CAIRO – A claimed fatwa allowing man to eat wife in case of extreme hunger has been widely rejected by Saudi officials as baseless and false, accusing websites and media sources of launching a smear campaign against the Saudi Mufti in response to the Saudi military operation in Yemen.

“I have seen the fatwa attributed to Saudi Arabia Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah which ‘allows a man to eat his wife or parts of her body, if the husband was afflicted with a severe hunger’,” Khalid ben Abdel-Rahman El-Shaye`, assistant secretary general of the Global Commission for Introducing the Messenger, affiliating to the Muslim World League, told CNN Arabic.

“The truth is that this is fabricated and made up from its basis. These ill thoughts cannot come from any Muslim, regardless of a great scholar who Muslims refer to from around the world,” he added.

“It was made up to create this confusion and damage.”

El-Shaye` added that this is not the first time to see these fabricated fatwas, urging followers and readers to reject them and disgust whoever created them.

The alleged fatwa, which appeared first in a satire website in a Northern-African Arab country, has stoked controversy as many derided it over various social media platforms.

It was further spread by some twitter users as part of the current media war related to the Saudi airstrikes against Houthis in Yemen.

However, there has been no mention of such fatwa listed on the mufti’s website as yet.

In Islam, marriage is a sacred bond that brings together a man and a woman by virtue of the teachings of the Qur’an and the Sunnah.

Each partner in this sacred relationship must treat the other properly and with respect.