From The Economist print edition
The king makes some striking changes, but gradualism is still the watchword
REFORM-MINDED Saudis cheered when Abdullah became king four years ago. The avuncular Custodian of the Holy Places, as Saudi monarchs title themselves, had a reputation for probity, tolerance and humility that augured change for the better. Yet few of his tentative reforms have stuck. Initiatives to modernise state schools and courts have stalled in the face of entrenched religious conservatives.
But in a move of rare boldness for the stately kingdom, on February 14th the 86-year-old king decreed sweeping changes in government. His reshuffle affected top posts in education, the courts, the armed forces, the central bank, the health and information ministries, the religious police and the state-appointed religious hierarchy, as well as the royally-appointed, 150-man proto-parliament, the Shura Council.
It was not the scale of the turnover that raised eyebrows; most senior ministers retained their posts. More striking was the injection of reformist blood into the ossified school and court systems. With his background in intelligence, and as a son-in-law of the king, the new minister of education, Prince Faisal bin Abdullah bin Muhammad, may be better equipped to flush out teachers who are failing to comply with curricula that have been revised to emphasise tolerance in Islam.
The departure of Sheikh Saleh Luhaydan as head of the supreme judicial council, along with several other senior judges, suggests a new push to modernise the courts.
Mr Luhaydan was notorious for rulings such as one that said it would be legal to kill the owners of TV channels broadcasting “immorality”. During his tenure judges faced little pressure to adopt new rules meant to make the kingdom’s unique and often harsh forms of sharia justice more open and consistent. Similarly, the sacking of the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice will be seen as a response to a chorus of demands to curb the morality police, whose puritanical agents have often been accused of harassing law-abiding citizens.
Equally significant, the new appointments are markedly diverse. The 21-man board of senior clerics which issues official religious rulings, or fatwas, now for the first time includes representatives of all four schools of Sunni Islam, so breaking the monopoly, exercised solely in Saudi Arabia, of the arch-traditionalist Hanbali school associated with Wahhabism. The body still excludes Shias, a minority numbering about 10% of Saudis that faces widespread discrimination. But King Abdullah has compensated in part by increasing Shia representation in the Shura Council.
A far bigger slice of the population that has been kept to the margins of society, namely women, also got a boost with the appointment of a female deputy minister, the highest-level government post yet to be filled by a woman. Nora al-Fayez, an American-educated schools administrator, is to run the girls’ section of the ministry of education, a division managed until recently by Wahhabist clerics.
Should such personnel changes give an impetus to the deeper reforms that many Saudis long for, King Abdullah will have secured an important legacy. But a quite different reform, decreed by him three years ago, may bear fruit sooner. Addressing concerns that the line of succession to kingship, which traditionally passes between brothers before reaching their sons, would produce a series of brief reigns by dotards, King Abdullah created a 25-man family council to elect future kings.
The council was to meet only after his own brother had succeeded. But the current crown prince, Sultan, is in his 80s and said to be very ill. In all likelihood, it is the council that will choose Abdullah’s successor, in what might prove to be, even if restricted to a handful of senior princes from the Al Saud family, the first quasi-democratic transition of power in Saudi history. It would be a momentous feat. But it will also set nerves jangling.
Showing posts with label clerics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label clerics. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Friday, December 26, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Saudi women's group assails judge over 8-year-old's marriage
(CNN) -- A group fighting for women's rights in Saudi Arabia condemned a judge Wednesday for refusing to annul the marriage of an 8-year-old girl to a 47-year-old man.
The group's co-founder, Wajeha al-Huwaider, told CNN that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, in a statement published on its Web site, called on the "minister of justice and human rights groups to interfere now in this case" by divorcing the girl from the man. "They must end this marriage deal which was made by the father of the girl and the husband."
On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother.
The mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said the judge found that the mother -- who is separated from the girl's father -- is not the legal guardian, and therefore cannot represent her daughter.
The judge requested, and received, a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to allow the marriage to be consummated until the girl reaches puberty, al-Jutaili said. When she reaches puberty, the judge ruled, the girl will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.
Al-Jutaili said the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, "a close friend" of his.
In its statement Wednesday, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision goes against children's "basic rights." Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety. Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression.
"Moreover, children marriage creates unhealthy families because they were built on bad relationships."
The judge's decision also contradicts the king's consultative council, called the Majlis al-Shura, which found that anyone under the age of 18 "is a child and should be treated likewise," the women's rights group said.
In an interview with CNN, al-Huwaider said the Saudi government has signed international agreements involving children's and human rights, "and they know that this is very harmful to the kingdom's image. There is a strong wave to teach and spread human rights here in Saudi Arabia, but we all know that there are two players behind the scenes: a movement that wants reform and change to better the kingdom and another movement that wants to keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Saudi Justice Ministry has not commented.
The Saudi Information Ministry forwarded CNN to the government-run Human Rights Commission.
Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the commission, said his organization is fighting against child marriages. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," he said.
Al-Harithi added that he did not have specific details about this case, but his organization has been able to stop at least one other child marriage.
Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said, "We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men."
In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Wilcke said that while Saudi ministries may make decisions designed to protect children, "It is still the religious establishment that holds sway in the courts, and in many realms beyond the court."
He added that, "unfortunately, the religious establishment holds to conservative views which many scholars believe sometimes violate sharia [Islamic law]."
Wilcke said he hopes the appeals process will overturn the judge's decision.
The group's co-founder, Wajeha al-Huwaider, told CNN that achieving human rights in the kingdom means standing against those who want to "keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia, in a statement published on its Web site, called on the "minister of justice and human rights groups to interfere now in this case" by divorcing the girl from the man. "They must end this marriage deal which was made by the father of the girl and the husband."
On Saturday, the judge, Sheikh Habib Abdallah al-Habib, dismissed a petition brought by the girl's mother.
The mother's lawyer, Abdullah al-Jutaili, said the judge found that the mother -- who is separated from the girl's father -- is not the legal guardian, and therefore cannot represent her daughter.
The judge requested, and received, a pledge from the husband, who was in court, not to allow the marriage to be consummated until the girl reaches puberty, al-Jutaili said. When she reaches puberty, the judge ruled, the girl will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.
Al-Jutaili said the girl's father arranged the marriage in order to settle his debts with the man, "a close friend" of his.
In its statement Wednesday, the Society of Defending Women's Rights in Saudi Arabia said the judge's decision goes against children's "basic rights." Marrying children makes them "lose their sense of security and safety. Also, it destroys their feeling of being loved and nurtured. It causes them a lifetime of psychological problems and severe depression.
"Moreover, children marriage creates unhealthy families because they were built on bad relationships."
The judge's decision also contradicts the king's consultative council, called the Majlis al-Shura, which found that anyone under the age of 18 "is a child and should be treated likewise," the women's rights group said.
In an interview with CNN, al-Huwaider said the Saudi government has signed international agreements involving children's and human rights, "and they know that this is very harmful to the kingdom's image. There is a strong wave to teach and spread human rights here in Saudi Arabia, but we all know that there are two players behind the scenes: a movement that wants reform and change to better the kingdom and another movement that wants to keep us backward and in the dark ages."
The Saudi Justice Ministry has not commented.
The Saudi Information Ministry forwarded CNN to the government-run Human Rights Commission.
Zuhair al-Harithi, a spokesman for the commission, said his organization is fighting against child marriages. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed," he said.
Al-Harithi added that he did not have specific details about this case, but his organization has been able to stop at least one other child marriage.
Christoph Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said, "We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men."
In an interview Wednesday with CNN, Wilcke said that while Saudi ministries may make decisions designed to protect children, "It is still the religious establishment that holds sway in the courts, and in many realms beyond the court."
He added that, "unfortunately, the religious establishment holds to conservative views which many scholars believe sometimes violate sharia [Islamic law]."
Wilcke said he hopes the appeals process will overturn the judge's decision.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Religious police deny ban on lingerie saleswomen
The head of Saudi Arabia's religious police has denied banning women from working in lingerie shops, as complaints from female customers about male-only sales staff rise, newspapers said on Tuesday.
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gaith of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stressed that he does not oppose women sales personnel in lingerie stores per se.
But he said shops with female clerks had to be in malls restricted to women only, so the saleswomen did not come into contact with men.
"We don't reject the work of the women in lingerie stores if they are not next to men's stores," Gaith said, adding that this was government policy.
Saudi women have long complained that they feel uncomfortable having to buy lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.
But the kingdom's ultra-conservative religious leaders have opposed allowing saleswomen in shops where men are allowed on the grounds that it would violate restrictions on contacts between opposite sexes not from the same family.
Those rules do not extend to salesmen and women customers, however.
In 2005 the labour ministry, in a bid to establish more job opportunities for Saudi women, urged lingerie shops to employ female staff. Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi said this would serve to limit contact between men and women.
But clerics who can effectively set policy separately from the government have resisted the move, and Gosaibi's effort has had little effect.
In October Reem As'ad, who teaches economics at a Jeddah college, called for a boycott of lingerie stores that do not replace salesmen with saleswomen.
"We urge every man and woman to help our privacy from being violated by men from whom we are obliged to buy our intimate clothing," she told Arab News.
"Women walk around covered from head to toe, and yet they have to discuss the size and material of their undergarments with strange men. Isn't this odd?"
Agence France-Presse
Sheikh Ibrahim al-Gaith of the powerful Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice stressed that he does not oppose women sales personnel in lingerie stores per se.
But he said shops with female clerks had to be in malls restricted to women only, so the saleswomen did not come into contact with men.
"We don't reject the work of the women in lingerie stores if they are not next to men's stores," Gaith said, adding that this was government policy.
Saudi women have long complained that they feel uncomfortable having to buy lingerie from men and would prefer female sales assistants.
But the kingdom's ultra-conservative religious leaders have opposed allowing saleswomen in shops where men are allowed on the grounds that it would violate restrictions on contacts between opposite sexes not from the same family.
Those rules do not extend to salesmen and women customers, however.
In 2005 the labour ministry, in a bid to establish more job opportunities for Saudi women, urged lingerie shops to employ female staff. Minister Ghazi al-Gosaibi said this would serve to limit contact between men and women.
But clerics who can effectively set policy separately from the government have resisted the move, and Gosaibi's effort has had little effect.
In October Reem As'ad, who teaches economics at a Jeddah college, called for a boycott of lingerie stores that do not replace salesmen with saleswomen.
"We urge every man and woman to help our privacy from being violated by men from whom we are obliged to buy our intimate clothing," she told Arab News.
"Women walk around covered from head to toe, and yet they have to discuss the size and material of their undergarments with strange men. Isn't this odd?"
Agence France-Presse
Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Middle East: Cleric says women can beat husbands
CAIRO: Sunni Islam's highest authority has approved a woman's right to fight back if her husband uses violence against her, Egypt's Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper reported yesterday. The declaration by Sheikh Abdel Hamid Al-Atrash, who heads Al-Azhar University's committee for fatwas or religious rulings, comes after similar rulings by religious leaders in Saudi Arabia and Turkey. "A wife has the legitimate right to hit her husband in order to defend herself," Atrash was quoted as saying. "Everyone has the right to defend themselves, whether they are a man or a woman... because all human beings are equal before God," he said.
Over the last few days, Saudi Sheikh Abdel Mohsen Al-Abyakan stressed the fact that a wife should resort to "the same kind of violence" as her husband used against her, whether it be with a leather strap or a wire cable, the paper said. Prominent Turkish Muslim preacher and writer Fethullah Gulen went one step further and ruled that a woman should return the violence with interest. "She should give back two blows for each one received," the paper quoted him as saying. Rights groups quoted by Amnesty International say that 35 percent of Egyptian women killed each year die as a result of domestic violence.
Separately, a human rights group in Egypt yesterday slammed police for snooping on couples accused of wife-swapping in the conservative nation and arresting them on prostitution charges. The main accused in the case, a 48-year-old civil servant and his teacher wife, 37, were detained last week for allegedly organizing wife-swapping parties and orgies via a website run by an Iraqi Kurd, local media reported.
The Cairo couple, who have children and used the pseudonyms Magdy and Samira on the website and in emails, could face up to three years in prison if convicted of facilitating prostitution. "The case raises serious concerns about due process and the privacy rights of those arrested, especially in light of press reports about police interception of defendants' electronic correspondence," Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told AFP. "We're also of course worried that police seem to be still going after many people based on the intercepted emails of the two main defendants.
The couple confessed to having sexual relations with three other couples, although at least 44 couples signed up for Cairo swinging sessions via the website, and several other suspects -including a lawyer - were arrested. Magdy reportedly insisted that couples present a marriage contract before indulging in any activities, fearing that they might be using a temporary, or orfi, Islamic marriage certificate in the pursuit of pleasure.
I refused couples who had an orfi marriage because they're completely different. One of them could tear up the marriage contract and file a complaint with the authorities," Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted Magdy as saying during questioning. Magdy told prosecutors that he had convinced his wife of the idea of "a swinger lifestyle as a form of physical recreation between consenting married couples," the English-language Egyptian Gazette said.
Through the website, the couple chatted with married Egyptian contacts who were all up for wife swapping, but the man rejected most of them because they were either "not sexy enough" or "not funny", Al-Masry Al-Youm said. Bahgat criticized the 1961 law that could be used to prosecute the suspects as it defines certain sexual acts as prostitution even if no money changes hands. "The way (the law) has been interpreted for decades is based on the idea that for prostitution to take place... someone has to have sex with different people, without distinction, within three years," Bahgat said.
Magdy, who has been charged with inciting debauchery, prostitution and immoral advertising, reportedly said he was particularly excited when he saw a stranger with his wife, Al-Masry Al-Youm said. "The case raises privacy concerns, whether with regard to the interception of private correspondence and (telephone) conversations or prosecuting people for consensual sexual acts between adults," said Bahgat.
- AFP
Over the last few days, Saudi Sheikh Abdel Mohsen Al-Abyakan stressed the fact that a wife should resort to "the same kind of violence" as her husband used against her, whether it be with a leather strap or a wire cable, the paper said. Prominent Turkish Muslim preacher and writer Fethullah Gulen went one step further and ruled that a woman should return the violence with interest. "She should give back two blows for each one received," the paper quoted him as saying. Rights groups quoted by Amnesty International say that 35 percent of Egyptian women killed each year die as a result of domestic violence.
Separately, a human rights group in Egypt yesterday slammed police for snooping on couples accused of wife-swapping in the conservative nation and arresting them on prostitution charges. The main accused in the case, a 48-year-old civil servant and his teacher wife, 37, were detained last week for allegedly organizing wife-swapping parties and orgies via a website run by an Iraqi Kurd, local media reported.
The Cairo couple, who have children and used the pseudonyms Magdy and Samira on the website and in emails, could face up to three years in prison if convicted of facilitating prostitution. "The case raises serious concerns about due process and the privacy rights of those arrested, especially in light of press reports about police interception of defendants' electronic correspondence," Hossam Bahgat of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights told AFP. "We're also of course worried that police seem to be still going after many people based on the intercepted emails of the two main defendants.
The couple confessed to having sexual relations with three other couples, although at least 44 couples signed up for Cairo swinging sessions via the website, and several other suspects -including a lawyer - were arrested. Magdy reportedly insisted that couples present a marriage contract before indulging in any activities, fearing that they might be using a temporary, or orfi, Islamic marriage certificate in the pursuit of pleasure.
I refused couples who had an orfi marriage because they're completely different. One of them could tear up the marriage contract and file a complaint with the authorities," Al-Masry Al-Youm quoted Magdy as saying during questioning. Magdy told prosecutors that he had convinced his wife of the idea of "a swinger lifestyle as a form of physical recreation between consenting married couples," the English-language Egyptian Gazette said.
Through the website, the couple chatted with married Egyptian contacts who were all up for wife swapping, but the man rejected most of them because they were either "not sexy enough" or "not funny", Al-Masry Al-Youm said. Bahgat criticized the 1961 law that could be used to prosecute the suspects as it defines certain sexual acts as prostitution even if no money changes hands. "The way (the law) has been interpreted for decades is based on the idea that for prostitution to take place... someone has to have sex with different people, without distinction, within three years," Bahgat said.
Magdy, who has been charged with inciting debauchery, prostitution and immoral advertising, reportedly said he was particularly excited when he saw a stranger with his wife, Al-Masry Al-Youm said. "The case raises privacy concerns, whether with regard to the interception of private correspondence and (telephone) conversations or prosecuting people for consensual sexual acts between adults," said Bahgat.
- AFP
Friday, September 12, 2008
Morocco: Moroccans react strongly to fatwa authorising underage marriage
Moroccans and rights groups are speaking out against a recent fatwa that would allow parents to marry off their underage daughters.
Moroccan Cheikh Mohammed Maghraoui has caused indignation among rights groups and citizens who denounce his recent fatwa authorising the marriage of nine-year-old girls.
Opponents to Cheikh Mohammed Maghraoui's fatwa say the marriage of nine-year-old girls is a violation of human rights in general, and children's rights in particular.
Maghraoui said that at the age of nine, girls are capable of marriage, just like Aisha was when the Prophet Mohammed married her.
"We thought we were rid of those problems after the passage of the family code, which included a number of guarantees to protect children from early marriage, and after setting up the Fatwa Council," the Democratic League of Women’s Rights (LDDF) said in a statement.
The fatwa "endorses rape and child abuse of a nine-year-old child," the LDDF statement continued, adding that the organisation believes the fatwa goes against the children rights' convention and the traditions of the Moroccan people.
Morocco's new family code states that men and woman are eligible for marriage only at the age of 18. It also states that marriage for individuals below the legal age can be sanctioned only by a judge. The law allows the judge to grant such an authorisation only if he finds the marriage to be in the best interest of the parties involved, and only after consulting with the minor’s parents or legal guardian and with consideration paid to medical counselling and the findings of social research.
Cheikh Maghraoui's fatwa was issued in response to a question on whether a woman can get married before reaching the age of menstruation. In his answer, El Maghraoui said that marriage was not linked to menstruation. According to El Maghraoui's website, the fatwa had received 1,642 reads as of September 9th – more than other fatwas on the site – after it was picked up by several local newspapers.
Attorney Mourad Bakouri told the press on Thursday (September 11th) that he filed a lawsuit against Maghraoui for calling for the abuse of minors.
"I have lodged a complaint against this infringement upon the Family Code, the rights of children and the risk of rape," said the lawyer.
"It made us feel the danger that is threatening our families and social stability," said Najat Anwar, president of the Don't Touch My Child association. Religious leaders such as Maghraoui should not be allowed to issue such verdicts freely, she said.
Islamic scholar Abdelbari Zemzem told reporters that the fatwa is unacceptable from a religious point of view. The marriage of underage girls is inapplicable to modern societies, he said, where no ethical, religious or social interest could possibly authorise the marriage of a nine-year-old girl.
Many Moroccan citizens agree.
University student Khaled Najib said such fatwas distort religion and "give enemies of Islam a good reason to attack us and call us backward-minded."
Housewife Fatima Banani said "I do not think any two sane parents who care about the best interests of their daughter, who is still below the age of menstruation, will marry her off, even if the suitor is a good and honourable man."
By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca
Moroccan Cheikh Mohammed Maghraoui has caused indignation among rights groups and citizens who denounce his recent fatwa authorising the marriage of nine-year-old girls.
Opponents to Cheikh Mohammed Maghraoui's fatwa say the marriage of nine-year-old girls is a violation of human rights in general, and children's rights in particular.
Maghraoui said that at the age of nine, girls are capable of marriage, just like Aisha was when the Prophet Mohammed married her.
"We thought we were rid of those problems after the passage of the family code, which included a number of guarantees to protect children from early marriage, and after setting up the Fatwa Council," the Democratic League of Women’s Rights (LDDF) said in a statement.
The fatwa "endorses rape and child abuse of a nine-year-old child," the LDDF statement continued, adding that the organisation believes the fatwa goes against the children rights' convention and the traditions of the Moroccan people.
Morocco's new family code states that men and woman are eligible for marriage only at the age of 18. It also states that marriage for individuals below the legal age can be sanctioned only by a judge. The law allows the judge to grant such an authorisation only if he finds the marriage to be in the best interest of the parties involved, and only after consulting with the minor’s parents or legal guardian and with consideration paid to medical counselling and the findings of social research.
Cheikh Maghraoui's fatwa was issued in response to a question on whether a woman can get married before reaching the age of menstruation. In his answer, El Maghraoui said that marriage was not linked to menstruation. According to El Maghraoui's website, the fatwa had received 1,642 reads as of September 9th – more than other fatwas on the site – after it was picked up by several local newspapers.
Attorney Mourad Bakouri told the press on Thursday (September 11th) that he filed a lawsuit against Maghraoui for calling for the abuse of minors.
"I have lodged a complaint against this infringement upon the Family Code, the rights of children and the risk of rape," said the lawyer.
"It made us feel the danger that is threatening our families and social stability," said Najat Anwar, president of the Don't Touch My Child association. Religious leaders such as Maghraoui should not be allowed to issue such verdicts freely, she said.
Islamic scholar Abdelbari Zemzem told reporters that the fatwa is unacceptable from a religious point of view. The marriage of underage girls is inapplicable to modern societies, he said, where no ethical, religious or social interest could possibly authorise the marriage of a nine-year-old girl.
Many Moroccan citizens agree.
University student Khaled Najib said such fatwas distort religion and "give enemies of Islam a good reason to attack us and call us backward-minded."
Housewife Fatima Banani said "I do not think any two sane parents who care about the best interests of their daughter, who is still below the age of menstruation, will marry her off, even if the suitor is a good and honourable man."
By Imane Belhaj for Magharebia in Casablanca
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Egypt: In the library with a leading Islamic liberal
CAIRO — So many books stacked like brittle armies in quiet rooms above the traffic on a street of tailors and mechanics.
A slight man in a brown suit, whose smooth face belies his 88 years, can slide one from shelves of thousands, brush its cover and tell you a story, whether it be about jihad, St. Francis of Assisi or the labor movement of the 1930s. He has written 120 books himself, many of them about Islam, which to him has too long listened to the restrictive voices of the past.
Gamal Banna is one of Islam's leading liberal thinkers. For years he has accused conservative clerics of running a dictatorship that has kept the Koran from speaking to a world much changed since the 7th century revelations of the prophet Muhammad. Banna, whose long-dead brother led a fundamentalist movement that inspired many of his critics, relishes unnerving opponents with opinions that strike at convention.
He supports the right of women to lead Friday prayers: "How can we make an ignorant man an imam and not a learned lady?" He holds that unmarried couples' kissing does not lead to sin: "An insignificant act the [conservatives] say is a step toward adultery." And his next book deals with relations between men and women under Islam.
"Islam has to go through its own reformation, and this will take 50 years at least," said Banna, who wears thick glasses and has dark, combed-back hair brightened by coils of white. "We are four centuries behind Europe on thoughts about politics and religion."I'm advocating radical change. We reject the clerics who rely on 1,000-year-old [teachings] which cannot live in this age.
"Banna will not be here in half a century, but at a certain point, vision and hope become strong counterbalances to time. He speaks with force, but quietly. His mind racing, he sits at a desk walled high with books and files, as if he's peering out from a bunker. His assistant offers chocolates and disappears, retreating to a computer in another room, the peck of keystrokes echoing through dust and distant car horns.
The old man's critics are many; they regard him as a reckless interloper, a peddler of sacrilege, especially for his beliefs that smoking should not be forbidden during Ramadan fasting, that the veil is not an obligation in Islam and that the burka is a "crime that destroys the personality" of a woman.
"He is invading a field he has no knowledge of at all," said Abdel Moati Bayoumi, a professor of the fundamentals of Islam at Al Azhar University in Cairo. "He doesn't have the necessary background to understand the texts of the Koran. He doesn't represent any intellectual current. He is just a showoff who wants to be famous by exposing nonsensical, unfounded ideas."
The name Banna has resonated through Islam since 1928, when Gamal's older brother, Hassan, founded the radical Muslim Brotherhood. The banned organization has sought unsuccessfully to rule Egypt through Sharia, or Islamic law.
The nation's strongest opposition voice, the brotherhood has renounced violence at home but supports Hamas and other Arab militant groups deemed terrorists by the West.Banna's critics wonder how he can be so liberal when his brother was such an ultraconservative. Banna said Hassan, who was assassinated in 1949, would have changed with the times and settled the differences between the group's fundamentalists and moderates. These rifts and constant arrests by the Egyptian government of brotherhood members have kept the group off balance despite its appeal among the middle and educated classes.
"The Muslim Brotherhood has lacked strong leadership since the days of Hassan," Banna said. "They have not developed a coherent vision of political Islam. I told them: 'You stay as an opposition group. You are not ready for the reins of power.' They don't live in the modern world. They don't accept modernity, cinema, art. They live as if from five centuries ago.
"Such assessments come from Banna's lips as if he's polished them in his mind for years. He has lived through modern Egypt's travails: the promise and then brutality under President Gamal Abdel Nasser; the peace treaty with Israel signed by President Anwar Sadat; and, for the last 27 years, the politically oppressive government of President Hosni Mubarak.
"The society is completely corrupted. The regime of Mubarak has failed," Banna said. "The man has no imagination. . . . The question is what will come after him?"
But it is not the temporal that consumes this fidgety man, riffling through papers, flicking pages, seeking precedent and anecdote. He is concerned with the soul and the clearest path to God.
"Religious reform must come before political reform, because a man must be pure before he can change politics," he said. "You need conscience before political reform will succeed. The Arab states won independence long ago, but they didn't know how to benefit because independence came before religious reformation.
"You can't create an Islamic state. It will fail, and this is the verdict of history. You must have democracy."The essence of the spirit, as Banna calls it, is found in the Koran. The problem for him is that much of Islam is based on the Sunnah, the collected sayings and practices of Muhammad handed down by tribal ancestors. He believes that many of these interpretations are locked in a centuries-old mentality.
Banna's solution, which angers many clerics, some of whom accuse him of coming close to heresy, is to bypass the Sunnah on many ecclesiastical questions and seek guidance directly from the Koran.
"We have no need to abide by the rules of our ancestors. We have to go directly to the Koran itself," he said. "We need our own modern interpretation of the Koran. Many of the clerics can't even dream of our modern age.
"He stood and stepped to a bookcase. He pulled a cracked binding from the shelf. "Look, you will be astonished," he said. The book was published in 1899 in St. Petersburg, Russia; it was about the prophet Muhammad and Muslim customs. "Here's one from India, 200 years old."
Banna walked into another room, past rows of books on unions and labor movements, which years ago were his passion.
"Look, this novel about St. Francis I really like, 'Blessed are the Meek.' "He held it for a moment and then turned to another shelf, stacked with books he had written. A man's life on so many pages. He picked up his book on jihad.
True jihad, he said, is the struggle within; not to impose your religion, but to defend your belief.
By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
A slight man in a brown suit, whose smooth face belies his 88 years, can slide one from shelves of thousands, brush its cover and tell you a story, whether it be about jihad, St. Francis of Assisi or the labor movement of the 1930s. He has written 120 books himself, many of them about Islam, which to him has too long listened to the restrictive voices of the past.
Gamal Banna is one of Islam's leading liberal thinkers. For years he has accused conservative clerics of running a dictatorship that has kept the Koran from speaking to a world much changed since the 7th century revelations of the prophet Muhammad. Banna, whose long-dead brother led a fundamentalist movement that inspired many of his critics, relishes unnerving opponents with opinions that strike at convention.
He supports the right of women to lead Friday prayers: "How can we make an ignorant man an imam and not a learned lady?" He holds that unmarried couples' kissing does not lead to sin: "An insignificant act the [conservatives] say is a step toward adultery." And his next book deals with relations between men and women under Islam.
"Islam has to go through its own reformation, and this will take 50 years at least," said Banna, who wears thick glasses and has dark, combed-back hair brightened by coils of white. "We are four centuries behind Europe on thoughts about politics and religion."I'm advocating radical change. We reject the clerics who rely on 1,000-year-old [teachings] which cannot live in this age.
"Banna will not be here in half a century, but at a certain point, vision and hope become strong counterbalances to time. He speaks with force, but quietly. His mind racing, he sits at a desk walled high with books and files, as if he's peering out from a bunker. His assistant offers chocolates and disappears, retreating to a computer in another room, the peck of keystrokes echoing through dust and distant car horns.
The old man's critics are many; they regard him as a reckless interloper, a peddler of sacrilege, especially for his beliefs that smoking should not be forbidden during Ramadan fasting, that the veil is not an obligation in Islam and that the burka is a "crime that destroys the personality" of a woman.
"He is invading a field he has no knowledge of at all," said Abdel Moati Bayoumi, a professor of the fundamentals of Islam at Al Azhar University in Cairo. "He doesn't have the necessary background to understand the texts of the Koran. He doesn't represent any intellectual current. He is just a showoff who wants to be famous by exposing nonsensical, unfounded ideas."
The name Banna has resonated through Islam since 1928, when Gamal's older brother, Hassan, founded the radical Muslim Brotherhood. The banned organization has sought unsuccessfully to rule Egypt through Sharia, or Islamic law.
The nation's strongest opposition voice, the brotherhood has renounced violence at home but supports Hamas and other Arab militant groups deemed terrorists by the West.Banna's critics wonder how he can be so liberal when his brother was such an ultraconservative. Banna said Hassan, who was assassinated in 1949, would have changed with the times and settled the differences between the group's fundamentalists and moderates. These rifts and constant arrests by the Egyptian government of brotherhood members have kept the group off balance despite its appeal among the middle and educated classes.
"The Muslim Brotherhood has lacked strong leadership since the days of Hassan," Banna said. "They have not developed a coherent vision of political Islam. I told them: 'You stay as an opposition group. You are not ready for the reins of power.' They don't live in the modern world. They don't accept modernity, cinema, art. They live as if from five centuries ago.
"Such assessments come from Banna's lips as if he's polished them in his mind for years. He has lived through modern Egypt's travails: the promise and then brutality under President Gamal Abdel Nasser; the peace treaty with Israel signed by President Anwar Sadat; and, for the last 27 years, the politically oppressive government of President Hosni Mubarak.
"The society is completely corrupted. The regime of Mubarak has failed," Banna said. "The man has no imagination. . . . The question is what will come after him?"
But it is not the temporal that consumes this fidgety man, riffling through papers, flicking pages, seeking precedent and anecdote. He is concerned with the soul and the clearest path to God.
"Religious reform must come before political reform, because a man must be pure before he can change politics," he said. "You need conscience before political reform will succeed. The Arab states won independence long ago, but they didn't know how to benefit because independence came before religious reformation.
"You can't create an Islamic state. It will fail, and this is the verdict of history. You must have democracy."The essence of the spirit, as Banna calls it, is found in the Koran. The problem for him is that much of Islam is based on the Sunnah, the collected sayings and practices of Muhammad handed down by tribal ancestors. He believes that many of these interpretations are locked in a centuries-old mentality.
Banna's solution, which angers many clerics, some of whom accuse him of coming close to heresy, is to bypass the Sunnah on many ecclesiastical questions and seek guidance directly from the Koran.
"We have no need to abide by the rules of our ancestors. We have to go directly to the Koran itself," he said. "We need our own modern interpretation of the Koran. Many of the clerics can't even dream of our modern age.
"He stood and stepped to a bookcase. He pulled a cracked binding from the shelf. "Look, you will be astonished," he said. The book was published in 1899 in St. Petersburg, Russia; it was about the prophet Muhammad and Muslim customs. "Here's one from India, 200 years old."
Banna walked into another room, past rows of books on unions and labor movements, which years ago were his passion.
"Look, this novel about St. Francis I really like, 'Blessed are the Meek.' "He held it for a moment and then turned to another shelf, stacked with books he had written. A man's life on so many pages. He picked up his book on jihad.
True jihad, he said, is the struggle within; not to impose your religion, but to defend your belief.
By Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Morocco: Training female clerics to promote moderate Islam
Morocco has recently started recruiting and training mourchidat, female Muslim clerics whose role is to help usher in a more moderate Islam, according to a report published in the Telegraph on Saturday.The Dar al-Hadith al-Hassania – a madrassa training the mourchidat (female guide) – is training a second batch of 50 female students, after a first batch of 50 graduated in April 2006.
Men and women learn side by side, but only men will be able to lead prayers. The mourchidat help women with religious questions, with their education and give support in schools and prisons. The long-term hope is that by working face-to-face with the community, they will help foster a more moderate Islam. Funded by the government, the initiative is part of a wave of liberal reforms begun by King Muhammad VI in 2004.
“This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world,” Muhammad Mahfudh, the centre’s director, said.
Modern approach
More than 400 women applied for the 50 places. The prerequisites are an entrance exam, an interview and a BA degree. Candidates are also required to have a life grounded in the teachings of the holy Quran, by which is meant memorising it, and to have an understanding of tajwid, the art of Quranic recital.
The course includes Islamic studies, psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management, along with three hours of homework a day.
“We want to help people know the Quran and to promote flexibility, and there are a lot of problems in our society - social, political, all,” one student, Halima Kachkach, 29, said.
“Before the mourchidat, women had no one to answer their questions,” said Dr Rajaa Naji el Mekkaoui, an expert in family law at the Université Mohamed-V in Rabat, and one of the architects of the mourchidat programme.
“They will try to find the answers in other areas, from fundamentalist imams - and this is a big risk to society. If they ask that if they are authorised to work, the imams will say, ‘No, that is not allowed’. If a woman asks ‘what must I wear’, they will say, ‘She must be covered with the veil’.”
El Mekkaoui believes that the mourchidat are a liberating force for women, and an inhibitor for radicalism.
The idea for the mourchidat was first discussed in 2003, but its roots go back to 1999, when Mohammed VI came to the throne. But the landmark event that paved the way for the mourchidat took place in 2003.
In a radical break with tradition, the king invited el Mekkaoui to give the Ramadan lecture at the royal palace in Rabat, attended by members of the government, high-ranking military officials and foreign ambassadors. It was the first time a woman had even been allowed to enter the room, let alone permitted to speak.
On graduation, each mourchidat is assigned a mosque, which can be anywhere in Morocco, although the ministry in charge aims to find somewhere close to their families. The mourchidat offer spiritual advice and teach women the holy Quran, but also discuss more contentious gender-related issues — about sex, women’s health, what to do if your husband beats you — issues that women would not dream of asking an imam.
They are paid 5,000 dirhams (£420) a month, and work long hours, both in and outside the mosque.
Since the introduction of the mourchidat, Turkey has also challenged traditional Islamic gender roles with the appointment of 450 women as preachers - or vaize. The Diyanet, or Directorate of Religious Affairs, which controls the Islamic faith in Turkey but also tries to improve women’s rights, sees the appointment of female vaize as a crucial step forward.
--Daily Times Monitor
Men and women learn side by side, but only men will be able to lead prayers. The mourchidat help women with religious questions, with their education and give support in schools and prisons. The long-term hope is that by working face-to-face with the community, they will help foster a more moderate Islam. Funded by the government, the initiative is part of a wave of liberal reforms begun by King Muhammad VI in 2004.
“This is a rare experiment in the Muslim world,” Muhammad Mahfudh, the centre’s director, said.
Modern approach
More than 400 women applied for the 50 places. The prerequisites are an entrance exam, an interview and a BA degree. Candidates are also required to have a life grounded in the teachings of the holy Quran, by which is meant memorising it, and to have an understanding of tajwid, the art of Quranic recital.
The course includes Islamic studies, psychology, sociology, computer skills, economy, law and business management, along with three hours of homework a day.
“We want to help people know the Quran and to promote flexibility, and there are a lot of problems in our society - social, political, all,” one student, Halima Kachkach, 29, said.
“Before the mourchidat, women had no one to answer their questions,” said Dr Rajaa Naji el Mekkaoui, an expert in family law at the Université Mohamed-V in Rabat, and one of the architects of the mourchidat programme.
“They will try to find the answers in other areas, from fundamentalist imams - and this is a big risk to society. If they ask that if they are authorised to work, the imams will say, ‘No, that is not allowed’. If a woman asks ‘what must I wear’, they will say, ‘She must be covered with the veil’.”
El Mekkaoui believes that the mourchidat are a liberating force for women, and an inhibitor for radicalism.
The idea for the mourchidat was first discussed in 2003, but its roots go back to 1999, when Mohammed VI came to the throne. But the landmark event that paved the way for the mourchidat took place in 2003.
In a radical break with tradition, the king invited el Mekkaoui to give the Ramadan lecture at the royal palace in Rabat, attended by members of the government, high-ranking military officials and foreign ambassadors. It was the first time a woman had even been allowed to enter the room, let alone permitted to speak.
On graduation, each mourchidat is assigned a mosque, which can be anywhere in Morocco, although the ministry in charge aims to find somewhere close to their families. The mourchidat offer spiritual advice and teach women the holy Quran, but also discuss more contentious gender-related issues — about sex, women’s health, what to do if your husband beats you — issues that women would not dream of asking an imam.
They are paid 5,000 dirhams (£420) a month, and work long hours, both in and outside the mosque.
Since the introduction of the mourchidat, Turkey has also challenged traditional Islamic gender roles with the appointment of 450 women as preachers - or vaize. The Diyanet, or Directorate of Religious Affairs, which controls the Islamic faith in Turkey but also tries to improve women’s rights, sees the appointment of female vaize as a crucial step forward.
--Daily Times Monitor
Friday, March 14, 2008
Saudi Arabia: Sheikh in wedding dance row
A prominent Saudi cleric has publicly criticised religious hardliners after it was suggested he behaved improperly when he danced at a wedding.
Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obaikan had been filmed performing the Bedouin sword dance at the wedding.
But he told Saudi newspaper Asharq al Awsat there was nothing wrong with showing joy.
The sheikh is a prominent member of the Saudi Kingdom's Council of senior Islamic scholars.
He is also a legal consultant to the country's ministry of justice.
There is suspicion Sheik al-Obaikan has been targeted because he has expressed relatively moderate views in the past.
He has given limited support to the right of women to drive and criticised suicide attacks, saying they are not religiously sanctioned as acts of martyrdom.
In Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, where the sexes are segregated and clerics determine social restrictions, Sheikh Al Obaikan is considered a voice of tolerance.
But his enemies attack him by describing him as the cleric to the United States marines and the Saudi establishment.
Now the Sheikh has had to defend his rather sedate Bedouin sword dance at his nephew's wedding - a video clip of which has been posted on the internet.
The Sheikh confirmed to an Arabic newspaper that he did take part in the dance but quoted many stories of the Prophet's life to argue that there was nothing wrong with entertainment like dancing and drum playing.
He complained some extremist groups just wanted to turn weddings into funerals and he urged society to rid itself of the shackles imposed by what he called ignorant people.
-- By Frances Harrison BBC religious affairs reporter
Sheikh Abdul Mohsen al-Obaikan had been filmed performing the Bedouin sword dance at the wedding.
But he told Saudi newspaper Asharq al Awsat there was nothing wrong with showing joy.
The sheikh is a prominent member of the Saudi Kingdom's Council of senior Islamic scholars.
He is also a legal consultant to the country's ministry of justice.
There is suspicion Sheik al-Obaikan has been targeted because he has expressed relatively moderate views in the past.
He has given limited support to the right of women to drive and criticised suicide attacks, saying they are not religiously sanctioned as acts of martyrdom.
In Saudi Arabia's strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, where the sexes are segregated and clerics determine social restrictions, Sheikh Al Obaikan is considered a voice of tolerance.
But his enemies attack him by describing him as the cleric to the United States marines and the Saudi establishment.
Now the Sheikh has had to defend his rather sedate Bedouin sword dance at his nephew's wedding - a video clip of which has been posted on the internet.
The Sheikh confirmed to an Arabic newspaper that he did take part in the dance but quoted many stories of the Prophet's life to argue that there was nothing wrong with entertainment like dancing and drum playing.
He complained some extremist groups just wanted to turn weddings into funerals and he urged society to rid itself of the shackles imposed by what he called ignorant people.
-- By Frances Harrison BBC religious affairs reporter
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