Oh dear…
CAIRO — Egyptian women must not sit as judges because it would be against Islamic law or Sharia as they would have to spend time alone with men, a male Egyptian judge was quoted as saying Saturday.
A woman judge would “contradict Article Two of the constitution,” which states that the principal source of legislation is Sharia, judges’ syndicate president Yahia Ragheb Daqruri said.
The judges’ syndicate position “is based on the consensus of doctors of law and the principles of Sharia,” the Al Masri Al Yom daily quoted Daqruri as saying.
“When a woman works as a judge, her work requires her to be alone in a room with two or more male judges to deliberate … Is this appropriate?
“Citizens and others present [in court] will be surprised by the presence of a woman judge. A woman judge will also become pregnant at some point, and that will certainly have an impact on the judiciary’s prestige and on judges’ public image,” he said, without elaborating.
“Giving birth can also have an impact on the cases she is dealing with being dealt with correctly,” he said, again without elaborating. [source]
Oh my…
Visitors to Riyadh Book Fair Remove Books About Love and Religion
Several Saudi publishers complained that visitors to the international book fair in Riyadh tried to remove books about love and about religions from the booths. One of the publishers commented: “The problem is that they have not read the books. The title of one of the books refers to Jesus, but it [is actually a book] that defends Islam. [Those visitors] thought it was a book against Islam, and that’s why they tried to remove it without permission.”
Source: Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, March 1, 2007. [MEMRI Blog] [more]
Oh no…
The Grand Mufti in the United Arab Emirates issued a fatwa (religious edict) permitting the performance of divorce through an SMS message through cell phones. He said divorce through this modern facility does not differ from a divorce written on paper. There was one provision – the sender of the message must be the husband.
Source: Al-Rafidyan, London, March 2, 2007 [MEMRI Blog]
Not again…
TEHRAN — Iran’s judiciary is to launch a fresh clampdown on women it deems are inappropriately dressed and “spreading prostitution,” the state news agency IRNA reported Saturday.
“The ones who spread prostitution and intentionally seek to disturb social and moral security by inappropriate clothing and behavior will be firmly confronted,” Tehran’s hardline prosecutor Saeed Mortazavi said.
“It has been noticed that some people with an outrageous appearance in public hurt religious feelings and beliefs,” he said, adding the crackdown would start March 6 and continue for a month.
Mortazavi said the crackdown would also target what he described as “street women who get into cars as passengers and rob or extort the drivers.”
Every post-pubescent woman is required to cover her hair and body in public in Iran. Crackdowns are common in summer when many women defy the Islamic dress code by wearing short bright coats, flimsy headscarves, and capri pants. [source]
This is going to backfire (use your imagination)…
TEHRAN — Iran is seeking to create a paradise for female tourists by turning an island on a northwestern lake into a male-free zone, the press reported Wednesday.
All public transport, restaurants, and facilities on the island – on the gigantic Oroumiyeh lake close to the Turkish border – will be staffed only by women, officials said.
“The island of Arezou [Wish], one of the 102 islands in the Oroumiyeh Lake, will be equipped especially for women,” a municipal official in the West Azerbaijan province, identified only as Aghai, was quoted as saying by the Tehran Emrouz newspaper.
“There will be no men on the island,” he said. “It will also boost tourism in the area.” [source]
You know, it’s like we paid someone to come up with the worst scenario … and he did a better job than George Bush
Qwaider, I think this all came free of charge.
stupidity tends to come without a price tag
Nas: it’s so easy to detect stupidity actions in the name of Islam.. but the the hard part is to find the right road to Islam.. who is is going to lead us to the right track? who is going to tell us what is right or wrong? And now we should ask our selfs what exactly Islam is?
wael: those are all complex answers to which i don’t have the answers to and i’d be weary of any one who claims they do.
but we’ve become so dependent on the idea of lacking leadership as the source of the problem that even if actual leadership did come up and say follow me no one would.
we need someone to “show us” right from wrong, to “show us” the right track as you put it.
it seems to me that it’s not a matter of showing. minds have grown lazy and so has the willingness to do anything in the name of Islam.
and so when we say “show us” we mean “tell us”. tell us to jump off the cliff and we will.
but that’s not leadership. that’s babysitting. it’s dictation.
and it’s one of the reason bin laden is so successful.
Oh boy oh boy …
Creative minds in finding new ways to put is full force in the reverse mode …
The Iranian paradise really cracked me up …
You know Nas, I really don’t know whether I should be amused or agitated at this. I mean sure, it strikes an ironic chord and you can’t help but quirk a smile at it all. But seriously, isn’t this why when we get into arguments with people who attack religion, we hit a wall every time something like this comes up?You try to explain that’Islam is not like that’, and that ‘the actions of Muslims don’t represent Islam’ and come up with all the apologetic cliches of the weak..but to tell you the truth, sometimes, just sometimes, it incites in me so many negative feelings in the name of the religion I love so much and I feel doubtful, cynical and it makes me want to turn my back against all the religious scholars and clergymen…and just make my own judgment calls based on what I can interpret from God’s words and his prophet’s teachings. And I know that a cynical attitude will take me nowhere but down, and I know that being critical is not necessary negative, but I also know that I am getting tired. And I am a female, Muslim and I wear the hijab and I am shocked at the level of backwardness that many scholars exhibit and the herd-like attitude in the study of shari’a and mostly the lack of ijtihad (I include myself) when it comes to matters related to women.I have always admired people like Hamza Yusif and Amro Khaled because they speak religion through logic. Our muslim scholars need to understand that we live in a world that shows no mercy to the unreasonable. We have to make some sense to be respected.
alia, i admit that sometimes this kind of news breaks my heart but at this point i can’t help but laugh and cry at the same time when i hear it. because even when i read it i know as a Muslim that this is the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard. as if a pregnancy renders a female judge incapable of any mental capacity, and is if there wasnt something called maternity leave.
it’s the idea that many if not most of these clergy have that in order for Islam to work, in order for it to cure us of all our ills, we must go backwards rather than progress alongside it. but then again i know even this kind of news would’ve been treated with some sense of absurdity 1000 years ago.
so yeah, we have our share of dare i say ignorant scholars but thankfully there is no central authority but God. otherwise we’d be in a much larger mess.
thanks for your comment