Top Saudi cleric denies issuing fatwa 'allowing husbands to EAT wives if they are hungry'

A SAUDI religious leader has denied reports he issued a fatwa telling husbands they can eat their wives if they are hungry enough.

Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh of Saudi Arabia

Grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz Al-Sheikh issued the fatwa (Image: GETTY)

Saudi Arabian grand mufti Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah was claimed to have said the ruling showed the "sacrifice of women and obedience to her husband".

The reports said the fatwa allowed a man to eat his wife's body parts if he is suffering from "severe hunger".

However, in a statement released via the Saudi Press Agency on behalf of the Grand Mufti the cleric said: "The fatwa attributed to us is wrong.

"It is nothing but lies ... It has been circulated to distort the image of Islam, which has elevated and granted a dignified status to men and women without exceptions."

Reports of the alleged fatwa circulated the world’s news sites before the religious authorities issued the denial.

Khalid ben Abdel-Rahman El-Shaye, assistant secretary general of the Global Commission for Introducing the Messenger, affiliating to the Muslim World League, said: "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.

"It was made up to create this confusion and damage."

The Saudi cleric had previously claimed that all churches should be destroyed under Islamic law.

In February another religious leader confidently told an audience that the earth does not revolve in space.

Footage emerged of a student asking Sheikh al-Khaibari whether the Earth was stationary or moving.

The Saudi Sheikh confidently told the young academic the Earth is "stationary and does not move".

Supporting his theory, the Sheikh used an example involving air travel: "We go to Sharjah airport to travel to China by plane, clear?"

Saudi cleric rejects that Earth revolves around the Sun

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