SELANGOR mufti Datuk Mohd Tamyes Abd Wahid yesterday lambasted the Obedient Wives Club, saying its on-going campaign, Rasulullah Tokoh Seks Suci Islam, was degrading.
Such a campaign would only tarnish the image of Prophet Muhammad, he said.
Tamyes added that OWC's "highly unusual campaign" in honour of the prophet's birthday on Feb 5, or 12th Rabiul Awal in the Islamic calendar, could degrade the prophet and Islam instead of helping to tackle the growing moral decay among Muslims.
"This campaign can tarnish Prophet's Muhammad's image. This is not the way to commemorate his birthday. He did not marry just for sex. He married women from different tribes to bring the Arabs together and spread Islam."
Tamyes also said OWC had been known to conduct activities that were against the norms and "this (campaign) is just one of them". He further said that the group could promote "halal sex" but it must be done tactfully and with discretion.
On Tuesday, Perak mufti Tan Sri Harussani Zakaria had said the title was insulting to the prophet who had bequeathed a legacy of a great leadership by example to human civilisation.
He had also said the title was an insult to Islam and the prophet.
Even in the Quran, there were no references to the prophet as a sexual figure or idol, he had said.
OWC president Fauziah Ariffin, in defending the campaign, said it was not courting controversy as accused but merely wanted to urge Muslim couples to emulate the prophet's conduct, including his sex life.
"The prophet is the best example for our reference, and this includes aspects of the family as well as sex life as revealed in the hadith," she said when launching the campaign at OWC headquarters in Damansara near here.
In Kota Kinabalu, OWC committee member Roslina Sulaiman said it was about time that sex was discussed openly.
She also said the club was not trying to take over the role of the state Islamic Council or Sabah Islamic Affairs Department, but "an alternative for Muslim wives to gain knowledge on how to build marriages of integrity".
In Kuala Terengganu, another committee member, Fatimah Talib, said the campaign was to "bring back the glory of consummation to Islam".
"The title is not blasphemous as there is nothing wrong to promote education on bedroom matters."
In June last year, OWC made headlines when its vice-president, Dr Rohaya Mohamed, told Muslim wives to be obedient to their husbands and to serve them like a "first-class prostitute" to prevent their husbands from straying.
OWC is no stranger to controversies. It caused an uproar among the public and women rights groups when it published an explicit guide to Islamic sex which has since been banned by the Home Ministry and declared haram (sinful) by the Department of Islamic Development (Jakim).
Founded by Global Ikhwan Sdn Bhd, an off-shoot of the now-defunct Al-Arqam movement, it claimed it had branches in Indonesia, Singapore, Jordan and the United Kingdom.
