KEY POINTS:
Is it against the teachings of Islam to use Viagra? Is it dishonest to "piggyback" on your neighbour's wireless internet connection? Can you use diet patches while fasting during Ramadan?
These are just three of the thousands of questions posed to the United Arab Emirates' official fatwa call
centre, which was officially inaugurated in August to provide definitive religious rulings to believers.
For centuries, Muslims have taken religious dilemmas to the imam at the local mosque. But now, with a free phone call or an email, they can receive answers from qualified muftis, or religious scholars, and settle worries about how to live an observant life under the Koran in modern society.
Muftis will either make an on-the-spot pronouncement, or text message or email back after careful consideration. Questions can be posed in English, Arabic and Urdu.
The 24-hour daily free service run from offices of the capital Abu Dhabi has proved so popular that managers at the country's Islamic Affairs Authority are considering doubling its 48-strong team due to overwork. Its 14 telephone lines are fielding almost four times the 1000 questions a day they were designed to handle.
Fatwas gained a bad image in the West due to the death sentence issued by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in the 1980s on author Salman Rushdie for, The Satanic Verses. Although effectively withdrawn in 1998, the decree fixed fatwas in many Western minds as extremist tools to condemn "infidels".
But the vast majority of fatwas deal with every day situations. Many questions revolve around sex and the relationships between men and women.
Asked about using diet patches to suppress hunger during the Ramadan, the holiest month in Islam, a mufti at the centre said: "If you use it on the outside around your body, it is not a problem. It's like using a cream or a lotion. Anything external is fine, as long as it's not entering via the mouth."
Nicotine patches are also permissible during Ramadan, and smokers often use the holy month to quit.
The fatwa went against other advice, including that of the rival Dubai Islamic Affairs Department, which said that any form of nutrient entering the body voided the fast.
Using someone else's wi-fi connection was akin to theft. "A Muslim's money or property is not for the taking unless there are explicit blessings from the owner."
More controversially, the UAE earlier this month appeared to disagree with muftis in Qatar, Turkey and Saudi Arabia who said that a wife was justified in fighting back if her husband beat her. Under sharia, a husband is allowed to beat his wife but the right is facing growing opposition in the Islamic world. The centre said outsiders who witnessed incidents of domestic abuse should console victims, but should not become involved in the details of conflicts. It said it often received calls from battered women who sought consolation.
On Viagra, the centre ruled: "There is no problem with taking medicine to remedy a sexual dysfunction, as it is permitted to take medicine for ailment. In addition, there is no shame in your weakness to meet your wife's desire, as it is out of your hands."
