ID :
44653
Sat, 02/07/2009 - 17:16
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/44653
The shortlink copeid
WORLD MUSLIM SCHOLARS AND ACTIVISTS TO MEET IN KL
By Soraya Jamal
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- Some 200 Muslim scholars and activists from 40 countries will meet in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 13 to discuss necessary reforms to laws that bind, shape and affect the daily lives of Muslim families.
The five-day meeting will launch the 'Musawah', which is the Global Movement
for Equality and Justice in the Muslim family, to be organised by Sisters in
Islam (SIS) and an international planning committee of 12 scholars and
activists.
Several scholars at the forefront of progressive school of thought in Islam
will be attending the meeting.
Among them are Muhammad Khalid Masud who heads the Council of Islamic
Ideology in Pakistan, Dr Hashim Kamali (Director-General, International
Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies, Malaysia), Farida Bennani from Morocco,
Sana Benachour (Tunisia), Kyai Hussein Muhammad (Indonesia) and Ziba
Mir-Hosseini (Britain).
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Professor
Yakin Erturk, will open the meeting.
According to the statement issued by SIS, the Musawah will galvanise the
efforts of women's groups and progressive scholars who have worked for decades
to bring end to unjust laws and discriminatory practices in the Muslim world.
While the world today regards women's rights as an integral part of human
rights, there appears to be a disconnect between Muslim family laws and women's
daily realities.
These family laws also violate constitutional guarantees of equality and
non-discrimination and government commitments to international human rights
conventions, the statement said.
The movement contends that this discrimination is untenable and
indefensible.
Many women today are providers and protectors of their families. Yet family
laws in many Muslim countries remain frozen in the classical legal framework.
A woman's right to education, work, travel or even to leave the matrimonial
home is dependent on the husband's permission. Her right to custody of her
children and to maintenance can be lost if she is disobedient, it said.
Islam embodies equality, justice, love, compassion and mutual respect
between all human beings, and these values provide a path toward change.
The reform of laws and practices for the benefit of the society has always
been part of the Muslim legal tradition.
For decades, women activists and rights groups in Muslim societies working
towards law reforms have faced strong opposition from powerful forces in the
name of religion and state-sanctioned patriarchy, it said.
Activists however, received fresh impetus for change from the achievements
of the women's movement in Morocco, which successfully campaigned for a
comprehensive reform in 2004 of the Moudana (personal status code) to emphasise
principles of equality between women and men.
Thus, in 2006, Muslim scholars and activists from South-East Asia, West
Asia, Morocco, the United States and the United Kingdom attended a Trends in
Family Law Reform in Muslim Countries meeting in Kuala Lumpur and proposed the
building of an international network of Muslim women's groups to share
strategies, scholarship and best practices.
This sharing will develop the international discourse, public voice and
momentum to protect existing rights and promote reform at the national and
regional levels.
Malaysia is regarded a model Muslim country.
By supporting Musawah, the country will have the privilege of leading an
international law reform movement to end discrimination against Muslim women
across the globe.
It will help dismantle the stereotypical image of Islam as a religion that
discriminates against women and breaking the typecast image of the Muslim woman
as silent and oppressed.
The meeting will launch the Musawah Framework for Action, the conceptual
framework and principles that will guide the work for Musawah,bringing together
Islamic teachings, universal human rights principles, fundamental rights and
constitutional guarantees, and the lived realities of women and men today.
A book of seven working papers, which will serve as a resource for the
movement will also be launched.
The working papers will demonstrate the possibility of finding justice
and equality for women within Islam, how reforms and protection of rights are
possible within Muslim contexts and how justice and equality are necessary given
the realities of lives today.
The Musawah website, which contains resources on family law reform, advocacy
strategies and information from over 30 countries will also be launched.
Topics to be discussed will include why equality is possible and necessary
in the Muslim family, feminism and religion, successful campaigns and strategies
for reform and ensuring equality without exception.
For further info on the meeting kindly contact 603-77856121 or
yati@sistersinislam.org.my.
-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 7 (Bernama) -- Some 200 Muslim scholars and activists from 40 countries will meet in Kuala Lumpur on Feb 13 to discuss necessary reforms to laws that bind, shape and affect the daily lives of Muslim families.
The five-day meeting will launch the 'Musawah', which is the Global Movement
for Equality and Justice in the Muslim family, to be organised by Sisters in
Islam (SIS) and an international planning committee of 12 scholars and
activists.
Several scholars at the forefront of progressive school of thought in Islam
will be attending the meeting.
Among them are Muhammad Khalid Masud who heads the Council of Islamic
Ideology in Pakistan, Dr Hashim Kamali (Director-General, International
Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies, Malaysia), Farida Bennani from Morocco,
Sana Benachour (Tunisia), Kyai Hussein Muhammad (Indonesia) and Ziba
Mir-Hosseini (Britain).
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, Professor
Yakin Erturk, will open the meeting.
According to the statement issued by SIS, the Musawah will galvanise the
efforts of women's groups and progressive scholars who have worked for decades
to bring end to unjust laws and discriminatory practices in the Muslim world.
While the world today regards women's rights as an integral part of human
rights, there appears to be a disconnect between Muslim family laws and women's
daily realities.
These family laws also violate constitutional guarantees of equality and
non-discrimination and government commitments to international human rights
conventions, the statement said.
The movement contends that this discrimination is untenable and
indefensible.
Many women today are providers and protectors of their families. Yet family
laws in many Muslim countries remain frozen in the classical legal framework.
A woman's right to education, work, travel or even to leave the matrimonial
home is dependent on the husband's permission. Her right to custody of her
children and to maintenance can be lost if she is disobedient, it said.
Islam embodies equality, justice, love, compassion and mutual respect
between all human beings, and these values provide a path toward change.
The reform of laws and practices for the benefit of the society has always
been part of the Muslim legal tradition.
For decades, women activists and rights groups in Muslim societies working
towards law reforms have faced strong opposition from powerful forces in the
name of religion and state-sanctioned patriarchy, it said.
Activists however, received fresh impetus for change from the achievements
of the women's movement in Morocco, which successfully campaigned for a
comprehensive reform in 2004 of the Moudana (personal status code) to emphasise
principles of equality between women and men.
Thus, in 2006, Muslim scholars and activists from South-East Asia, West
Asia, Morocco, the United States and the United Kingdom attended a Trends in
Family Law Reform in Muslim Countries meeting in Kuala Lumpur and proposed the
building of an international network of Muslim women's groups to share
strategies, scholarship and best practices.
This sharing will develop the international discourse, public voice and
momentum to protect existing rights and promote reform at the national and
regional levels.
Malaysia is regarded a model Muslim country.
By supporting Musawah, the country will have the privilege of leading an
international law reform movement to end discrimination against Muslim women
across the globe.
It will help dismantle the stereotypical image of Islam as a religion that
discriminates against women and breaking the typecast image of the Muslim woman
as silent and oppressed.
The meeting will launch the Musawah Framework for Action, the conceptual
framework and principles that will guide the work for Musawah,bringing together
Islamic teachings, universal human rights principles, fundamental rights and
constitutional guarantees, and the lived realities of women and men today.
A book of seven working papers, which will serve as a resource for the
movement will also be launched.
The working papers will demonstrate the possibility of finding justice
and equality for women within Islam, how reforms and protection of rights are
possible within Muslim contexts and how justice and equality are necessary given
the realities of lives today.
The Musawah website, which contains resources on family law reform, advocacy
strategies and information from over 30 countries will also be launched.
Topics to be discussed will include why equality is possible and necessary
in the Muslim family, feminism and religion, successful campaigns and strategies
for reform and ensuring equality without exception.
For further info on the meeting kindly contact 603-77856121 or
yati@sistersinislam.org.my.
-- BERNAMA
