The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) continued its tradition of focusing on issues concerning women at its 200th meeting, on Monday.The meeting, chaired by Maulana Mohammad Khan Sherani, ruled that covering the face, the hands up to the wrists and feet was not mandatory for Muslim women.Incidentally, some of the more liberal members of the CII, including Maulana Tahir Ashrafi and Allama Amin Shaheedi, did not attend the first sitting of the two-day meeting.The session was attended, among others, by Dr Samia Raheel Qazi of Jamaat-i-Islami. The ruling was strongly supported by Ms Samia, despite the fact that she wears a niqab. Maulana Sherani, who belongs to the JUI-F, also supported niqab for Muslim women to cover their face and preferably gloves and socks to cover their hands and feet. The council reiterated its stance against co-education, and CII chairman Maulana Sherani told the media that he wanted to revisit the status of Ahmadis through a lens that has the dangerous potential to create further divisions; on his agenda, too, it seems is a discussion on the imposition of religious tax on Pakistani non-Muslims. Last year, for instance, the CII was widely reviled for ruling that restrictions on child marriage were un-Islamic and for endorsing men remarrying without the permission of their wives. Going back even further, the CII shocked the world by declaring that DNA samples were inadmissible in rape cases and emphasised reliance on the Islamic requirement of having four male witnesses. In other words, the CII has up till now repeatedly shown itself to be a retrogressive organisation hell-bent on subjugating the position of women under the garb of promoting piety and ‘authentic’ Islam. Time after time it has shown itself to be an organisation out of sync with the times, existing beyond its constitutional requirement and making bizarre rulings that hurt the progress of the nation. There have been frequent calls for its dissolution, as it is a permanent reminder of the poisonous legacy of Ziaul Haq and is rotten to the core.Even if some argue that in this case the CII is using its authority more responsibly and encouragingly than it has in the past, it is still putting limitations on the freedoms of women and unilaterally deciding for them what is permissible and what is preferable. And in any case, the CII showed its true colours by ranting against co-education in this case too. Throughout its many years of existence, the net contribution of the CII has amounted to nothing. If anyone has the authority to debate these issues, it is a parliament of elected individuals, not a cabal of unaccountable and reactionary mullahs.
pk.shafaqna.com
