Tag: Law

In a move that will stun the Muslim world, Sheikh Ali Gomaa, the Grand Mufti of Egypt and one of the highest-ranking Sunni authorities, has said that hymen reconstruction surgery for women who have lost their virginity before marriage is halal (permissible) and that a man has no right to demand proof of a woman's virginity if he cannot provide proof of his own. In addition, the fatwa states that a woman who has had sex before marriage but has sincerely repented is under no obligation to inform her husband of her sexual status. 

The Daily Star has the full story.

This is brilliant: "It is not rational for us to think that God has placed a sign to indicate the virginity of women without having a similar sign to indicate the virginity of men," Gomaa says. (My emphasis.) For those who claim that logic is out of vogue in the corridors of Muslim power, prepare to revise. As far as I know, this is the first fatwa from a sheikh of this rank that declares the hymen an illegitimate 'sign' of virginity. Since the hymen of an active girl is often worn away by the time she reaches a marriageable age, this bodes well for millions of Muslim women around the world. Finally, reality-based physiology from the clerical class. 

The fatwa has been seconded by Azharite scholar Sheikh Khaled El Gindy, who, when challenged about 'traditional beliefs' which hold that a woman's virginity is sacrosanct while a man's is not, said "Islam does not care for the feelings of ignorant people, just as the law does not protect the idiots."

What is remarkable about this fatwa is that while it accepts the underground hymen-surgery racket, it does not endorse it; it considers the practice acceptable only because it protects a woman from potential violence. The real meat of the fatwa is in its de-emphasis of the need for proof of virginity--and in a region of the world where a woman is not considered a virgin unless she bleeds on her wedding night, this is a serious blow to entrenched un-Islamic misogynistic cultural practices.

In an interesting side-note, the hymen is mentioned nowhere in the Qur'an or the two commonly accepted books of hadith. Not once. The word for 'virgin' in Arabic--bikr--means simply 'unmarried woman'.  

Today is a very good day for women's rights in Islam. Alfa shokran, Sheikh Gomaa and Sheikh Gindy. 

Related: Azhar outlaws female circumcision. 

Update [2007-2-20 21:30:8 by Ali Eteraz]: Is this a joke or not? It might be true...

Is this a joke? My source didn't say it wasn't and well, this is Pakistan we're talking about:

Pakistan Supreme Court Ruling

A seven year old boy was at the centre of a courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with the child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the highest degree possible.

The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.

After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Pakistan Cricket Team, whom the boy and the courts firmly believe are "not capable of beating anyone."

Whilst Channel 4 were showing a drama which speculates on the fate of Tony Blair after he leaves Downing Street, in which he goes on to face a war crimes tribunal, it seems his old Third Way friend, Gerhard Schröder, might face an investigation into his handling of a German-born resident (but a Turkish citizen) who was held in Guantanamo:

Members of a German parliamentary committee investigating the detention of German-born Turk Murat Kurnaz [Wikipedia profile] at Guantanamo Bay alleged Thursday that the government of German ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder [BBC profile] allowed him to remain a prisoner for years, even after US officials offered to release him into German custody. Kurnaz, arrested by US officials in Pakistan shortly after 9/11, was held at Guantanamo Bay [JURIST news archive] from 2002 to 2006; he was released this past August in response to repeated appeals to US authorities by current German Chancellor Angela Merkel [official website, in German; BBC profile].

Kurnaz has alleged he suffered abuse and torture [Deutsche Welle report] as a detainee at the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Various German party political leaders are calling for Schroeder to face the legal consequences of his alleged complicity in allowing Kurnaz to languish in the detention facility for so long. Schroeder's Social Democrat party rejects the allegations. Kurnaz's lawyer acknowledges that a Greens party official responded to the release offer in 2001, but Kurnaz's Turkish citizenship made it difficult for the government to arrange for his release. AFP has more.

President Bush announced today that he will not reauthorize the controversial Terrorist Surveillance Program when it next expires. The program, which allows US law enforcement to monitor the phone calls and emails of American citizens without a warrant, has been called unconstitutional by various civil liberties groups since its implementation in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks. This is certainly a victory for advocates of the right to privacy and constitutional law.

I am actually very ambivalent about the privacy issues raised by the Patriot Act and its satellite programs; far more ambivalent than any other liberal I know. The reason why is simple: in early 2004 I was investigated under its auspices. Believe me when I say it was very nice to be able to go about my daily business while the Powers That Be rooted through my email, interrogated my friends and listened to my international calls (a word to the paranoid: there is nothing subtle about a wiretap. They are not "always listening"; when they are, by God, you know it). I far preferred that to sitting in Gitmo and waiting for the FBI to get a warrant. Then again, I had absolutely nothing to hide; had my permission been asked, I would have voluntarily handed over every scrap of paper I'd ever written on and repeated every word I'd ever said. I'd never advocated violence or the overthrow of the government or anything of the kind. Being investigated was not in and of itself the issue. I was a convert to Islam, lived abroad and had just walked into Iran with several thousand dollars of hard US currency in my pocket; if this hadn't raised alarm bells somewhere, the entire American intelligence service should probably have been fitted for eyeglasses. I understood that.