Dubai plans to appoint female muftis by the end of next year in an unprecedented step, The National newspaper reported yesterday. Six Emirati women are being selected for a training programme that starts early next year, the newspaper quoted the emirate’s grand mufti Ahmed al-Haddad as saying. Haddad issued a fatwa in February authorising women to become muftis. “A woman who is learned and trained in issuing fatwas is not limited to her role of issuing fatwas that relate to women only, but rather she is qualified to issue on matters of worship, jurisprudence, morality and behaviour,” the paper quoted him as saying.