Men wearing earrings 'haram'

PALU, Central Sulawesi: The Central Sulawesi chapter of the Indonesian Ulemas Council has issued a new ruling that, according to Islamic teaching, a man is prohibited from wearing earrings.

The secretary of the provincial council, Dahlan Tangkaderi, said wearing earrings was feminine, and that was condemned by Allah, Antara reported yesterday.

The reason behind the issuance of the ruling was hadits (the deeds and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad), which says: "Allah condemns men who act and garb like women, and women who act and garb like men," Dahlan said.

Quoting the provincial council chairman, Dahlan said the council was concerned with the trend that many schoolboys and men were acting and dressing like girls or women.

Dahlan said no government officials had acted to ban the trend and many parents had also failed to stop boys wearing earrings. "Therefore we feel it necessary to be tough. The central board of the Ulemas Council has yet to act on this," he said.

Many rockers, artists and sportsmen, including former Argentinean soccer star Diego Armando Maradona are known for being individual and wearing an earring. This had apparently caused "earring fever" among males. (sur)