The eminent Muslim scholar and renowned Da`iyah, Sheikh `Abdel Khaliq Hasan Ash-Shareef, states: “What is important is that there should be no khalwah (illicit privacy) between the woman giving birth and the Doctor. As long as there is no female gynecologist in the pregnant woman’s area of residence there is nothing wrong in giving birth and being treated by a male gynecologist in the presence of other person such as a nurse or midwife or a woman from among her family.