Saudi women on the road to empowerment
A women’s movement is beginning to take shape in the desert kingdom of Saudi Arabia after a brave woman Manal Al-Sharif drove a car and posted videos to YouTube. Manal has been arrested but her brave initiative is already providing courage for other Saudi women to follow her footsteps.
The Guardian has learned that Saudi women are planning another mass drive within days to protest against a de facto driving ban in force across much of the kingdom. The event is being organised covertly with details circulated by email and text message in an attempt to catch the Saudi authorities off guard, human rights campaigners told the Guardian.
“There are many underground calls to take advantage of momentum and to do something right now,” said one female organiser, under anonymity. “People are talking about women going out and driving and it is not just women who are supporting us, men are too.”
Sharif was first released after just five hours only to be rearrested in the early hours of Sunday when the authorities learned she had posted a video and encouraged other women to do the same. It showed her driving through the streets wearing a headscarf and black sunglasses telling the camera in Arabic: “If a husband has a heart attack what is a wife to do if there no one else around and she can’t drive … Not everyone is able to afford a driver. It’s just too expensive for poorer families.”
In an earlier interview, she said she was inspired to organise the Women2Drive movement by the experience of Bahia al-Mansour, a 20-year-old student at King Faisal University who started to struggle in her studies after difficulties in arranging transport.
“Every lady has something to do in the city, she’ll just drive, do her business and come back,” Sharif told the Dubai-based Gulf News. “So, it’s as simple as that. People can’t call it a demonstration, we’re not going against the law, we’re not going against anyone, we’re not even demonstrating.”
Eman al-Nafjan, a teacher and PhD student in Riyadh who writes a blog under the name Saudiwoman, told the Guardian that Saudi conservatives and the wealthy were determined to keep women from driving because it blocks anyone who cannot afford a driver from competing for jobs.
“Only the upper middle classes have drivers and that gives so much power to them,” she said. “If you lift these obstacles then a lot of women will go out to work and society will change, they believe for the worse. Women will compete with men and they even believe it will cause more bastards to be left on the steps of mosques.”
Samar Badawi, a human rights campaigner also from Jeddah, said she believes only a minority of men would object to women driving.
“It would change everything if women drove,” she said. “Women would be able to go to hospital, take their children to school and do all this without a man. It would allow women to respect themselves if they drove their own cars. Maybe 15% of men would be offended, the rest would like women to drive. I know lots of women that drive, but Manal was the first to film it and put it on YouTube. This is why the government was angry.”
Rannamaari, Women’s Day and Sheikh Fareed
This year March 7 coincided with the day Maldives was converted to Islam by a North African or Iranian traveller. The details of that moment in Maldivian history is shrouded in mystery and mythology but the popular narrative that has been spoon fed for generations of Maldivians is that a virgin girl was sacrificed at a seaside temple every month for a sea demon called Rannamaari. The foreign traveller saved the capital Male from the sea demon and invited the reigning king to convert to Islam.
If there is an ounce of truth in this narrative, young girls of Maldives were terrorized one thousand years ago. However, the conversion to Islam did not stop Maldivian women from being terrorized, bullied or marginalized in society. In fact, in the 21st century, the biggest advocates of misogyny in the Maldives are those who marginalize women in the society in the name of Islam. Sheikh Ibrahim Fareed and several other religious scholars who preach a religious narrative that promises to take modern Maldivian women back to the times of the seaside temple, sea demon and sacrifice.
It seems Sheikh Fareed is toying with the idea of retirement. However, it is hard to believe he is ready to jump into the obscurity of history merely a year after we delivered him underwear on Valentine’s Day.
Whether Sheikh Fareed retires or not Maldivian women are not ready to be sidelined to the margins of society. Watch this video and celebrate the resilience of Maldivian women as we all mark the 100th anniversary of International Women’s Day.
Will there be a Gender Ministry in the new cabinet?
The mass resignation of the entire Cabinet of the Maldives has shocked the country and created an intense debate on the possible implications of this staged political drama. Speculation is rife about the possible changes that would be brought to the new Cabinet. While it is too early to say whether President Nasheed would choose to appoint fresh faces to the Cabinet, it is a timely and relevant question to ask if there will be any new portfolios in the Cabinet.
One of the changes that the first democratically elected government of the Maldives brought to the Cabinet, after assuming office in November 2008, was abolishing the Gender Ministry. The roles and functions of the former Gender Ministry were assigned to a Department running under the Ministry of Health. It remains debatable whether this department has been able to function according to its mandate, protect the women and children of the Maldives, and counter the rising tide of misogyny and violence against women.
At a time when the fate of this department itself is uncertain, perhaps it could be wishful thinking to hope for a Gender Ministry in the structure of the next Cabinet. It could also be a mere wish to think there would be no Islamic Ministry in the new Cabinet, even though the ministry — handcrafted for the political ambitions of a particular political party — has created so much divisions in our society. The least we could hope for is to have more women in the next Cabinet of the Maldivian government, rather than the lone face of Aminath Jameel, heading the Ministry of Health, and that spineless department assigned with the gigantic task of protecting the Maldivian women.
I’M A MUSLIM AND A BELIEVER…AND YOU?
By Sara
I’ve kept my opinions about religion to myself for a long time now. Even when I was verbally tortured in school all those years ago because of the mere reason that I did not wear the head scarf, at the most I’d say to the abusers to let me be a Muslim in my own right and to keep their version of Islam to themselves. Discussions about Islam would mostly take place between my close friends and my family and that’s just about it, because I knew if I were to protect my right and my practices I’d be unjustifiably compared to a Kafir. Women like me shouldn’t have to tell people like them how many times a day we pray and how many good deeds we do in a day! We shouldn’t have to tell them that we actually do not resort to narcotics, alcohol, violence and premarital sex! So I always kept my good deeds and my belief in my Allah who is my sole guardian, who protected me through bad times and gave me much luck, to myself.
But I can see clearly now that I’m amongst the minority. So it’s high time I came out of my shell and spoke out. I’m not even in the Maldives right now and yet I feel like I’m going to be an outcast when I go back. I’m here in a far off country studying to pursue a career in a field that would allow me to actively involve in helping my fellow Maldivians whom I’ve loved every single day since the beginning. I’ve always heard of Maldivian hospitality and our broadmindedness and how highly appreciated all these attributes are (were?) worldwide. But then I came to know about these threats again non-buruga-wearers and how hard the Muslims that are higher on the extreme scale are trying to implement their islam into people’s hearts and minds. And then this whole Nazim vs Dr. Zakir Naik plus the rest of the extremists thing came up and now everything is in a stir up! Is it safe for me to go back to my home country at the end of my course? Would I be forced to take refuge somewhere else?
I thought I come from a religion which promotes people to ask questions about their doubts so that the people who knew the answers could answer them and then everyone would be at peace! And I also thought my religion was one which had its foundation on peace and harmony with no bloodshed and violence. Well, and I also supported Dr.Zakir Naik and his logic, science and other various beliefs which I thought were more moderate than some other people who were, like I said, higher on the extreme scale. I supported him until he lost his cool last night that is. I expected to see something miraculous when Nazim asked his question; something remarkable where a Muslim “scholar” peacefully instills belief in Allah and Islam into a non believer merely by his words, logic and science. And then it ended rather abruptly without any satisfaction on my part, on Nazims part and I highly think neither on Dr. Zakir Naiks part. Islam is a religion of peace (oh yes! I sill believe so) and I wanted something beautiful to happen! There could have been, I think, various efforts that Dr. Zakir Naik could have made on his part to answer all the questions asked, that could have brought out an incredible result, rather than to ask the non-believer questions to deliberately humiliate him and create an unstable atmosphere. Or, even when Dr..Zakir Naik couldn’t satisfactorily answer the question, the rest of the “knowledgeable” people, also higher on the extreme scale, could have more peacefully taken the non-believers circumstances into their hands and attempted to also instill some belief into him. All these could have been done more gently rather than build and uproar, threaten to kill and then actually attempt to do this eventually!
Where is the peace in all this that have happened? Isn’t Islam a religion of peace? Where is the beauty in all this? Where is the possibility of something remarkable happening? Oh wait a minute! Did those people who claim to know their religion better actually lose their footing and resort to something non-Muslim? Who are the non-Muslims now? I didn’t certainly go and threatened to behead a non-believer and run after him, so certainly I cannot be a “Kafir” now, can I?
I hope there are more people like me, who are more knowledgeable in this area willing to come out and prove their points in the face of all this injustice! Our beautiful paradise on Earth is in blood shed and sinking in its own blood. I say, we need to come out of this shell, prepare for anything that can possibly happen and attempt to bring an end to all this nonsense and violence happening in the name of Islam. What on Earth is President Nasheed doing?
27th May 2010
Mr. Moosa Kaleem
Sonee Building No7
Ibrahim Hassan Didi Magu
20188
Male, Maldives
moosa@sonee.com.mv
Dear Sir
Protect the Girl Child! Withdraw Support for The Call 2010!
We are a group of concerned citizens writing to voice our concern about your financial support for The Call 2010: Liv Islam organized by Jamiyathul Salaf, a wellknown extremist Wahabbi NGO in the Maldives.
In 2006, the Ministry of Gender and Family, which was abolished in 2008, conducted a study showing that one in three(1/3) women in the age group of 15 to 49 years reported some form of physical or sexual violence, at least once in their life time. One in five (1/5) of the women reported physical or sexual violence by a partner and one in nine (1/9) reported experiencing severe violence. More alarming is the statistic that one in six women (1/6) in Male and one in eight (1/8) women countrywide reported experiencing childhood sexual abuse under the age of 15 years. Of those women who took part in the survey, who had been pregnant at least once, six (6) percent reported having been physically or sexually abused during pregnancy. A survey reported that many respondents perceived women to be subordinate to men, and that men used Islam to justify restrictions of and violence against women.
According to Jamiyyathul Salaf The Call 2009 attracted a large public audience of eight thousand people. Television and Radio audiences were estimated to be a hundred thousand (approximately 30 percent of the population). In addition to this, four other events were held: one lecture held for students of Aminiya, Majeediya and CHSC for which attendance was mandatory; and a lecture aimed at women, which was held at Islamee Marukazu.
In these sermons, Dr. Philips preached that it was Islamic to marry off young girls as soon as they reached puberty, irrespective of their age. On the issue of women becoming heads of state, he said that although it was permissible in Islam for women to become heads of states, there were grave consequences. “It’s a fact,” he said, that rule by women ended in failure, pointing out that this was what the prophet Muhammad had warned us a long time ago.
The endorsement of a misogynic regressive interpretation of Islam, in a public lecture by Dr Philips, was condoned by Jamiyathul Salaf. The Ministry of Health and Family, UNICEF, Doctors Association, Child Protections Unit at the Maldives Police Services, Human Rights Commission, Ministry of Education and almost all the NGOs working on child rights in the Maldives remained silent, reluctant to be labeled as un-Islamic.
The Maldives is signatory to numerous international treaties protecting the girl child, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child (signed: 1990; ratified: 1991),Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (ratified: 2005) and Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography, (ratified: 2002) and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (adopted 2001). At a local level, the law on Protection of the Rights of the Child (1991), the Family Act (2000) and the Child Sex Abuse Act which codified child sex offenses in November 2009 all protect the rights of children in the Maldives in the form of bodily dignities and protection from harm, INCLUDING child marriages.
However, as of yet, there exist inadequate mechanisms to ensure child protection in all of the areas covered by the laws. Adding to this dilemma, the coordination for the implementation and monitoring of the conventions and laws is deficient within the government, leaving the most vulnerable children in our society exposed to child sexual abuse and minors being exposed to sexual assault under the legal guise of the so called ‘Islamic marriages’.
In this society, pedophilia is rampant and sexual assaulters and sympathizers of sexual assaulters who prey on minors often make the claim that a girl who has reached menarche is able to give consent to sexual activity. In the rare cases that make it to the courts, judges often rule in favor of the assailant.
Unless we as a society send a clear signal to those preying on minors, we will not be able to protect those children who are most vulnerable to being sexualized and harmed. We as a society need to step in and call for an IMMEDIATE stop to those among us who try to justify and rationalize sexual assault on minors in and outside the bounds of marriages. In an environment where sexualized violence towards children and minors are rampant, irresponsible preaching result in both intended and unintended repercussions that affect our young population. Laws and conventions cannot be implemented unless we as a society stand up to implement them.
It is in this spirit that we sincerely request that your company withdraw your funding support for The Call: Liv Islam 2010. We hope that you will refuse to associate your esteemed and well-placed brand of ‘Sonee’ business with calls for misogyny and regressive attitudes towards the Maldivian girl child. We trust that you will understand the gravity of this issue for us as mothers, women and citizens who are concerned with this trend becoming more and more prevalent in our society.
Respectfully yours
Rehendhi is a feminist movement operating in the Maldives:
Enough is Enough is an anti-extremist movement operating in the Maldives:
WELCOME TO MALDIVES GULBUDDIN HEKMATYAR
Though widely regarded by Maldivian media as a Taliban, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar (Afghani priminister from 1993-94 and then briefly in 1996)used to be the commander of the southern- based Hezb-e Islami (Party of Islam).
Heavily bankrolled by the US when he was fighting against the Soviet forces, his views and alleged activities regarding women’s position in society is closely aligned to what we usually group as ‘Taliban’. The US later claimed a moral justification of invading Afghanistan by championing women’s rights.
In order to welcome Gulbuddin Hekmatyar to the Maldives, paradise on earth and what not, we publish the following article from the British news paper The Independent.
For more information on the plight of Afghan please visit the Revolutionary Association of Afghan Women’s website
Afghanistan: Girls targeted in gas attack
13 May 2009
By Jerome Starkey
Source: The Independent
Taliban militants blamed after 90 pupils poisoned in third attack on girls’ school in three weeks.
The pupils were lining up outside their classrooms for morning assembly when one girl suddenly collapsed unconscious. “She was only little,” said Gulcheena, a 13-year-old student of the school who fell ill herself moments later. They were among 90 Afghan school girls rushed to hospital yesterday unconscious and vomiting, possibly victims of a gas poisoning attack on their school in Mahmud Raqi village.
“The teachers picked her up and carried her to the school office,” Gulcheena said. “We went into our class and the teacher was calling the roll call when suddenly she told us to go outside.”
Of the 90 girls from the Qazaam school admitted to hospital, at least five slipped briefly into comas, officials in Kapisa province, north-east of the capital, said. Six teachers and at least two other staff were also admitted.
One of the teachers, Zakira, collapsed in front of her students. The headmistress, Mossena, said there was a strange odour which engulfed the courtyard as girls began retching uncontrollably. Medics said most of the victims were between eight and 12 years old.
It was the third such attack against a girls’ school in Afghanistan in as many weeks, raising fears that the Taliban are resorting to increasingly vicious methods to terrorise young women out of education. Police officials blamed Taliban sympathisers but the insurgents’ spokesman Zabiullah Mujahid denied any involvement. “Harming children is not the work of holy warriors,” he said. “We absolutely reject this.”
Gulcheena described the gas smelling like a chemical known locally as Mallatin, which farmers sometimes spread on fields to poison foraging birds. The provincial police chief, Matiullah Safi, said none of the students, teachers or support staff had seen anything suspicious. “It looks like something was sprayed in the school but so far no one has been arrested,” he said. “There’s no proof, at the moment, that this was an attack.”
But the alleged poisoning comes just days after girls at a school in nearby Charikar, on the road north of Kabul, complained of similar symptoms.
Last November, men on motorbikes used water pistols to squirt acid in girls’ faces as they walked to school on the outskirts of Kandahar. More than a dozen girls and several teachers at the Mirwais School for Girls had the acid thrown in their faces and one was so badly disfigured she had to go abroad for treatment. The attacks caused such distress and fear that many parents kept their girls at home for several weeks but most have since returned to school, vowing not to be intimidated.
The Taliban denied involvement in the acid attacks too but police claimed the men were paid by insurgents hired by rogue elements within the Pakistani intelligence agency. President Hamid Karzai, seemingly intent on avoiding any confrontation with Pakistan over the matter, subsequently denied there had been any Pakistani involvement.
Women’s education was banned under the Taliban, and girls’ schools are routinely torched or closed in areas where the insurgents hold sway. Prior to the acid attacks, the Taliban had strengthened their grip in the Mirwais area and other districts close to Kandahar and posters had started appearing warning local people not to let their daughters go to school.
Large parts of Kapisa are now under the control of men loyal to Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, a warlord once bankrolled by the US who is now in talks with the Afghan government of President Karzai. Parwan province, where the two previous gas attacks took place, is widely considered to be one of the safest places in Afghanistan.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Gulcheena said she collapsed moments after rushing outside. “The teachers splashed water on my face, but when I opened my eyes the next thing I knew, I was in hospital.” Seayahmuy, a 15-year-old student in her final year at the school, said doctors had ordered her to stay in overnight. She said she did not remember a strange smell, nor did she see any gas. Dr Abdul Mateen said most of the patients were suffering from vomiting, nausea and dizziness. “We don’t have the equipment here to do a full diagnosis,” Dr Mateen said. Blood samples were being sent for analysis to the US base at Bagram.
The Taliban have shown themselves capable of increasingly complex attacks and Nato accused them this week of using white phosphorus. But they are not thought to have used gas as a weapon in recent years.
One girl, Leda, 12, said from her hospital bed: “We were very weak, sick and dizzy. When I opened my eyes we were in hospital. I am so sad, what went wrong with our school? I want to study.”
MY FORBIDDEN MALDIVIAN CULTURE
By Fareedha
‘My Forbidden Face’ by Latifa, ‘In the name of Honour’ by Mukhtar Mai, ‘Afghanistan where God only comes to weep’ by Siba Shakib, are all stories about women suffering under extremist religious doctrines. Latifa was only 16 when the Taliban seized power in 1996 and her story describes how their lives changed overnight and how they were forbidden to go out on their own, how they were prohibited from working or going to school. The same pattern is repeated in the other two stories. I read these stories with mixed emotions. I felt extreme compassion for the women who are struggling to come to terms with extremist beliefs and rules. At the same time I felt enormous relief that I come from a country claiming to be 100% Muslim yet I could enjoy the freedoms and liberties that these women cannot perhaps even fathom.
However, the million dollar question today is ‘For how long?’ The creeping Arabization, a term I would use for the lack of an alternative, is something that we can no longer ignore. What is even more damning is the lack of distinction between Arab culture and Islam. Are we Maldivians no longer allowed to have our distinct identity? Maldivian women had long practiced Islam alongside being proud of a rich heritage and culture. I refuse to accept that my grandmother and her mother before her and her mother before her and so on who were pious women in their own right, who I am told, prayed dutifully five times a day, were kind to the poor, fasted during Ramdan and did the Haj at a time when it was extremely difficult to travel to Mecca, will be dwellers of hell just because they did not wear the black garment that Arab women wear. They were practising believing Muslim women who wore their ‘libas’ and ‘kandiki’ or ‘feyli’ as the occasion may be; and wore it with pride and dignity. I cannot fathom that the God I believe in, will condemn these women to eternal damnation just because they did not follow their Arab ‘cousins’ in their manner of dressing.
But in today’s climate of intolerance and prejudice, Maldivian women are fast becoming replicas of women belonging to another culture. This cultural colonization by the Arab-sponsored ‘cultural’ mercenaries (I refuse to call them Islamic scholars!) is nothing different from the colonizers that came from Europe, mainly from the 15th century onwards and forced their ways and traditions on the indigenous populations of Asia and Africa, etc. The colonization of these regions by countries that claimed racial and cultural superiority is not far different from what is happening now – ie Dominance of Arab culture and language over other native cultures. Nevertheless, what is different is that this cultural colonization is not physically carried by ‘invading’ hordes of Arabs but by local people, trained and brain-washed abroad; who are then unleashed upon the native people of Maldives and other such vulnerable countries. And the weapons they use are not the musket or the cannon but religion; something that we find extremely difficult to counter and leave us helpless and full of dispair.
How do we meet this threat of Arab colonization? There is no quick-fix answer to this. However, we too have a weapon that we can combat this cultural invasion. And that is something that our forefathers and foremothers believed in and practiced for centuries. And that is Islam. We have to ensure that our faith remains strong and our beliefs in the religion practiced by our ancestors for centuries is something that cannot be twisted and dragged away from us just because someone came and told us that we have to dress like an Arab woman and speak like an Arab woman and behave like an Arab woman. Islam is a religion that was sent to all cultures and all nations. If Allah wanted all of us to be Arabs, then the Almighty would have made us so. We must, therefore, stand together and be proud of our religion and our heritage – something that co-existed side by side for centuries. We must not let our faith be swayed by this cultural colonization. We must differentiate between Arab culture and Maldivian culture. Otherwise we will be reading ‘My forbidden Maldivian culture’ sooner rather than later.
APPOINTMENT OF FEMALE JUDGES IN MUSLIM COUNTRIES
This article is written by Aishath Muneeza, a Post Graduate Student, Harun M. Hashim Law Centre, International Islamic University Malaysia.
MALAYSIA
Abstract
The purpose of this research is to enlighten one of the contemporary legal dilemmas in Islamic law namely, the appointment of female judges in Muslim countries. The methodology employed is library based research. The focus of this research is to determine the legal status of appointments of female judges in Shari’ah courts. It is argued here that female judges can be appointed in Muslim countries and that the main reason for this is the fact that there is no explicit prohibition of it in the fundamental sources of Islamic law. However the claims that it is contrary in Islamic law to appoint female judges are also discussed here. The outcome of this research is to prove that there is nothing wrong in Islam to appoint female judges, as long as they fulfill the conditions necessary.
Cartoon published in Fiyes Magazine, 30 May 2007, No. 236
Introduction
Appointment of female judges has become a contentious issue in all of the Muslim nations including Malaysia. Today, countries such as Sudan, Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Indonesia and Maldives has altered their procedure on this aspect by choosing female judges to preside in the courts, but there is no end to the deliberations of the religious groups. These deliberators tag along the observations specified by the classical scholars of Muslims, who based their views on the interpretations of the verses of the Quran and Sunnah.[1]
Mohamed Hamed al-Gemel, the former president of the Fatwaa Council of Egypt stated;
“There is no specific provision in the Qur’an or Sunnah proscribing the appointment of female judges, so the interpretation depends on the rulings of contemporary jurists.”[2] This shows that the issue of appointment of female judges in Muslim countries is open for interpretation.
It has to be understood here that gender has nothing to do with this and anyone can be a judge if they are qualified. Apart from their academic qualifications, they must also be mentally strong. This view has been supported by Prof Datuk Shukor Husin, Council chairman of the National Fatwa Council of Malaysia. He stated that women could be appointed as Syariah judges provided that their selection was based on their abilities, integrity, qualifications as well as experiences.[3]
In this endeavour to analyze this matter, the topic has been divided into several headings. The very first thing which has been discussed in this work is the observations of classical jurists. This is to ensure that the readers comprehend the fundamental views about the issue, before reading the depth analysis. After this, the grounds on which female judges could be appointed in Islamic countries have been discussed. Before concluding this research work, attempt has been made to refer to the contemporary developments of this issue in some of the Muslim countries.
It is argued here that though the appointments of female judges in Muslim countries remain a controversial issue due to the general misperception that such appointments might not be in conformity with Islamic law, it is consistent with Islamic law as there is no explicit Quranic verse or tradition of the prophet (SAW) prohibiting it.
Observations Of The Classical Muslim Jurists
The majority view (jumhur) among the founding jurists (mujtahid mutlaq) of Imam Shafii, Malik and Ibn Hanbal regarded women as being ineligible as judges based on an interpretation of Surah an-Nisa’ 4:34, that men are qawwamuna (protectors) over women.
The minority view of Imam Abu Hanifah, however, opined that the authority of a judge is not valid unless he possesses the qualifications necessary for a witness. Thus this opinion allows women to be judges in all cases except hudud and qisas cases. This flows from Imam Abu Hanifah’s interpretation of Surah al-Baqarah 2:282, on women’s eligibility to be witnesses in commercial transactions.
There were also the individual views of other jurists such as al-Tabari and Ibn Hazm which stated that a woman can be a judge in all cases without exception as long as she fulfils the requirements for the position. This would also appear to flow from a reading of Surah al-Taubah 9:71, that believing men and women are each other’s awliyya (protecting friends and guardians).
Grounds On Which Female Judges Can Be Appointed As Judges
In this paper two grounds on which female judges could be appointed in Muslim countries would be discussed. They are:
(a) No explicit prohibition can be found in Qur’an and Sunnah.
(b) Islam does not inferiorize women.
No Explicit Prohibition Can Be Found In Qur’an And Sunnah
There are no statements in the Quran and Sunnah depriving women from acting as judges. Each of these sources of Islamic law would be analyzed separately.
Qur’an
In Quran there is no single verse prohibiting the appointment of female judges. The verses interpreted by scholars to prohibit have no relevance to the matter at all.
Surah an-Nisa’ 4:34 is the parent source from which all juristic opinion of the status and position of women is derived by the opponents.
Surah an-Nisa’ 4:34 states to the effect that:
Men are qawwamuna over women, (on the basis) that Allah has (faddala) preferred some of them over others and (on the basis) of what they spend of their property (for the support of women) …
This verse has been misconstrued to mean that men have power over women and that all men are superior to women. The Qur’an institutes men responsible over women. It does not mean that women are incapable of handling their own affairs as though they lack the capacity. It does not mean that women are incompetent to handle leadership roles. Rather, it intends to establish the responsibility of men for the protection and maintenance of women in a restricted setting or social context. Biologically, only women can bear the future generations of Muslims. The Qur’an creates a harmonious balance in society by establishing a functional responsibility for males to facilitate this biological function of females. The material responsibility of men in the Qur’an is that they are vested with the responsibility to facilitate this biological function of females. This verse does not give men inherent superiority, but rather establishes mutual responsibility in society.
Furthermore, Qur’an does not say that all men are superior to or better than all women and nor that all men are preferred by Allah (SW) over all women. Advantages are explicitly specified in the Qur’an. Men have a certain advantage materially, resulting in certain responsibilities (or vice versa). When the Qur’an says that “some (unspecified gender) are preferred by Allah (SW) over others”, it uses general language which corresponds exactly with the observable reality in creation: some creatures have some advantages over others-even some humans over others. All men do not always have an advantage over all women, or all women over all men.
The view that a man is superior to a woman because he is physically “stronger” also lacks the support of the Qur’an and authentic Sunnah. The divine sources mention “care” and “responsibility” within the family, but not superiority. Muslim men and women are equal in their individual and social responsibilities, being in charge (protectors) of one another and of the whole society (awliyya), as stated in Surah al-Taubah 9:71.
Other than Surah an-Nisa’ 4:34, another verse that is repeatedly cited to entail women’s incompetence is Surah al-Baqarah 2:282, which states to the effect that:
Whenever you take credit for a stated term set it down in writing. And let a scribe write it down equitably between you … And call upon two of your men to act as witnesses; and if the two men are not available to you as witnesses, then a man and two women from among you, so that if one of them should make a mistake, the other could remind her …
This verse has been misinterpreted to prove the moral and intellectual incapacity of women. The context of this verse relates to a written loan agreement. The stipulation that two women may be substituted for one male witness does not imply any reflection on woman’s moral or intellectual capabilities. It is obviously due to the fact that (at the time of revelation) women were less familiar with business procedures than men and, therefore, more liable to commit mistakes in this respect.
The unfamiliarity of women at the time of revelation in personally conducting business transactions is demonstrated by the fact that even Khadijah (RA), the wife of the Prophet (SAW), left the charge of her business affairs to him. This was the socio-historical context at that time when the verse was revealed. To ensure justice therefore, two women were required for the following purpose: If the female witness errs or forgets, the other is needed, not to give evidence, but to remind her. This is quite acceptable, even today, when women still find the court process intimidating and require another to reassure them and provide moral support. This again corresponds to the observable reality. It should, in fact, be considered quite remarkable that despite the social constraints at the time of the revelation-inexperience and coercion of women-a woman was nevertheless considered a potential witness. In this modern era, such revolutionary consideration of women’s potential should lead to greater promotion of her contributions to a just and moral social system, and end exploitation of her and others in society.
Sunnah
The hadith that is often cited to deprive women of headship is a hadith related by Abu Bakra to the effect that:
When the news reached the Prophet (SAW) that the Persians had made the daughter of Chosroe their ruler he observed: That a nation can never prosper which has assigned its reign to a woman.
For hundreds of years, this hadith has been taken to mean by a majority juristic opinion that a woman cannot be a nation’s leader (khalifah), and as such she should not be allowed to be a judge (which is part of the function of a khalifah). This juristic opinion resulted in the regression of the status and position of women in society, to the extent that Muslim women were unable to equally enjoy the rights that were enjoyed by men. These rights included political rights and political participation, holding higher public offices, becoming witnesses, judges and leaders. Nevertheless, the other opinion which stems from this hadith allows women to be judges, but not leaders or heads of government.
Whatever the traditional interpretation, it must be noted that this hadith is classified as an ahad (isolated) hadith. This means that the narrators of this hadith do not exceed two persons in each generation. A mutawatir hadith, on the other hand, is one that is reported by an indefinite number of people in such a way that precludes the possibility of its being false.
The above hadith was narrated for the first time during the Battle of the Camel in which A `shah (RA) led her forces into Basrah. Her forces (which reportedly included Abu Bakra) were defeated. Many believers died in that battle.
Many modern-day commentators view this hadith as a fabricated hadith. If it had been a genuine hadith of the Prophet (SAW), Abu Bakra would have obeyed the injunction by not going out to battle under A `shah’s banner. The other explanation may be that the report was in the nature of a khabar (information).
In the context of the Battle of the Camel, Aishah was in command of the army which included many illustrious companions of the Prophet. None of them objected to her being in command, nor did they desert her for that reason. Even Abu Bakra, the narrator of the above hadith, did not desert her. Had he been convinced that the Prophet had prohibited women from being imam (leader or head) he should have deserted Aishah as soon as he recalled this tradition. How then could it be said that a woman cannot become leader of a government when her leadership was accepted by such eminent companions of the Prophet?
Those who have utilised the above-mentioned hadith for the proposition that a woman should not hold leadership positions have also cited a statement attributed to Aishah as saying:
It would be more to my liking had I remained in my house and not gone on the expedition to Basrah
If she made this statement, it could be because she regretted the loss of so many lives, including some of her nearest and dearest, and to the loss of her own prestige, and not necessarily that she was not supposed to lead.
It is a well-known principle in Islamic jurisprudence that an ahad hadith is not a basis for formulating binding rules and it is not necessary to act upon it. Hence, it is strange and illogical that this isolated tradition should have been made the basis for the ruling that a woman cannot become a head of state or be appointed as a judge, a ruling that has such serious implications on society in general as well as on women in particular.
The second hadith relied upon as impediments to the appointment of women to responsible positions are the tradition which declares women as “naqis al-‘aql wa al-din” (defective or imperfect in reasoning and religion). As stated by those who are well versed in discriminating between authentic and forged traditions, the forgery can in most cases be detected from the subject matter of the tradition. Thus, a hadith cannot be accepted as authentic if it describes what is impossible of occurrence and which is not acceptable to human reason, or if it is contrary to the Qur’an,or if it is contrary to historical facts.
The former Chief Justice of the Federal Shariat Court of Pakistan, Justice Aftab Hussein, referred to the view of Dr Abdul Hamid Mutawalli, who said that it is very apparent that this tradition is one of the thousands of traditions which were forged and ascribed to the Prophet (saw) falsely, as it contains all the three defects.[4]
Among the first generation of Muslims, women were involved in the transmission of Prophetic reports as well as the development of legal doctrine. The most prominent of these women was Aishah (RA). The fact that Aishah (RA) was a wife of the Prophet (saw) gave her privileged status as a transmitter of religious doctrine. It was her own qualities as an individual, however, that afforded her the authority to interpret law. Female participation in the production and reproduction of the religious sciences did not cease with the demise of the first generation of Muslims. Evidence of female participation in the public transmission of the hadith can be found in many diplomas (ijazas) containing women’s names and in the manuscripts that mention women as teachers and as students. There is some evidence that women also participated in the more speculative branches of the religious sciences, such as positive law and speculative legal philosophy. Al-Hattab, a North African jurist of the 16th century CE, mentions the names of his teachers, his teachers’ teachers, and the chain of authorities (isnad) that linked him to the authors of the various books that he had studied in his legal career. Two women appear in this chain of authorities, Zaynab bint al-Kamal al-Maqdisiyya al-Musnida and Umm al-Hasan Fatima bint Khalil al-Katani (or al-Kinani).
This fact of women’s recognised participation as intellectuals created awareness of the contradiction between the epistemological equality women enjoyed in the production and transmission of knowledge and their marginalised position in political contexts, whether as a witness or as a judge in a court of law. It also lessened the plausibility of any argument that sought to ground discrimination in the nature of the female. There are arguments in medieval Islamic legal discourse that defend the gender-based distinction against women in the political contexts by ultimately locating the source of this discrimination not within the woman, but rather in specific social circumstances and the role that women played within those social circumstances.
A witness’s testimony and a judge’s verdict are both political because the consequences of each are immediate, tangible and binding. Al-Qarafi’s argument noted the difficulty courts have in enforcing the law. This institutional argument is compounded by the fact that men (including himself) in his 13th century CE Egyptian society viewed women as being generally inferior to men. Subsequently, there is a greater likelihood that the losing party will not respect the court’s decision. Al-Qarafi’s second argument, that women are inherently deficient in reason and religion, is described as weak by Ibn al-Shatt (d. 1323 CE), because if one accepts this argument, this deficiency must also be present when a woman acts as a narrator of hadith. However, women are recognized as narrators of hadith, and also as mufti.
Interpretation of revelation was free of gender restrictions. A woman’s legal opinion (fatwa) was just as valid and morally binding as the legal opinion of a man. Thus a woman could legitimately be a mufti, a legal expert whose task it was to communicate legal rules to non-specialists including, at times, judges and other holders of political power. There was complete agreement among Sunni jurists that women could be mufti. It was as a result of the law’s acceptance of women as mufti, moreover, that al-Tabari was led to argue that a woman could be a judge in all areas of the law. There are also a number of historical instances about the exercise of jurisdiction of qadhi by women without any objection by the ulama’ of that age. The oldest example is of the mother of Muqtadar Billah who presided at the High Court of Appeal.
It is therefore possible to extend this argument by saying that if there is a society in which men would respect the decisions of the court and comply with court verdicts regardless of the gender of the witnesses or the judges, there is then no reason to exclude qualified women from being appointed as judges.
Islam Does Not Inferiorize Women
In order to fully comprehend how Islam views women, it is essential to first understand the status of women in the Arabian Peninsula. The social and political culture that existed in Arabia when the Prophet began to spread his message was rooted in membership in clans and tribes dominated by patriarchs. The domination of society and culture by men during Jahiliyyah was absolute. During this period, a man could marry up to one hundred women, and, upon his death, they became part of his estate for his heirs. Some tribes practiced female infanticide, and women were never allowed to inherit. It is in the context of the repressed status of women in Jahiliyyah that the innovativeness of the Qur’an’s declarations of a new status for women in society becomes clear.
The importance of this early domination of Arab society by men lies not in the popular notion that Islam is a patriarchal religion, but rather in the reassertion of male societal domination after the death of the Prophet. Although the Prophet’s death signalled the reanimation of patriarchal forces, it was not until the end of the reign of the first four Rightly-Guided khalifahs that the political forces of patriarchy reasserted themselves and swiftly eroded the advances in women’s rights guaranteed by the Prophet’s teachings. In order to undermine the gains made by women during the life of the Prophet, men alone began to assume the role of interpreting the Qur’an. As discussed above, various schools of interpretation developed, but all had one thing in common-a patriarchal value system. These schools began to disallow the participation of women in public life, and, as a result, Qur’anic scholarship and interpretation of Islamic law became the province of men, with predictable results for the rights of women in society. The Islam intended by the Prophet and the Islam practiced today are identical in form only; in spirit, Islam has drifted from its guiding principles as they apply to Muslim women.
During the time of the Prophet, Islam diminished the excessive practices of Jahiliyyah by imposing new laws using the principle of gradualism. Islam granted women their dignity and allowed them to claim equal rights with men in all spheres of life. The Qur’an teaches Muslims that God created both men and women from the same soul.
O mankind! Reverence Your Guardian-Lord, Who created you from a single Person, Created, of like nature, His mate, and from them twain Scattered (like seeds) Countless men and women.
This concept is a marked departure from the Judaeo-Christian tradition, which teaches that God first created man, and only afterward created woman as his companion. The image of creating Eve from one of Adam’s ribs reinforces the concept of women as subordinate to men. The creation passage in the Qur’an marks a departure from this tradition, as do the practices and teachings of the Prophet.
In the period of nascent Islam, women played prominent roles in all realms of life: religious, political, educational, legal, moral, economic, and military. A few examples will show what Islam accomplished in raising the educational level of women and will highlight Muslim women’s contributions to the growth of knowledge in Islamic society.
The Prophet (SAW) gradually but persistently allowed women to assume important positions in society. He designated his wife Aishah (RA) as a religious authority by stating “take half of your religion from this ruddy-complexioned woman.” Through the Prophet’s encouragement, Aishah (RA) played a visible and active role in the political, legal, and scholastic activities of the Muslim community. The Prophet chose her as one of the people who would pass on knowledge of the Qur’an and his practices to later generations of Muslims. Aishah (RA) herself taught famous scholars about the Qur’an and Hadith, and discussed complex problems of jurisprudence and commentary with them. A’isha (RA)’s knowledge and intellect were such that her critique of some of the legal decisions of eminent jurists caused them to change their minds and instead adopt her views. In addition, she narrated 2,210 Hadith of the Prophet, and scholars have noted that one-fourth of the norms of Shari’ah law were also narrated by her. In almost every respect, Aishah (RA) appears to have been not only one of the Companions of the Prophet, but also an exceptional person.[5]
Other women played prominent roles in the growth and enrichment of Islamic civilization. Imam Nawawi stated that Umm al-Mu’minin Hafsa (RA) “was one of the intellectual and intelligent persons.” He also spoke about the mother of Anas, Umm Sulaim, as one of the learned and knowledgeable Companions of the Prophet. Imam Nawawi expressed a similar opinion about Umm Atiyah, saying “[s]he is reckoned among those of the Companions who won excellence and honor and participated in jihad with the Prophet.” Imam Bukhari stated that “Umm Darda’ sat in Tashahud [as a witness] as a man sits and was a jurist (therefore her actions are authoritative).”[6]
Islam did not prevent women from participating in armed revolutionary resistance or legal decision-making. Zaynab, Ali’s daughter, was a revolutionary, and Umm Atiyah, Hafsa, Asma’ binti Abi Bakr, and Sahla binti Suhail were all jurists. Women also participated in the bay’ah and, thus, were an integral part of the political process. In fact, through the bay’ah, they contributed later on to the election of the third khalifah. In short, women were equal participants in the growth of the early Islamic state.[7]
The well-known saying of Omar Ibn al-Khattab, the second Rightly-Guided khalifah, demonstrated the change in the status of women which had occurred with the advent of Islam: “By God, we did not pay attention to women in jahiliyyah until God said about them in the Qur’an what is said, and gave them their share in matters.” After the schism in Islam that occurred when Ali died at the hands of the Kharijites, women in Islam began to lose their influence to the forces of patriarchy and despotism. It was through a biased interpretation of the Shari’ah, along with the rigid cultural tendencies of male jurists, that woman became confined to a secluded life and subordinate existence to men.[8]
A plain question may be able to enlighten us here. How is it possible that women and men bear an equal responsibility, both in terms of their religion and society, to propagate the faith; and bear an equal responsibility, stated in the Qur’an, to promote justice and Tawhid (oneness); but when it comes to the most decisive means of development of these objectives – judgeship and religious and political leadership – women are excluded? If women are permitted to master Ijtihad, then how can they be deprived, on a par with lunatics and criminals, of the right to religious leadership, even when more qualified? Why should the public be deprived of a woman’s superior insight or more comprehensive understanding of the faith?
We are free to debate, at whatever length, the qualifications required for a jurisprudent, judge or leader, until we arrive at a definite conclusion. It is very different, however, to deprive women of the chance to acquire the necessary qualifications and religious knowledge. As we know, according to the criteria of jurisprudence, being a man is not a prerequisite to becoming a judge or a leader. Women are backbone of any society. They have the same power and instincts same as a man. Islam is not a chauvinistic religion; it never was and never should be.
Ibn Hazm, a prominent traditional scholar, was of the opinion that women could be judges in all kinds of cases. He relied on the following Qur’anic verse “Behold, God bids you to deliver all that you have been entrusted with unto those who are entitled thereto, and whenever you judge between people, to judge with justice. Verily, most excellent is what God exhorts you to do: verily, God is all-hearing, all-seeing!” (4:58); Ibn Hazm said that since this verse addressed both men and women, there was no need to discriminate between the two.
In conclusion to this part I would like to cite the judgment of the case decided by the Federal Court of Pakistan, which clearly mentions that Islam does to make men superior than women. In Ansar Burney v. Federation of Pakistan[9] a petition was filed to challenge the appointment of women as magistrates. The Court dismissed the petition on the following grounds:
1. There is no law or custom or usage having the force of law for or against the seclusion of women. The court is not called upon to go into the question of whether Islam allows complete seclusion or partial seclusion or whether a woman shall appear in public, veiled or unveiled.
2. The argument of counsel for the petitioner that since the evidence of a woman is half that of a man and her share in inheritance is half that of her brother, there should be at least two female judges to decide a case is impossible to accept. If such a concept is given effect to, it will follow that no male judge sitting alone can decide a civil or criminal case. According to fiqh, in cases other than that of zina in which four eye-witnesses are required to prove the offence, at least two male witnesses must prove disputes of property or criminal cases in hudud and qisas. If the argument of counsel is taken to its logical conclusion, it should follow that the number of judges to decide a particular case should correspond to the number of witnesses required to prove it.
3. The share of inheritance to a male is in proportion to his responsibilities and not due to any superiority over the female.
4. Similarly, it is not a ground for excluding women from appointment as judges that the Holy Prophet or his four successive Caliphs did not appoint any woman as such since the rule is that what is not prohibited in the Qur’an and Sunnah is permitted, and the burden of proof about anything prohibited is on the person who claims it to be so.
5. It is not denied that there is no specific and direct injunction in the Qur’an and Sunnah of the Holy Prophet concerning the matter. There are only the conflicting opinions of the jurists. (The court then dealt extensively with these opinions and historic examples of women in Muslim history.)
6. There are certain injunctions in the Qur’an which, like other injunctions on good conduct, discharge of duties, reward and punishment are common to both men and women. These are injunctions regarding the duty of all Muslims to be just and do justice (Surah an-Nisa’ 4;58, Surah al-Ma’idah 5:42, Surah al-Hadid 57:25).
7. The words “adl” or “qist” in these sura are used in a much wider sense and each Muslim, whether male or female, is bound to be just and equitable in his dealings with his spouse, parents, children, neighbours, relatives, friends, fellow Muslims and all others. The concept of justice in deciding disputes between the parties or in dealing with criminal cases is only a part of adl or qist. The verses Surah 4:58 and 5:42 clearly envisage determination of disputes or litigation. There is no distinction in this connection between man and woman.
8. In view of this and in the absence of any prohibition in the Qur’an or hadith about the judgeship of woman or any restriction limiting the function of deciding disputes to men only, the generality of these verses cannot be cut down.
9. From whatever angle, there appears to be no merit in the objection raised by the petitioner against the appointment of women to judicial offices.
Conclusion
Appointment of female judges is something of a landmark, breaking the last barrier that has been within the legal system to the advancement of women and there is no reason that if she goes through the same process as any male and passes, why she should not be hired as a judge. Egypt’s Grand Mufti Sheikh Ali Gomaa has said the appointment of women to judicial positions does not contradict Islamic precepts. “The job of a judge is merely to know the law well and to implement it fairly. The inclusion of women is a right owed to society as a whole”.[10]
It is also inconceivable that all women are incapacitated morally and intellectually. The Prophet (SAW) himself acknowledged the intelligence of A’isha (RA), his wife. The Prophet (SAW) stated that half of knowledge is in her hands. Surah al-Imran 3:190 & 191 states that “those who reflect” are those who “remember Allah when they (men and women) stand, and when they (men and women) sit, and when they (men and women) lie down to sleep”. Thus the Qur’an has not discriminated men and women in “those who reflect (or think)”.
Interaction of women and men in public does not necessarily bring about a corruption of morality (fitnah). One of the necessary qualifications of a judge is integrity. If the appearance of a woman litigant does not bring about a corruption of morals of the male judge, it would follow that the appearance of male litigants will not bring about the corruption of the female judge. Surah an-Nahl 16:97 states:
As for anyone-be it man or woman-who does righteous deeds, and is a believer withal … We shall grant unto these their reward in accordance with the best that they ever did.
The fact that the rightly guided Caliphs did not have women appointees as judges does not mean that there exists a prohibition. There is no clear text in the Qur’an and Sunnah to prohibit such appointments. The duty of arbitration and settling disputes is a matter enjoined by the Qur’an and Sunnah. The Qur’an has left the decision on appointing the arbiters or judges to humans who can fulfil the requirement of the task of judging.
Therefore, to sum up, it is stated here that the Muslim Countries who had adopted the appointment of female judges had done nothing wrong and it would not be in contrary to the principles of Islam to appoint female judges. If all the conditions necessary to become judges are fulfilled, it is permissible.
[1] Quran is the Holy Book revealed to Muslim and is the primary law in Islam and Sunnah is the practice of Prophet Mohammed (May Peace be Upon Him), which is the secondary source of Islam.
[2] Morrow, A., et.al., (2007), Egypt: Female Judge Appointments Stir Controversy, ips.net, retrieved on 10 March 2010 from http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=37358
[3] New Straits Times (2006), Yes to women Syariah judges, findarticles.com, retrieved on 10 March 2010 from http://findarticles.com/p/news-articles/new-straits-times/mi_8016 /is_20060728/women-syariah-judges/ai_n44330059/
[4] Hussein, Aftab (1991), Status of Women in Islam, Lahore: Law Publishing Company.
[5] Fadel, Mohammad (1997), “Two Women, One Man: Knowledge, Power, and Gender in Medieval Sunni Legal Thought”, Int. J. Middle East Studies 29: 191.
[6] ibid
[7] Mernissi, Fatima (1991), Women and Islam: an Historical & Theological Enquiry, Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
[8]ibid
[9] PLD (1983) FSC 73.
[10] Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875. 7 – 13 June 2007, Issue No. 848, Egypt
Current Law Journal of 2010 (republished with persmission)
As the August deadline for revamping the judicial system looms in, both political parties, whilst vehemently denying any meddling in the judiciary, seem to be doing everything in their power to get their ‘guys’ in.
MDP MP Musthafa and Adhaalath’s Sheik Rasheed have lodged complaints against Judge Mohamed Naeem and JSC member and prominent women’s human rights activist Velzinee has lodged a case to dismiss the chief judge of the criminal court Abdulla Mohamed.
Meanwhile DRP, whose former leader Gayoom appointed most of the judges, are laying low and accusing the government of interfering with the judiciary the moment anyone points a finger at the judges. They are counting on the sacredness of the idea of an independent judiciary, a system MDP activists helped bring about, to work in their favor.
The only people who don’t seem to have a powerful lobby behind them are the Aneh Dhivehin who want to be judges. To this date, no newspaper, political party or NGO has taken on the issue of female judges, not from a positive perspective anyway.
To gauge the opinion of the politicians on this issue I’ll review interviews on an article in Haveeru English pages published back in 2007 when the first female judge of the country was appointed.
As can be expected, Jameel and Hassan Saeed, both in the Gayoom government back then supported the idea and considered the timing ‘right’. Husnu Sood, our current Attorney General liked the idea but considered the timing inappropriate, adding that the decision was too ‘sudden’ and that the ‘grass roots’ level may have issues with the idea (I’m thinking he is referring to the grass roots level men). Hamid Abdul Gafoor, then MDP secretary general gave the official MDP line as “We openly welcome this decision”.
Adhaalath’s Sheikh Hussein Rasheed goes on his usual rampage. “At no time in Islamic history has women acted as judges. There are other jobs which women can fill in … However higher a woman is educated in judiciary matters, women are not allowed in Islam to act in the posts of judges”. Haveeru writer notes that ‘It is also not clear what evidence Rasheed evokes to conclude that women are not on par with men when it comes to certain areas in the Islamic way of life’.
Dr Bari, our beloved Islamic Minister, seems to have a somewhat different opinion saying “the majority of Islamic scholars” say that women cannot be appointed as judges. However he adds that “some scholars were of the view that women can be appointed as judges to oversee cases of family or domestic disputes or issues related to women.”
Fast forward to three years later: with a stronger Adhaalath party in tow, if MDP is successfully able to appoint judges of their choice, who will they be? Does Husnu Sood, now a JSC member and the Attorney General, still consider it too ‘sudden’ to introduce female judges and will he still call for a gradual (ie limited) introduction? Will Hamid Abdul Gafoor, now an MP, still back a bid to introduce more women? Will Mariya, for once, dare to compromise her chairpersonship and speak up against the Fundies within the MDP? Will DRP Anhenun ge gofi, led by Dunya Maumoon, take a stand? How much of a say will Adhaalath party have? What’s HEP’s position on this?
We all know what Adhaalath’s views on the Shariah are and we all have at least one friend/relative/mother who has been approached by a Maumoon era judge three hours after he finished up her divorce case at court.
Gloomy enough, if the liberal elements inside MDP and the women’s lobby from DRP don’t push for this, it looks like our only choice is between the Abdulla Pervsters and Sheikh flog-a-lot Rasheeds of this country.
Rehendhi 