Friday, July 01, 2005

The Shariat and its fatwa

What form of justice is this ? No matter what religion you follow, no matter what cultural background you come from, if justice to a victim is handed out by punishing the victim for the deeds of the perpetrator, and the criminal is allowed to go scott free.

Imrana has accepted the terms of the justice handed down to her. Well, what choice does she have ? She has to live in the community and has to seek help from these same men in the future. But it will be a sad day, if others dont step in to help and educate her of her rights. And it will be much better if women from the Islamic community step forward first. It is all too easy for this to spiral into a communal issue, if outsiders start to interfere soon.

I am not a muslim, and i dont know the shariat, i also dont know enough about the cultural background from where Imrana comes from. But i am human, and have enough common sense to understand that she was wronged. It is wrong to characterize this a problem with islam. The problem is never with a religion, the problem is always with its followers.

But, it has to be said that there are too many cases of similar problems and judgements being handed out by a bunch of men, in the name of Allah and whatever law they deem fit at that time. Mukhtar Mai from Pakistan is a very recent example of similar style of flawed justice.

Read more about Mukthar Mai and Imrana.

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