Saudi cleric claims women have a quarter of the intellect of men

Sheikh Saad al-Hajari, the head of the government's religious edict authority in the southern province of Assir, recently made the comments at a lecture on "the evils of allowing women to drive", Saudi daily Sabq reported on Wednesday.

"It is not their fault, but women lack intellectdo they not?" Hajari asked an audience during the event and added, "Their lack of intellect does not harm their piousness because they are made that way," he said, explaining that in Islam a woman's testimony is worth half of a man's.

"Would you give a man with half an intellect a driving license? So how would you give one to a woman when she has half an intellect," said the cleric.

"And if they go out to the market this gets halved again! So they now have a quarter of an intellect," Hajari said without giving an explanation for his reasoning.

He then argued that because women pray less than men – due to menstruation women are prohibited from prayers - they also have half the "faith" of men.

The sheikh's comments have been circulated widely by social media users in the kingdom with many people harshly criticizing his reasoning.

KD

Saudi cleric claims women have 'a quarter of the intellect' of men