Back in August, the Saudi king issued a decree banning unauthorised fatwas. In future, the only fatwas allowed would come from scholars of his own choosing. The idea, as stated at the time, was to put a stop to "strange" and "obsolete" fatwas.

Well, the official, royally-approved scholars charged with issuing sensible fatwas have delivered their verdict on women working as chashiers in supermarkets – and it's not good news:

"It is not permitted for a Muslim woman to work in a mixed environment with men who are not related to them, and women should look for jobs that do not lead to them interacting with men which might cause attraction from both sides."

That is scarcely a step forward, and it's not very different from what an unauthorised scholar said a couple of months ago before being reprimanded by the king.

The Crossroads Arabia blog comments:

I continue to be amazed that religious authorities continue to treat the country’s population as a group of hyper-sexed adolescents. Isn’t self-control a part of Islamic doctrine? Isn’t maturity the ability to discern when certain actions are appropriate and when and where not? If the sight of women is so inflammatory to some men, perhaps the lesser evil would be for those men to pluck out their eyes in order to avoid sin.

There are also new developments in the great Saudi debate aboutmen serving women in lingerie shops. A Saudi woman called Fatima Qaroob has launched a Facebook campaign against male assistants under the name "Enough Embarrassment". It reportedly has 6,500 supporters.

Describing how embarrassing it is for a woman to be served by a man in these shops, Ms Qaroob complains to Arab News that one salesman asked her "intimate questions" about her size and preferred colours.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 2 November 2010.