Muslim personal law: Pakistan (fatwas)
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Beating wives to discipline them
The Times of India, May 27 2016
Omer Farooq Khan
Husbands can beat wives `lightly': Top Pak Islamic body
Pakistan's Council of Islamic Ideology , a constitutional body responsible for legal advice on matters related to Islam, proposed a women protection bill that allows husbands to beat their wives.
The council proposed that ahusband should be allowed to “lightly“ beat his wife if she defies his command, turns down his demand of intercourse without any religious excuse, refuses to dress up according to his desires, or does not bathe after intercourse or at the end of her menstrual cycles. It further said that beating of a woman is also permissible if she does not wear hijab, interacts with strangers, speaks loud enough to be heard by strangers and extends monetary help to people without husband's consent.
The bill states that female nurses should not be allowed to take care of male patients and recommends a ban on them from working in “vulgar“ advertisements. “Co-education past the primary level may be permitted if hijab is made mandatory and free mixing between the genders is not allowed,“ the so-called women protection bill said.
The bill came in reaction to women's protection bill passed by the Punjab assembly . Besides empowerment of women, the bill had sought their protection against violence. The council of Islamic ideology and religious parties had rejec ted it declaring it un-Islamic.The Islamic council had announced to prepare a “model“ bill in response.
Critics termed the proposed bill as unconstitutional.“Allowing a husband to beat his wife is against Pakistan's Constitution and the international laws and treaties that Pakistan is bound by . This council is a burden on the Pakistani taxpayer and brings a bad name to Muslims throughout the world,“ said Farzana Bari, a rights activist. “This will take Pakistan further into ignorance,“ she added.
Comprising 20 members, the council gives recommendations to parliament on Islamic laws. The proposed 163-point bill prohibits interaction of a woman with `na-mehram' (one with whom marriage is prohibited) at recreational spots and offices. It recommends ban on dance, music, and sculptures in the name of art, and states a woman cannot use contraception without the husband's permission.
Suicide bombings
2017: 31 Ulema declare suicide attacks Harâm
31 Ulema declare suicide attacks Haram, May 28, 2017, The News
Say armed struggle against State and use of force in name of enforcing Shariah is also Haram; sectarian hatred is against Shariah and Fasaad-fil-Arz a crime; Maulana Rafi Usmani, Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Mufti Naeem,
Maulana Hamidul Haq and others sign edict
As many as 31 Islamic scholars belonging to all schools of thought, including Wafaqul Madaris Pakistan, Wafaqul Madaris Al Arabia, Pakistan Ulema Council and Darul Uloom Karachi, have unanimously issued a verdict against terrorism and extremism.
The Ulema in a seminar organised here on Saturday rejected the use of force in the name of implementing Shariah, and terrorism in the name of Islam, and declared it as Haram. They said that there was no justification of an armed struggle against the government or the personnel of the army and security agencies and declared it as treason according to the teachings of Islam. The edict said that every kind of armed resistance against the State, Fasaad, terrorism, suicide attacks and destruction are Haram. The Ulema also declared that sectarian hatred is against the Shariah and Fasaad-fil-Arz is a crime.
The Research Institute (IRI) of Islamic International University, Islamabad (IIUI) organised the seminar 'Reconstruction of Pakistani society in the light of Mithaq-e-Madina (Madina Charter) and announcement of Paigham-e-Pakistan'. The seminar was attended by Rector IIU Professor Masoom Yasinzai, President IIU Ahmed Yousuf Darweish, Chairman Higher Education Commission Dr Mukhtar Ahmed, prominent religious scholars, including Mufti Muneebur Rehman, Allama Hanif Jalandhri, Mufti Naeem Ahmed, Mufti Rafi Usmani, Maulana Hamidul Haq, Allama Syed Riaz Hussain Najfi and others from different sects.
The unanimous declaration named as 'Paigham-e-Pakistan' (Message of Pakistan) signed by the 31 religious scholars from all schools of thought called for action against the forces fanning extremism, called for true implementation of the law dealing with blasphemy while discouraging mob justice in this regard.
Professor Masoom Yasinzai presented the unanimous declaration while Mufti Rafi Usmani read out the religious edict signed by all religious scholars which condemned terrorism and extremism, declared suicide attackers and their supporters as traitors, declared jihad a jurisdiction of Islamic state and disallowed use of force in name of enforcement of Islamic laws.
The religious scholars also supported the operations against terrorists such as Zarb-e-Azb and Raddul Fasaad, saying that they were standing with the government, its army and security agencies in the war against terror.
The 22-point declaration was presented to address the issue of peaceful coexistence, tolerance, Takfir and Jihad.
President of Pakistan Mamnoon Hussain attended the concluding session and addressed the conference. The consensus declaration was signed by more than 31 prominent Ulema and religious scholars of the country.
In his speech, President Mamnoon Hussain urged the religious scholars and intellectuals to promote the true 'message of humanity' given in Madina Charter for salvage of the people caught up in the clash of interests.
He said the association of humanity with the Madina Charter for resolution of the issues was because it guaranteed the fundamental rights of economy, justice and education.
Terming the declaration a historic step taken by scholars, President Mamnoon said he had also been trying to persuade Ulema to give the people a narrative against terrorism and extremism but the IRI took lead in this regard.
He said the consideration of developing the society in accordance with the Madina Charter despite the experiences and incidents of the previous century was satisfactory.
He also stated that being Muslims, we aspired for peace in the whole world and desired progress, prosperity and welfare for the entire humanity.
The president also emphasised that a counter narrative needs to be built to negate the narratives of extremism, hate and terrorism to promote peace, harmony and respect of others and impress upon contemporary world that the ideas they harbour about Pakistan and Muslim Ummah in this regard have nothing to do with reality.
Therefore, such seminars have great significance and importance in this respect, he added.
The president said that the Madina Charter was not created to protect communal interests, nor it related to Muslims only but it was a broad-based agreement aimed at the welfare and protection of whole humanity.
He said the treaty not only had the trust and confidence of followers of Islam but also of non-Muslims.
President Mamnoon said the Holy Prophet (PBUH) always granted due rights to the rightful, gave relief to the oppressed and always treated the marginalised generously irrespective of their religion, caste, color or creed. He also said that the founding fathers of Pakistan had also dreamt for such a society in which all citizens had equal rights.
Later, the Rector and President IIU along with chairman HEC, conferred on the president the highest award of the IRI in recognition of his services for the society and his efforts to develop Pakistan into a moderate state.
2018: 1,800 clerics issue fatwa, forbidding suicide bombings
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - More than 1,800 Pakistani Muslim clerics have issued an Islamic directive, or fatwa, forbidding suicide bombings, in a book unveiled by the government on Tuesday.
For years, the South Asian nation has been plagued by violence by Islamist militants, who often use suicide bombers and preach that their struggle is a holy war to impose Islamic rule.
Suicide attacks are frequently condemned as fanatical and immoral, especially when civilians are killed, but insurgents view the tactic as their most effective weapon.
Seeking to curb “terrorism” that has resulted in tens of thousands of casualties since the early 2000s, the clerics declared suicide bombings to be forbidden, or “haraam”.
“This fatwa provides a strong base for the stability of a moderate Islamic society,” Pakistan President Mamnoon Hussain wrote in the book, prepared by the state-run International Islamic University and released at an official ceremony.
“We can seek guidance from this fatwa for building a national narrative in order to curb extremism, in keeping with the golden principles of Islam.”
Foreign and domestic critics of Pakistan’s government and military accuse them of cozying up to radical groups for political and military purposes and say the state has turned a blind eye to hate preachers in mosques for too long.
The fatwa was ratified by a number of prominent clerics who are outspoken critics of liberalism and the West, and are seen as controversial for preaching sectarianism or supporting the Afghan Taliban.
One of the clerics who signed, Muhammad Ahmed Ludhianvi, is the face of a banned sectarian organization, Ahle Sunnat Wal Jamat (ASWJ), and has been placed on a Pakistani legislative list of individuals with suspected links to “terrorism”.
The ASWJ figurehead, Aurangzeb Farooqi, attended the signing ceremony.
Another signatory, Hamid-ul-Haq, is the son of a cleric widely regarded as the “Father of the Afghan Taliban” after many prominent militants, including Taliban founder Mullah Mohammed Omar, were found to have graduated from his seminary in the northwestern city of Peshawar.
Pakistani officials deny frequent U.S. allegations about collaborating with militant Islamist proxies in Afghanistan and India, and say vast gains have been made over the past decade against militant outfits such as the Pakistani Taliban.
But privately they also warn any moves against some popular hardline groups based in Pakistan would take a long time and need to be undertaken carefully.
Similar anti-suicide bombing fatwas appear to have yielded scant results in the Middle East, where the practice is used by Islamic State and other militant groups.
The Pakistani scholars, who declared that “no individual or group has the authority to declare and wage jihad (holy war)”, said suicide bombings violate key Islamic teachings and, as such, were forbidden.
