The CII’s perspectives

Letter June 27, 2016
In Pakistan, the area needs proper attention from all quarters, especially from the CII

ISLAMABAD: The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) has attracted a lot of criticism from almost all sections of society, especially in the print media in the last few years, due to its bizarre interpretation of religion — absurd suggestions, strange comments, and hard to rationalise verdicts. The Council has begun issuing proposal after proposal more than ever before, usually in matters having either very little scope or no scope at all in the perspective of Islamising the legal system of Pakistan. The issue such as the beating of a wife, lightly or harshly, these days, is being discussed — often humourously — in almost every office, street, home and social gathering. But in a male-dominated society like ours, where women are not given the required social space and status, beating wives will continue whether the Council issues a fatwa for it or against it — unless the public is equipped with education.

Issues such as allowing a second marriage without the permission of the first wife and endorsement of underage marriages have also attracted criticism from various segments of society for the CII. Similarly, the Council has also suggested the adoption of gold and silver as mediums of currency and so on and so forth. Instead of spreading further confusion about Islam in a state where the education levels are low and poverty, power outages and inflation are rampant, why isn’t the CII playing its role in promoting the message of love and peace among the people, which is the real spirit of Islam? There are other issues of great public importance that need to be addressed by the Council — primarily, the issue of bringing reforms in legal education. Any reform whatsoever brought through these efforts will have a large impact on the administration of justice for the future. Unfortunately, no single word is ever uttered by any office-bearer of the Council about this significant matter. This movement for reforms in legal education could have been taken as an opportunity to bring uniformity and coherence into law school syllabi across the country.

Previously, such items have always been a part of the agenda of the meetings in the Council and finally, a scheme of study was also proposed by the CII for the LLB degree in 1998. The then committee on legal education recommended that basic courses on Islamic law and jurisprudence should be made compulsory in the national curriculum for law schools.

The current office-holders in the Council should pay attention to these issues and try to bring harmony to the legal education of the country and make it useful for the justice system. Pakistan inherited its legal system from Britain; hence, it is a common law country. However, the importance and significance of Islamic law cannot be denied as it is one of the basic sources of the country’s legal system today. The Council should get a grip and focus on the larger picture of society and try to achieve the goal of reforming the judicial system of the country. In this context, adding courses of Islamic law and jurisprudence in the curriculae of all law schools will be a great achievement, especially in these challenging times.

However, practically, the CII can only become a body that people will take seriously when people at large are convinced of its members’ high calibre and impartiality. Legal education is the foundation of all judicial activities in a country. In Pakistan, the area needs proper attention from all quarters, especially from the CII.

Dr Muhammad Akbar Khan

Published in The Express Tribune, June 18th, 2016.

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