No non-Muslim maid in Saudi Arabia

Lakhs of foreign-based maids in Saudi Arabia are feeling threatened with Islamic clerics insisting that only Muslim maids will do.

A Saudi cleric said only Muslim housemaids should be allowed in the oil-rich country and they should be kept segregated from men in the home.

It may be recalled that thousands of Indian ladies also work as a maid in Sudia Arab and other parts of gulf region "If there is a need to import workers as female domestics, they should be Muslims," Sheikh Yusef al-Ahmad, a strong opponent of men and women mixing in the ultra-conservative kingdom, told the sabq.org website.

He also said female domestics should cover themselves in the home, and that following Islamic requirements for Saudi women, they should also be required to have a male relative guardian, or mahram, with them inSaudi Arabia.

"They should be required to work in the home covered with the hijab (veil), and not mix with men in the home, not enter their rooms or the hall or serve them," he said. Islamic scholar and ex IAS officer Zafar Iqbal condemned the call of cleric saying," this should not be accepted. It must be condemned by one and all."