Women Drivers Risked Damaging Their Ovaries?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

On September 2013, Swalih ibn Muhammad al-Luhaydan, a prominent Wahhabi cleric from Saudi Arabia, announced that driving was harmful to women’s health.  He claimed studies had shown that women who drive could damage their ovaries and displace their pelvises.  He added that these women risked having children with birth defects. 

Swalih al-Luhaydan’s comments quickly became controversial worldwide.  A Twitter hashtag, #WomensDrivingAffectsOvariesAndPelvises, made his statements viral across the Internet, amid endless mockery and criticism.  Even his own countrymen expressed their disbelief at his remarks, calling them “ridiculous.”  A Saudi gynaecologist, Muhammad Baknah, later challenged Swalih al-Luhaydan’s statements and countered that there were no such studies. 

In 2010, another Saudi cleric caused a ruckus when he issued a fatwa that said women could breastfeed their drivers to formally make them mahram.  This is Wahhabism: a religion for idiots, by idiots.