FAISALABAD:
Murder in the name of honour is ‘haraam’ and there is no permission in Islam ‘for such a callous offence’, according to members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).
Some 30 muftis of the SIC issued this statement following the murder of a 25-year-old woman, Farzana, in Lahore on Tuesday last week, allegedly by members of her family including her father, brothers and cousins. “There is no justification for the killing of Farzana in such a barbaric manner,” said Mufti Muhammad Shareef Rizvi, speaking after the meeting. “The accused should be punished under the law, which they violated when they stoned an innocent person to death.”
A special moot was called by the SIC to consider incidents of killing of women under the guise of ‘honour’ on Sunday. Rizvi told the media that SIC members unanimously agreed that there is no concept of killing for honour in Islamic jurisprudence nor are there instances in which a woman can be killed on the pretext of ‘honour’. “Islam allows every girl, after attaining the age of puberty, to marry or solemnize her nikkah with her own will and in the presence of two witnesses,” he said. “If the girl’s parents have any objection, they should file a petition in the court.”
Mufti Rizvi said that Farzana’s alleged honour killing had “defamed Pakistan and the esteem and prestige of the judiciary as well as Islam at global level”. He said the accused should be made an example of so that ‘no one could dare to take the law into their hands in the future and make a mockery of Islam’.
Those present at the SIC on Sunday were: Mufti Muhammad Akbar Rizvi, Mufti Muhammad Kareem Khan, Mufti Muhammad Haseeb Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Saeed Rizvi, Mufti Ghulam Nabi Jamati, Mufti Muhammad Hussain Siddiqui, Mufti Masoodur Rehman, Maulana Muhammad Wazeerul Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Ramzan Jami, Allama Hamid Sarfraz, Mufti Muhammad Younus Rizvi, Allama Sharafat Ali Qadri, Allama Bagh Ali Rizvi, Mufti Shoaib Muneer, Mufti Abdul Haq Daryai, Mufti Liaqat Ali, Mufti Azhar Saeed, Maulana Muhammad Akbar Naqshbandi, Allama Mushtaq Ahmad Noori, Allama Muhammad Saleem Hamdami, Mufti Bahawal Sher Rizvi, Mufti Ikram Ullah Junaidi, Allama Muhammad Asif Raza Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Haseeb Raza Qadri, Allama Farooq Sultan Qadri, Mufti Ghulam Murtaza Mehrovi, Mufti Ghulam Nabi Fakhari, Allama Qazi Muhammad Yaqoob Rizvi and Allama Qari Faiz Bukhsh Rizvi.
Published in The Express Tribune, June 2nd, 2014.
COMMENTS (36)
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@Karachi Bhai- Instead of critizing the site of the protest why not do one yourself in a remote rural area. There are people like you who are ready to criticize but do NOTHING for the cause!
At background I see a Road sign "Aga Khan Road". Seems one liberal group has organised the protest on a street which is named after a leader of a progressive and model community. The language of signage is kept English. I guess this not directed correctly. The protest should take place in remote rural areas or in settling where people are held hostage by extremist religious and feudal mind set. Sorry this is going to be a wasted effort,
@hmm: Why is it hypocritical to protest against brutality, either by men like these or by the state?
@Anon:
English press of course!
It has nothing t do with religion it is local customs and we always mix customs and religion. I urge keep religion and customs separate although that is not possible in real life , However anthropologist should do some research and figure out what to do to make this culture diminished
I think it is time to release the much anticipated film "Price of Honour’s "second trailer:that touches this sensitive subject and starts the conversation about this stain of our culture locally & abroad.
Murder in the name of honor is ‘haraam’ and there is no permission in Islam ‘for such a callous offense’, according to members of the Sunni Ittehad Council I think we should all collapse in a state of shock that finally some Religious Council is taking a stand. But as the saying goes a day late....& a rupee short? Why are all the other religious entities SILENT? Have they no SHAME why are the Elders of Islam hiding as we do not need these feel-good statements we need action NOW and laws protection the innocent women from these treacherous, cowardly acts!
Reading this, 180 million are ruining Islam. Is it not blasphemy?
@Anon: "All those banners in English…. who exactly is the intended audience?" . @Anon: Did you happen to notice, there were as many placards (not banners) in another language too?
There is no such things as "Mohammadi Law". The woman cannot have illicit relations with herself. What about the male partner with whom she is alleged to have that relationship? Why cant the Council of Islamic Ideology come out openly an condemn this act? When cases are dragged on for years and years, then street justice takes its place.
I do not agree that it is a religious issue. We all, having a slightest knowledge of Islam & prophetic traditions, can figure out that Islam holds extreme care in handling of Women and minorities. And this was a non-issue when we as nation (of Muslims) was more educated islamically as well as more focussed on scientific education and history testifies to it.
The issue of honor killing (and minority misstreatment/killing) today is our ignorance towards issues like education and development. Goverment should not portray this as a religious issue because it is not. The real issue leading upto honor killings and minority problems is the lack of educational reforms both Islamic and Scientific, which is the only solution to all kinds of issues Pakistan faces today. It is the religious, cultural & scietific "tarbiyat" that is missing. And this comes from bottom up, not top down. Government should facilitate the educational programs from ground up to counter this illiterate mindset.
@Anon: half of the banners visible are in Urdu.. open your eyes ...
Mufti Tizvi, and while you are at it Sir withdraw the license of the Priest who certified the marriage with the muderer of the first wife. This is more unislamic than your promotional stunt a issued thbout the Honour killings, which is a worldwide phenomina and has no legiitamacy in any country's laws.
Rex Minor
Whewww .About time ...
Now we just need the 190 million others in the country to chime in with that view!
Rome wasn't built in a day.
@Anon:
You are an illetrate individual, if you can read will tell you that they are human activitists who usualy protest against inhuman acts and the murder is inhuman.
Rex Minor
This is what the SIC say and it is good.......BUT what do the CIS,ICS,SCI and XYZ say because everyone will SADLY have their own interpretation.
@Sabrina Ahmed: Why drag the name of ISlam? They are your leaders and not the representatives of the religion of Islam!!
Rex Minor
@Moiz Omar: Totally agreed. And its probably a publicity stunt by so called scholars. And if we accept them as scholars, what took them 67 years to issue such a fatwa?
I think its the first official statement by any religious group.. other should follow this too...
Finally!!! The criminals who perpetrated should also be charged for ruining the good name of Islam! Absolute shame!
@ d.corleone,
Ok, so you are implying that killing your woman because she disobeyed you, is 'doing justice'! Thanks for pointing out that "stoning to death" is a Islamically valid justice.
No, the majority of honour killings happen because of women suspected to be in illicit relation. There is a difference between "found" and "suspected". Very few are actually found to be in illicit relationships!
Once again, thanks for pointing out that "stoning to death" is a Islamically valid justice :)
Do we need some wizened, uneducated old men telling us what's right and what's wrong based upon religion? Can't we see for ourselves that nothing justifies the murder of our daughters, sisters and mothers?
Problem fixed......
Only rule of law can make a welfare state, People do justice themselves when they don’t see justice happening anywhere else. Majority of honor killings are done becoz of women found to be in illicit relation. So justice should work there "Stoning to death" But not only for women also for men who are in illicit relation. Because denying one evil should not be a promotion of other.
Out of all the Mullah's I always disagree with - the Sunni Ittehad Council often talks sense and restores faith in the Mullah to some extent. Well done.
They must say something about this issue of son pardoning the father or vice versa because it all looks prearranged and secondally justice is not served. It looks like license to kill and get away with it without any punishment.
Finally some sanity prevails
As long as their is injustice such crimes will never stop no matter what our west appeasing/funded NGOs or political parties or religious mullahs say! Capital punishment has to be given out to criminals with heinous crimes! These NGO's are bunch of hypocrites, they protest against such crimes while on the other hand they say no to capital punishment! Why they do it? Because they're foreign funded & they'll say what their real bosses ask them to! Why are we afraid of Shariah law? Is it because of the fact that under Islamic Shariah there is zero tolerance for all kinds of crime? All of us are hypocrites & that is why we're in such a mess because we don't want implement any kind of law based on real justice.
Anon you just made a fool out of yourself......you can't read Urdu yourself and asking for Urdu banners.......there are plenty of Urdu banners in the image :)
These honour killings are more to do with the "ghairatmand" tribal feudal society Punjabi, Sindhi, Balochi and Paklhtun traditions rather than to the religion but the pseudo intellectuals would take this as an opportunity to malign the religion while keeping mum over these barbaric feudal traditions
Have they finally seen the light? Will they also issue a similar condemnation of Taseer's murder since they now suddenly care about the image of Islam. Or is that unimaginable?
All those banners in English.... who exactly is the intended audience?
Better late than never. It's high time that we citizens and like minded religious cum politicos cum social workers got together and formulated a plan to educate and practically do something. With patience and perseverance it can work out. Salams
They woke up finally. It is never too late.
I can't believe such a declaration is even needed. It should be common sense. But then again this is Pakistan. Common sense is sadly very un-common here.