lieuwen@mycella.cs.wisc.edu (Dan Lieuwen) (07/27/90)
On NPR, a while back, they had a program on the treatment of women in Pakistan that seemed contrary to my reading of the Quaran. For instance, young women from Bangladesh (illegal immigrants) were tricked into thinking they'd get a decent job. Instead they were enslaved--and as part of the enslavement raped. When the Pakistani authorities raided the homes, the enslavers weren't punished. The women were put in prison for ADULTRY. Now, from my reading, adultry requires that two people be punished, not one. Also, the gist of Quaranic law seems to be an attempt to protect women (for instance, the punishment for those who can't prove pretty decisively that the women they accused is in fact guilty of adultry), not rapist males. Pakistan seems to be turning the Quaran on its head. Also, even when a man is punished for rape, he can only get full punishment if seen by four males. This too seems to be twisting the intent of the passage, which once again seemed aimed at protecting women. Do I understand these passages correctly? Dan -- --Dan
ikhan%tessi.uucp@RELAY.CS.NET (Iqbal Khan) (08/03/90)
In article <14209@wpi.wpi.edu> lieuwen@mycella.cs.wisc.edu (Dan Lieuwen) writes: > >part of the enslavement raped. When the Pakistani authorities raided the >homes, the enslavers weren't punished. The women were put in prison for >ADULTRY. Now, from my reading, adultry requires that two people be punished, >not one. Also, the gist of Quaranic law seems to be an attempt to protect Correction here. Adultry does not require both the particpants to be punished. In fact, if one of the persons confesses, he/she is not even asked who the partner was. Of course, all this is the princinple of Islam and not what might be practiced. The second thing is that a person is not convicted of adultry unless at least four male or two males and four females (??) bear witness to the actual penetration. This extreme condition is there to protect the accused. In general, the understanding is that if a judge gives the maximum punishment of adultry merely on basis of witneses, it is not a correct judgement. The extreme punishment of stoning is given mostly when the person confesses himself/herself. Keeping this in mind, if Pakistan's courts convicted any women in the above mentioned cases, they are certainly not following any Sharia laws. The problem in Pakistan is that Islamic laws are being enforced in a procedural judicial system. In a procedural system, if a person is accused of a crime, he/she is arrested immediately and then tried. Well, in case of adultry accusation, the person loses the reputation even if he/she is innocent. Iqbal Mustafa Khan
aza@hpfinote.hp.com (Asad Aziz) (08/03/90)
Dan, I also heard the same program on NPR. Unfortunately, in this case the letter and spirit of Islam have been warped to favour the parties that have the most power, i.e men. The crux of the matter is that the way the practices are set up, the woman is essentially guilty until proven innocent. These women from Bangladesh have no one to intercede on their behalf and no one is willing to get involved. People have other problems that are more immediate. You might want to cross post this to soc.culture.pakistan to see what responses you get. asad