The “Council of Islamic Ideology” (CII), Pakistan’s 20-member constitutional “ruling” body, recently proposed a “bill” recommending that men bestow a “light beating” onto their defiant wives, and “prohibiting” mixing of the genders in “schools, hospitals and offices.”
The proposal also suggests “interacting with strangers, not wearing a hijab, and speaking too loudly, giving others cash without her husband’s permission,” among other potential activities that might incur a “light beating.”
“A husband should be allowed to lightly beat his wife if she defies his commands and refuses to dress up as per his desires; turns down demand of intercourse without any religious excuse or does not take bath after intercourse or menstrual periods,” the CII bill says, according to Pakistan’s Express-Tribune newspaper.
Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) chairman Maulana Muhammad Khan Sherani addresses a press conference in Islamabad on May 26, 2016.
CII chairman Muhammad Kahn Sherani said: “If you want her to mend her ways, you should first advise her … If she refuses, stop talking to her … then stop sharing a bed with her… and if things do not change, get a bit strict.”
A “bit strict,” he clarified, would include “hitting her with light things like handkerchief, a hat or a turban, but do not hit her on the face or private parts” to instill fear.
The CII’s proposed bill “claims” women will have all the “rights” given to them under “Sharia” law, but prohibits “interaction between unmarriageable kin” (na-mehrams) at recreational spots and offices, and bans “dance, music, and sculptures created in the name of art.”
According to the Washington Post, CII’s proposal “would ban women from appearing in television or print advertising and would prohibit female nurses from treating male patients. It also would give a husband permission to forbid his wife from visiting males other than relatives.”
It also suggests “bans” on various other activities, including women “fighting” in wars. But it allows women to “participate” in politics and become “judges,” and proposes that the “need” for a guardian for “women of age” is not required.
The proposal also says that women should not be “permitted” to receive non-relatives or foreign officials, and they should not use “birth control pills without asking their husbands.”
Proposals by the “Council of Islamic Ideology” are recommendations and are not “applicable” unless passed by legislators.
Earlier this year, the Punjab Assembly, Pakistan’s most populated province, passed a women’s protection bill, granting protection from “abusive” husbands which the CII and religious parties strongly rejected, declaring it “unIslamic.”
The “Khyber Pakhtunkhwa” (KP) government sent a “similar” bill to the Council for review, which also was “rejected” on the basis of being “unIslamic”, and announced it will prepare a “model” bill in response.
The council’s “draft proposal” has met with a “furious” response in Pakistan, including “calls” for the CII to be “disbanded.”
The “Council of Islamic Ideology” is a 54-year-old “advisory” body made up of Islamic “clerics and scholars” responsible for offering “legal” advice to Pakistani “legislators” whether laws are in line with the “teachings of Islam.”
Although CII is part of Pakistan’s governmental “structure,” and provides constitutional “recommendations” to parliament regarding “Islamic” laws, its 163-page proposal is “non-binding” and does not have to be “voted” on by the Pakistani parliament.
Copies of the proposed “163-point bill” have been sent to all provincial “assemblies” at the CII’s recommendations.
Salient points from the proposed bill address “property, marriage, motherhood, crimes, violence against women, apostasy,” and even venture into the instruments of “state acceptable” for a woman to be involved in.
Farzana Bari, “human rights activist” and academic at “Quaid-i-Azam University,” termed the proposed bill “unconstitutional.”
“Allowing a husband to beat his wife, in any way, is against Pakistan’s Constitution and the international laws and treaties that Pakistan has signed and is bound by. This Council is a burden on the Pakistani taxpayer and bringing a bad name to Muslims throughout the world.”
“Not allowing adult women to work and keeping them at home is to treat them like children or property,” she added. “This will take Pakistan further into ignorance.”
Key proposals in the bill
Property
Women will have the right to own property
Women have the right to bequeath property
Marriage
A husband may, when needed, lightly beat his wife
Three consecutive declarations of divorce will be punishable (punishment unspecified)
A guardian’s permission is not required for a woman who has reached maturity to contract a nikah
A wife has the right to khula if she forfeits alimony
A wife may move the court in case of ‘excesses’ by husband
Contracting a marriage for Vani or dispute resolution is punishable (punishment unspecified)
Contracting a woman’s marriage to a Qur’an will be a crime carrying a ten-year sentence
Ban on the request and display of dowry
State
Women will be permitted to participate in politics
Women are not responsible for participation in combat missions
It is forbidden to kill a woman in war
Women may become judges
Women will not be permitted to receive foreign officials and state guests
Religion
Forcing any woman to convert carries a three-year prison sentence
A woman cannot be killed/executed for ‘leaving Islam’
A woman of sound mind is permitted to convert to Islam
Crime
Acid attacks and violent acts against women such as throwing acid on women should be thoroughly investigated
Ban on honor killing, Karo kari, and siyah kari
Work and education
Ban on co-education past the primary level
Co-education past the primary level may be permitted if hijab is made mandatory and free mixing between the genders is not allowed
A ban on women working in ‘vulgar’ advertisements
Female nurses should not attend to male patients
Women should not be forced into difficult, ‘labor-intensive’ work
Motherhood
Mothers must breastfeed for two years
Ban on advertisements baby formula/substitutes for breast milk
A woman cannot use contraception without the husband’s permission
An abortion after 120 days will be classified as murder
Indeed, “violence” against women in The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is “rampant.”
The independent “Human Rights Commission” of Pakistan’s annual report revealed hundreds of “gang rapes, kidnappings, and burnings” and said more than 800 women had committed “suicide” or attempted to.
A Saudi Arabian Family “hung” their Ethiopian maid “upside” down from a hook and “brutally” beat her to a “bloody” pulp. She is “drenched” in blood from the “whips and sticks” that the Saudi men used to “beat” her.
http://www.liveleak.com/ll_embed?f=48c3e0dd5d9f
Non-European Foreign workers in the Gulf states are treated as DE-facto “slaves with no human rights” and are kept as virtual “prisoners” by their respective “employers” and forced to endure “harsh treatment” for little pay.
A recent report by “Amnesty International” slammed the worsening state of “human rights abuses” in the country. Among the myriad “criticisms” leveled in the report, it was noted that “migrant” workers and other “minorities” regularly suffer “abuse and excessive use of force” at the hands of authorities.
Ironically, the Islamic law that allows a husband to “lightly beat” his wife is being “sold on the streets” of Toronto and “protested” in Pakistan.
The book distributed in a popular downtown square in Toronto, Canada from an Islamic “da’wah” (outreach) group advocates “wife beating under the right circumstances” and professes that some “women may even enjoy being beaten at times as a sign of love and concern.”
Te book in question, “Women in Islam & Refutation of some Common Misconceptions,” was obtained by Jonathon D. Halevi, who wrote an “expose” about the distribution and content of the book in CIJ News.
Halevi “obtained” the book from a booth advertising “Free Info on Islam” operating in Dundas Square.
He notes that the book, written by Saudi scholar Dr. Abdul-Rahman al-Sheha and printed by the Saudi “da’wah” organization the “Muslim World League,” was also handed out at Central Square of York University by “women students” belonging to the “Muslim Students Association“ (MSA), a “Muslim-Brotherhood” linked organization.
Wife “beating” is viewed as the third and final stage of “discipline” used “to treat a wife blameworthy of immoral behavior,” according to the book, which states “how” it should be done.
“Beating without hurting, breaking a bone, leaving black or blue marks on the body, and avoiding hitting the face or especially sensitive places.”
The book goes on to state that, according to psychologists, this “treatment” has proved to be effective with “two types of women”:
“The first type: Strong willed, demanding and commandeering women. These are the type of women who like to control, master and run the affairs of their husbands by pushing them around, commanding them and giving them orders.”
“The second type: Submissive or subdued women. These women may even enjoy being beaten at times as a sign of love and concern.”
The book compares “wife beating to spanking a recalcitrant child” and as a remedy much like “bitter medicine” which an ill person will “gladly take to be cured of their ailment.”
Meanwhile, in Pakistan, in response to the “Council of Islamic Ideology” (CII) proposal that a husband be allowed to “lightly beat” his wife, a hash tag #TryBeatingMeLightly is trending.
Photographer Fahhad Rajper took photos of 12 Pakistani professional women with their promise of what will happen if “beaten lightly.”
See video below and Rajper’s Facebook page…
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