.”

The Islamic religion forbids khilwa between a man and a woman in the absence of other people, and khilwa “is achieved by meeting a man and a woman only, according to the “Islam Online” website.

It was not possible to contact the Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Kuwait, to obtain a response on this matter, and it was not possible to reach the “phone fatwa service” provided by the ministry.

Al-Hurra contacted the General Authority of Islamic Affairs and Endowments in the Emirates to inquire about the rule of mixed groups.

One of the muftis said via the “Fatwas Telephone Service” that “if there is no external (outside the framework of the study) or emotional talk or things that violate morals forbidden by Islam, then there is no objection to that.”

He added that if these groups were “just for education, and there was no way for other things to happen, then there is nothing wrong with that.”
He added, “Students attend universities to study, and they come and leave, so there is no objection to creating a mixed group for the purpose of study, and that is not forbidden.”