Saudi Arabia's top Islamic clerics board on Monday issued a fatwa (religious edict), saying that women are not allowed to work as cashiers in supermarkets.

"Women should not work in places where they encounter men. Women should look for jobs that does not make them become attracted by men or attract men," the fatwa issued by the Committee on Scholarly Work and Ifta said.

The committee is operating under the Council of Senior Scholars, which is responsible for Islamic issues in the ultra-conservative kingdom.

Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam, adopts a strict interpretation of Sharia, the Islamic law, under which the mixing of men and women is considered not religious.

The ruling endorsed by the kingdom's Grand Mufti Abdul Aziz Al- Sheikh came in response to a question to the council if women could work as cashiers.

The kingdom's Labor Ministry in August gave the nod to supermarkets in the city of Jeddah to employ female cashiers, sparking a wide controversy in the kingdom.

A popular scholar called in a fatwa for boycotting a supermarket chain that employs women as cashiers because, he said, it was a violation of Islamic law.

The preacher was reprimanded later for "issuing unauthorized fatwas" in contradiction to a decree by Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz limiting issuance of fatwas to the top clerics council.

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