CAIRO, Jan 10: A Saudi preacher has said the prohibition of women from driving is not an established religious rule and proposed that religious scholars open the issue for discussion.

In an interview with the London-based Al Hayat newspaper, Sheikh A'ed al Korani said that while he was not calling for allowing women to drive, he was asking that the issue be debated in front of the religious establishment.

"If a woman is given the choice between driving a car herself or being alone in a car with a stranger, then I would choose that she drive herself," Al Korani said.

Women are prohibited from driving in Saudi Arabia. The country has recently witnessed several incidents in which women were caught driving.

The preacher said that he himself would not allow his daughters or sisters to drive, but insisted that the issue should be debated "with wisdom".

He also said women be given a "wider opportunity to participate fully in society which needs to listen to what women have to say".-dpa