Dossier Articles

Dossier 18: Sex and the Single Shi’ite: Mut’a Marriage in an American Lebanese Shi’ite Community

Soon after I began my study of the religious life of the Lebanese Shi’a residing in the eastern section of Dearborn, Michigan, I occasionally heard rumors that mut’a (temporary or pleasure marriage) was being encouraged by the religious leaders (shaikhs) in the community.

Dossier 18: The Offence of Rape in the Islamic Law of Pakistan

In 1979 the Islamic regime of Pakistan introduced changes in the law of rape, providing Islamic standards of proof and punishment for this crime. The law concerning rape was made part of the ordinance, called The Offence of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance, VII of 1979 (the term zina encompasses adultery, fornication, rape and prostitution).

Dossier 18: Ustadh Mohamed Taha: 12 years after his execution

On January the 18th 1985, Ustadh Mahmoud Mohamed Taha was executed in Kober Prison in Khartoum Sudan after a short trial on the previous day. His trial reflected the collapse of the rule of law after the promulgation of the September 1983 Laws, the declaration of emergency and the "Prompt Justice Courts" of 1984. Ustadh Taha's trial was a classic example of an unfair trial.

Ustadh Mahmoud Mohamed Taha was born in a sufist family, in the town of Rufaa (160 miles south of Khartoum) in 1909. His mother died when he was one year old and his father died when he was ten.

Dossier 18: Legal Aid, New Laws & Violence Against Women In Sudan

Introduction

This paper will address the issue of violence against women in Sudanese laws. Since 1989 the current government of Sudan enforced legislation and procedures based on Islamic principles.

Dossier 14-15: More Crumbs for Women?

Farida Rahman MP’s Private Member’s Bill on a proposed amendment to section V1 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 has become a much-talked-about subject because of its unconventional and contentious nature. Particularly, various women’s activist groups have shown tremendous interest in it. The subject of the bill raises the whole issue of women’s rights of general interests.

Dossier 14-15: The Hidden Politics of Cultural Relativism

Editor’s note

Women migrants in Europe or North America have long started to denounce the dangerous softness with which oppressive laws, customs and practices against women, imported from our countries and cultures, are tolerated or encouraged in the host countries, - in the name of tolerance, of respect of the Other, of the right to difference, of putting at par different cultures or religions, etc...

Like our own governments, governments of the countries of immigration are prepared to sell out the well being, the human rights and the civil right

Dossier 14-15: Algeria - In Defense of Intellectuals

Today, in Algeria, the execution and murder of women, foreigners and intellectuals by Muslim extremists have become systematic. Such typically fascist acts have given rise to feelings of outrage. Logically, therefore, one would expect that the most lucid would rally around a struggle against such a political vision or, at the very least, in defense of the memory of the victims.

Dossier 14-15: From Ethnic Fundamentalism to Religious Fundamentalism

Editor’s comment: The article of Stasa Zajovic from the Women in Black-Belgrade rings a bell to all of us who live in multi ethnic, multi religious, multi cultural countries, threatened by growing nationalism- or communalism-, where the hatred of the Other closely entwined with population policies (as a mild form which can evolve into its drastic form of ethnic cleansing) put women at the forefront of these policies.

Dossier 14-15: Gender, Civil Society and Citizenship in Algeria

Women in Algeria must negotiate their access to the public sphere in a society torn between the residual patriarchal reflexes of the modern state and Islamist revivalism.

Dossier 14-15: Islam and Women's Rights: A Case Study

Given the rising tide of Islamisation in Muslim countries and its call for wider recognition of Shari'a as the primary legal basis of Muslim nations, concerns about Shari'a's conflict with human rights standards must be addressed.