The Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is considered Indonesia’s top clerical body, but its regional organization are allowed to issue their own edicts. Recently the MUI of Palu in Central Sulawesi issued an edict forbidding women from uploading “sexy” photos onto their Facebook accounts.
By “sexy” photos, MUI is referring to any photos that show off the aurat, or parts of the body that should be covered in Islam. By MUI’s interpretation, a “sexy” photo could be one in which a woman reveals any part of her body beside her face and hands. So bikini photos would certainly count, but even photos of a woman wearing clothes that showed the shape of their body could be considered as showing aurat.
“They should not display or even upload photographs that contain negative nuances or excites others, so they can get a lot of attention mainly from men,” Palu MUI Chairman Zainal Abidin said on Tuesday as quoted by Merdeka.
Zainal lamented that many unmarried, and even some married women in his city would post such photos for men to comment on.
“It’s strange, displaying photos on Facebook which show aurat, to be commented upon by men as ‘sexy’, which woman accept and even say thank you for,” he said.
It may surprise Zainal to learn that not all women who post photos of themselves on social media do so in order to get compliments from men. Some do it because it makes them feel good or confident. Some do it to share with their friends. And whatever the reason, why should MUI be sticking its nose into what women want to do online?
We should note that Palu’s MUI only specified Facebook in their edict. So maybe they’re cool with women posting “sexy” photos to Instagram?
