Society

Part 1 here

She then goes on to Hadeeth, collection of sayings of Prophet Muhammed (Pease be upon him)

Even the Hadis –a collection of the words of Prophet Mohammed, his opinion on various subjects and also about his work, written by those close to him– talks extensively of the purdah for women. Women must cover their whole body before going out, they should not go before unknown men, they should not go to the mosque to read the namaaz, they should not go for any funeral.

This is the first verse she quotes-

“Tell the faithful women that they must keep their gaze focused below/on the ground and cover their sexual organs. They must not put their beauty and their jewellery on display. They must hide their breasts behind a purdah. They must not exhibit their beauty to anybody except their husbands, brothers, nephews, womenfolk, servants, eunuch employees and children. They must not move their legs briskly while walking because then much of their bodies can get exposed.” (Sura Al Noor 24:31)

The bold are Ms. Nasreen’s addition and distortion. Here is the actual verse

While the government and NGOs are up with arm against dowry and atrocities against women, men have been ignored. This statistics prove that

Javeri says that of a total of 58,319 dowry cases registered in the country in 2004, as many as 10,491 (18 per cent) could not even be charge-sheeted as the grounds were frivolous. Of the 47,828 (82 per cent) charge-sheeted, only 5,739 (9.8 per cent) were convicted. In other words, 24,127 (41 per cent) were acquitted as they were innocent, needlessly harassed due to faulty investigation, false complaints and bad prosecution. The Centre for Social Research has indicated that 98 per cent of cases filed under IPC section 498A are false. [HT]

Karamah has an excellent article on the zina, illegal intercourse, laws in Pakistan and how the the Islamic laws have been wrongly misinterpreted. The article brings out the difference between sexual contact with consent, zina, and rape which the law makers in Pakistan have failed to understand. I quote few paras to prove that point as to why 4 witnesses are required to prove zina.

It is pertinent to point out here that the evidentiary requirement for zina was initially intended to protect women from frivolous charges. This intention derives directly from Asbab al-Nuzul (reasons of revelation) relating to the Qur’anic verse that establishes the hadd of zina. We therefore believe that the requirement of four witnesses (with all its restrictions and specifications) is a merciful measure from God in order not only to avoid incriminating innocent people, but also to preserve the privacy of Muslims, which is one of the most valued principles in Islam (the concept of sitr). It is not accidental that the privacy principle is stated in the same chapter, a few verses later: “O ye who believe! Enter not houses other than your own, until ye have asked permission and saluted those in them: that is best for you, in order that ye may heed (what is seemly).� (24: 27)

We also believe that the requirement of male witnesses constitutes another protective measure that makes it more difficult to prove zina. After all, in Muslim societies women have more facility and liberty to enter houses and access each other’s private apartments than men usually have. From the rich jurisprudence related to the matter, one can easily conclude that Muslim jurists were very cautious not to convict an innocent person. They went so far as to state that it is better to let a guilty person get away with his/her crime than to punish an innocent person. For, even when a person escapes the worldly punishment, the right of God remains. He will ultimately decide whether to punish or forgive the sinful.