Women
and Fatwas
By Zen S. Bhatia
Ontario, CA
After its ruling against Imrana, who was raped
by her father-in-law, the Darul Uloom at Deoband
kicked up another storm on Wednesday when three
of its clerics issued a fatwa that seeks to debar
women from contesting the ongoing Panchayat pools
in UP, India. The fatwa further states that contesting
of elections by women is un-Islamic. It quotes
from hadis Sharif - a society led by women was
destined to be doomed.
In the opinion of the majority of Muslims of India,
Darul Uloom at Deoband is an Islamic school like
the many hundreds in India. It has no sole authority
to pronounce the Islamic opinion on anything.
This particular school and its leaders are preaching
Wahabism, the most extreme kind of Islam. Majority
of Indian Muslims have no religious or social
connection with this outdated school.
It is time for the majority peace-loving Muslims
to stand up and stop such extreme preachers and
their followers.
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