Friday, October 20, 2006
Misogynistic Muslims
Soon after President Pervez Musharraf's failed attempt to amend Pakistan's rape laws (under Hudood Ordinances) in the face of opposition from Muslim religious groups, comes news from India about a woman who was raped by her father-in-law and is now considered by some Muslim clerics and scholars to be unfit to live with her husband. Amazing that such cave-age customs are still alive and well. What is it about Islam that condones grossly repressive practices against women -- hatred or fear ?
The heinous custom of FGM (Female Genital Mutilation) is still prevalent among Muslim communities in Sudan and other African countries. It is said to be a "cultural practice, not a religious practice".
This is from Times of India:
- LUCKNOW: Muslim scholars and clerics in Uttar Pradesh have expressed diverse opinions over the court verdict on Imrana that sentenced her father-in-law Ali Mohammed to 10 years in jail for raping and attempting to murder her last year.
- While some clerics including those representing the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) have welcomed Thursday's order of the Muzaffarnagar district court, there were others who feel that young Imrana, mother of five children, was still not entitled to live with her husband Noor Ilahi.
- "After being raped by her father-in-law, Imrana ceased to remain Noor Ilahi's wife. Instead she acquired the status of Ilahi's mother. So irrespective of the court order, the Shariat would not permit her to cohabit with Ilahi," Maulana Imrana, who heads the Shariat court in Muzaffarnagar, told reporters.
- "The court verdict could not override the view of the Shariat and according to that Ilahi must leave Imrana."
- Said AIMPLB member and head of the Lucknow-based Firangi Mahal Islamic seminary Maulana Khalid Rashid: "I welcome the court verdict and it must be followed in true letter and spirit."
- While declaring Islam favours capital punishment for rapists for whom it prescribes stoning to death, he, however, did not elaborate on the key question of letting Imrana stay on with her husband.
- "That is a question which I am not empowered to decide, it can be dealt with only by a Darul-Qaza, which is the highest Islamic court."
