Friday 24 May 2013

Afghan Students Protest Women’s Rights Decree

This in interesting for the light it sheds on what authoritative Muslims say about Sharia -- quite the opposite of the benign -- positive even -- slant of many Sharia apologists in the west:
Hard-line Islamist students protested in the Afghan capital on Wednesday, demanding the repeal of a presidential decree for women’s rights that they say is un-Islamic.....
More than 200 male students protested in front of Kabul University on Wednesday against the decree on Elimination of Violence Against Women, which includes a ban on child marriage and forced marriage, makes domestic violence a crime and says rape victims cannot be prosecuted for adultery. It also outlaws “ba’ad,” a traditional practice of exchanging women or girls to settle disputes or debts. A protester, Fazel Hadi, 25, said the decree was “imposed by foreigners” and violated Shariah law.
You see: it's not Islamic sharia to disallow child marriage.  It's not Islamic sharia to stop forced marriage.  It's not Islamic sharia to stop beating women.  It's not Islamic sharia to stop women rape victims from being charged with adultery.  Surely, enough said -- one would have thought -- about the horrid nature of sharia.  But no; I've no doubt the apologists will carry on, and simply note that these folks are -- as The New York Times, the paper of record, has noted at the outset -- simply "hard liners" and therefore not be be seen as representative of the Religion of Peace.
But that's wrong.  Study of the classic manual of Islamic Jurisprudence, the Umdat ul-Salik (referenced at left) shows that in each of the cases mentioned, these so called "hard line Islamists" are spot on.  Islamic doctrine is on their side.  
Which is why they will win this argument.  
And women will again be the losers.