Shariah changes are not feminist, declares SIS

What is urgently needed is a complete review of the shariah legal system, says Muslim women’s rights group.

PETALING JAYA: Investing the shariah courts with greater punitive powers will not benefit women, says Sisters in Islam (SIS).

This contradicts the statement by Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Asyraf Wajdi Dusuki last week that feminists should embrace the proposed changes which he claimed would protect women from being victimised.

SIS, in a statement today, rejected PAS’ proposed amendments to the Syariah Courts (Criminal Jurisdiction) Act 1965, which seeks wider powers for shariah courts to punish Muslim offenders.

The Muslim women’s rights group quoted the scholar Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah, who said the foundation of Islamic shariah lay in its practical and egalitarian social ideas, which included justice, welfare, mercy and wisdom for all, regardless of gender, race and nationality.

According to him, anything that departed from this was not shariah.

As a Muslim feminist organisation, SIS reiterated its objection to such laws that are not feminist, unjust and un-Islamic.

“Feminists should and will not support the proposed amendments to the Act.”

It said feminists did not aim to achieve justice and equality through more severe punishments as PAS was seeking to do with its proposed amendments.

“It instead aims to achieve substantive equality by addressing systemic barriers women face daily, such as unjust laws, poor implementation of laws and limited access to the justice system due to strained economic conditions, to mention a few.

“These systemic barriers, unfortunately, are not at all addressed in the Act.

“In addition, what evidence has PAS and Putrajaya provided to show that higher punishments will lead to better conditions for women seeking justice in the shariah courts?”

SIS said if PAS and Putrajaya were truly concerned about women’s rights, they would have supported the efforts of women’s rights groups to amend the Islamic Family Law Act 1984 (IFL) and the Syariah Criminal Offences Enactment (SCOE), which have mostly been applied to women, transpeople and those in the lower-income group.

“Simply increasing the punishments for ex-husbands who do not pay maintenance fails to tackle the root of the problems in shariah courts, such as the provisions in the existing Islamic Family Law Act 1984 that discriminate against women, poor implementation of the law and the absence of gender sensitivity in shariah court staff.”

It said what was urgently needed was a complete review of the shariah legal system.

“If we allow (the amendments to) this Act to be passed without (first) reviewing the existing IFL and SCOE, we will be leaving the doors wide open to potential abuse of power and discrimination.” -FMT