“A Cross On The Car?”
This has to be one of the ridiculous fatwas anywhere. An Egyptian sheikh as just suddenly noticed that a Chevrolet vehicle has a logo that looks like a Christian cross. For that reason, this Salafi sheikh pronounced it haram to drive a Chevy.
Bowtie Or Cross?
For many Americans, the logo of a Chevy is liken to a bowtie. But a unnamed Salafi sheikh in Egypt has chosen this very moment when the results of the parliamentary elections show the Islamist parties have won the most seats to issue a fatwa that became a joke on national TV.
To this unnamed Salafi sheikh, the logo of a Chevy is like a Christian cross. Therefore, he concluded, it is haram for Muslims to drive such a car.
Ridicule
Since it is haram to drive a Chevy, it follows that it is also haram to buy a Chevy. TV presenter Amr Adeeb described this fatwa this way: “We’ve reached a really strange place with this”.
But what’s so strange about this fatwa? Amr Adeeb explains: “The car’s been around [for a century] and only now did you notice there’s a cross on the car?”
Ridiculing the fatwa that to buy and/or drive a Chevy is haram, Amr Adeeb said: “Do we hold mass for it? Do we pray for it?” The short answer is “No”.
Rebuke
Amr Adeeb’s guest at the TV show rebuked the Salafi sheikh for issuing this ridiculous fatwa, saying: “As if the people who came up with the logo were thinking that we want to put this special logo on the car just to piss us [Muslims] off.”
But the last word of rebuke to this unnamed Salafi sheikh came from Amr Adeeb, saying: “With all of the problems in Egypt, you’re concerned about the cross?… We’re calling for unity [in the country] and then you come up with [fatwas] like this?”
Think About It
What is the reason for this unnamed Salafi sheikh to issue such a ridiculous fatwa? Will a day ever come when someone else decides to issue a fatwa pronouncing the English language haram simply because the lower case of the letter “t” also resembles a Christian cross? Do those who issue fatwas have a responsibility to guard against shaming Islam with their ridiculous fatwas?
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