Beyond the laws...

The Protection of Women bill,
finally passed by Pakistan's National Assembly on Wednesday after many months of bitter debate and controversy, continues to divide public opinion.


The controversial Hudood laws, introduced in 1979 by the late military dictator Gen Ziaul Haq as part of his sweeping policies of 'Islamisation', have been regarded by women's rights activists as highly discriminatory. Especially the crime reporting part - If she was unable to prove the crime – with the law requiring she produce four male witnesses to do so – she stood in danger of being charged. Countless number of women have been thrown in jails on charges of adultery under the Hudood because they could not produce the mandatory four men to stand witnesses for the charge.

In Pakistan, a rape is often just the beginning of a victimized woman's tragedy. But now President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan is challenging his country's version of that law and has issued an order that all women imprisoned on charges other than robbery, murder or terrorism, be set free immediately. He deserves praise far and wide for the effort.

A brave effort indeed.

And as expected he has not pleased those bearded self-proclaimed advocates of islam.

This is the ugliest face of sunni and shia religious scholars who are holding up to the laws which are neither the part of Islam nor are writen in Qur’an. Their Shariah Laws are based on hearsay and traditions which overrule the Qur’an laws and this is the problem with the majority of Muslims. These scholars are holding up these brutal inhumane laws just because they find some stupid story falsely attributed to Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) telling them that he approved of such punishment.
Qur’an does not specifically says anything on what kind of punishment should be there for adultery or rape and this is where the problem starts.

Hudood ordinances are widely held to be discriminatory and unjust to women. Some Islamic scholars have also said they do not reflect the true spirit of the religion...thank god some are sane.

There’s a real need for a reform movement inside Islam and it’s not just to say, ‘No, we don’t want terrorists,’ it’s to say in order to unshackle this philosophy from the literalists and literalist chains, we have to create a world in which people can question the first principles, you have to create to world in which people can rethink the core of the text. And until that happens we will have a paralysed culture.

It seems there is a need to think beyond the laws..


Technorati Tags: Hudood, Ordinance, Pakistan, Islam, law, Quran, reform

A "race" against time..

The veil row stirred London last week and diverted the media attention to yet another controversy related to islam. Comments poured in from everywhere - from common people to ministers to even the religious leaders.

I wont start off a debate here again on whether niqab or veil is a religious obligation or is redundant and what is Koran's say on it. There are thousands advocating either side of the issue.

The question is whether this niqab and veil is relevant in the world of today, a world where the masks induce fear. The most immediate response to this question is, "let them wear whatever they want." but wait a minute... its against the so called non-negotiable british values.

So what should the muslims do? Well for british muslims...there is something to consider..
Take the case of the sikh community in britain...there was a time when they had to fight the same battle - to gain public recognition of their culture and traditions. and they won. The sikhs made use of legal channels and questioned the discriminatory laws. Finally the sikh community was recognized as an ethnic group and were given the special rights like wearing turbans and carrying kirpans. Today sikhs and jews in britain enjoy these rights but the other immigrants like muslims and hindus still do not come under the Race Relations act.
There is need for these immigrants to act togather but there are constant differences among them and their chances of standing togather for a particular cause doesnt seem much probable.
Add to this the fact that the muslims in the today's world are known more as terrorists than anything else and a masked person on the streets of britain doesnt enjoy the greatest of responses. Multi-culturalism as a public policy is effectively dead, to some extent by militant islam.
A long and tough road ahead..

Apart from this, there are extremist voices in the islamic world too - mainly by the so called religious leaders, who try to impose their own religious interpretations on the people - ideas which are polluted by their own personal insights and the political and social cocoon they grow in. Sadly these are the voices which are heard more often although they are clearly against the mass opinion and lead to misunderstandings towards muslims. These extremists openly express their hate towards modernization in general and the west, in particular.
The extremists, it seems, today are not against the west. They are against time.


Technorati Tags: U.K, muslims in UK, veil row, niqab, sikh, islam, extremist