Bangladesh Muslim Woman, Hamida Sultana, Caned 82 Times & Stoned 80 Times After Imam Issued Fatwa; Imam Arrested For Enforcing Sharia
• Bangladesh Muslim Woman, Hamida Sultana, Caned 82
Times & Stoned 80 Times After Imam Issued Fatwa; Imam Arrested For
Enforcing Sharia
• USA Muslim Women Wrestlers Just Want To Compete — But
They Can't For An Arbitrary Reason
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/bangladesh-muslim-woman-imam-sharia/d/129612
Bangladesh Muslim Woman, Hamida Sultana, Caned 82 Times & Stoned 80 Times After Imam Issued Fatwa; Imam Arrested For Enforcing Sharia
Hamida
Sultana was caned 82 times and stoned 80 times with small brick pieces
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Salah Uddin
Shoaib Choudhury
Apr 14, 2023
While
Bangladesh is a secularist country with a legal system in conformity with
secularism where applying sharia rule is considered an illegal and punishable
offence, a radical Islamic cleric along with three village elders were arrested
on charges of ordering a woman to be caned and stoned after she was accused of
an extra-marital affair.
According to Bangladesh
Police, a Muslim female named Hamida Sultana was canned 82 times and stoned 80
times with small brick pieces after an imam of the local mosque issued a fatwa
punishing her for an extra-marital affair Following this gruesome incident,
Hamida Sultana told the media she was a victim of a terrible injustice.“I can’t
express in language what they did to me”, the 30-year-old said.
The fatwa
triggered an outcry, with feminist groups and rights activists staging protests
to demand the perpetrators’ prosecution.
“They acted
like mediaeval people”, Fauzia Moslem, the president of the country’s largest
women’s group, told the media
Zakis Hossain
told Al Jazeera the cases were filed under Bangladesh’s Prevention of
Oppression against Women and Children Act.“After the filing of the case, we
arrested the local cleric who gave the fatwa. We have also arrested three other
village elders who took part in the informal council, known as shalish”,
Hossain said.
“The village council ordered the caning and stoning in the name of Sharia law after she was accused of an extra-marital affair”, Hossain said The village elders “said it will absolve her from her sin and will redeem her honor”, he added.
The police
officer said the 30-year-old woman allegedly had an affair with a local auto
rickshaw driver. He said her husband worked in the Gulf country of Oman and
returned home after the incident was reported.“He also seeks justice for what
happened to his wife”, Hossain told AFP news agency
Bangladesh, a
Muslim-majority country with 180 million people, has a secular legal system and
applying Islamic law in criminal cases is illegal.
to demand the
perpetrators’ prosecution.“They acted like medieval people”, Fauzia Moslem, the
president of the country’s largest women’s group, told AFP.
Decades ago,
village councils in rural Bangladesh commonly used Islamic law to punish Muslim
women accused of adultery.
In a 2011
ruling, Bangladesh’s Supreme Court allowed fatwas to be issued but prohibited
their enforcement. The decision effectively allowed Islamic law to be followed
voluntarily but prohibited any punishment by Muslim scholars or village
councils.
Culture of
stoning in Islam According to Bukhari, vol. 8, bk. 82, no. 816, Umar, one of
the four caliphs of Islam, said,“I am afraid that after a long time has passed,
people may say,“We do not find the Verses of the Rajam (stoning to death) in
the Holy Book,” and consequently they may go astray by leaving an obligation
that Allah has revealed. Lo! I confirm that the penalty of Rajam be inflicted
on him, who commits illegal sexual intercourse if he is already married. The
crime is proved by witnesses or pregnancy or confession”. Sufyan added,“I have
memorized this
narration in this way”. ‘Umar added,“Surely Allah’s Apostle carried out the
penalty of Rajam, and so did we after him”.
Hadith
(Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829) said, “The Jews came to Allah’s Apostle and
told him that a man and a woman from amongst them had committed illegal sexual
intercourse. Allah’s Apostle said to them, “What do you find in the Torah (old
Testament) about the legal punishment of Ar-Rajm (stoning)?” They replied,
(But) we announce their crime and lash them.” Abdullah bin Salam said,“You are
telling a lie; the Torah contains the order of Rajm”. They brought and opened
the Torah, and one of them solaced his hand on the Verse of Rajm and read the
verses preceding and following it. Abdullah bin Salam said to him,“Lift your
hand”. When he lifted his hand, the Verse of Rajm was
written there.
They said,“Muhammad has told the truth; the Torah has the Verse of Rajm.
The Prophet
then ordered that both of them should be stoned to death”. (‘Abdullah bin’ Umar
said,“I saw the man leaning over the woman to shelter her from the stones”.
(Bukhari, vol. 4, bk. 56, no. 829).
Hadith claims
even monkeys practice stoning. According to Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no.
188,“During the pre-lslamic period of ignorance I saw a female monkey
surrounded by
intercourse. I too, stoned it along with
them”. (Bukhari, vol. 5, bk. 58, no. 188).
https://organiser.org/2023/04/14/169176/international/asia-international/south-asia-international/bangladesh-muslim-woman-canned-82-times-imam-arrested-for-enforcing-sharia/
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USA Muslim Women Wrestlers Just Want To Compete — But They Can't For An Arbitrary Reason
MARANIE R.
STAAB FOR HUFFPOST
Zainab
Ibrahim, 18, is a Muslim member of the women's wrestling team and a first-year
political science major at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon.
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By
RowaidaAbdelaziz
20/04/2023
Zainab Ibrahim
was excited to compete in the World Team Trials wrestling tournament. At stake
was the opportunity to represent Team USA at the World Championships in
Belgrade, Serbia, this fall.
But shortly
before she was set to wrestle at the 2023 Women’s National Championships in
Spokane, Washington, last weekend, her coach called with some news: Ibrahim,
who is Muslim and wears a hijab and modest clothing for religious reasons,
would be allowed to cover her hair ― but she’d have to compete in a singlet
without any clothing underneath, leaving her arms and legs exposed.
Ibrahim
withdrew from the competition.
“I was angry,”
said Ibrahim, who is 18 and a first-year political science major at Umpqua
Community College in Roseburg, Oregon. “I can’t help but feel it’s targeted by
not letting Muslim women compete.”
Wrestling is
one of the fastest-growing sports among girls in the United States. Young
Muslim women from a range of ethnic backgrounds and experience levels have
taken to the sport, competing across the country while adhering to their
Islamic faith.
But many Muslim
women wrestlers have hit obstacles due to their need to dress modestly. They’ve
been prohibited from participating in competitions and even forced to forfeit
their wins. They’re pushing back on what they say are arbitrary dress codes
that keep women like them from advancing in the sport.
Wrestling As An
American Muslim Woman
Ibrahim was in
middle school when her mother came home from shopping and told her about seeing
a World Wrestling Entertainment match on TV. Ibrahim’s mother, an immigrant
from Kenya, was at once in awe, gleefully perplexed and intrigued by the mix of
competition, performance and choreography. The family began to watch WWE
together.
When Ibrahim
learned in 2018 that her middle school offered wrestling as an after-school
program, she immediately enrolled. It only took one practice for her to realise
that the physically taxing sport was different from the WWE matches she watched
on TV.
She was the
only girl who’d signed up for wrestling, and she decided to quit because she
was uncomfortable. Her coaches encouraged her to give it a few more tries.
Ibrahim has
been wrestling since.
She wore her
hijab and practiced in sweatpants and a shirt, like the rest of her teammates.
During competitions, she initially wore a long-sleeved shirt and leggings under
her singlet. Later, she ditched the singlet for the more modest option of a
T-shirt and shorts over leggings and a rash guard.
The school and
her teammates were supportive throughout. She initially just had one concern ―
her hijab kept slipping. So she got in touch with the only other hijab-wearing
Muslim wrestlers she knew: the McBryde sisters, three young women from Buffalo,
New York, who made news because of their own experiences as Muslim wrestlers.
Jamilah,
Latifah and ZaynahMcBryde hail from a family of wrestlers. Their father,
Mustafa, wrestled throughout high school and college, and their brother Muhamed
followed in his footsteps in college. The entire family traveled across the
country for matches, often winning in their divisions.
But the family
also had to deal with hurdles when it came to the rules and their Islamic
faith. In 2013, Muhamed missed nearly a year of competitive wrestling while
attending the University at Buffalo because NCAA rules at the time prohibited
facial hair in matches. He was later granted a waiver and allowed to compete.
Prior to each
tournament, the McBryde sisters had a checklist that their non-Muslim
counterparts did not have to deal with. The girls, who do not wear traditional
singlets for modesty reasons, sought out waivers and permissions prior to every
tournament. They also requested that their mandatory weigh-ins be conducted in
a private room with only women during college matches.
While the
sisters received plenty of support, they were also clearly treated differently
at times. Referees would occasionally overlook points, or wouldn’t pause the
match if someone’s hijab fell and covered her eyes.
Through a
process of trial and error, the McBrydes figured out how to keep their hijabs
from slipping and getting in the way. Their mother sewed their hijabs to their
shirts. They taped their hijabs to their headgear, a hack they have since
shared with other Muslim women wrestlers. Their local coach went out of his way
to order uniforms that included a built-in hijab.
By May 2022,
the sisters had competed all over North America when USA Wrestling, the
national governing body for wrestling in the United States, granted them all a
waiver to wear their modified uniforms at a national tournament in Texas.
There, Latifah
placed second, earning a spot to represent the U.S. at the Pan-American Women’s
Wrestling Championship later in the summer. Latifah was elated, and her sisters
beamed in pride.
But the
excitement was short-lived. The Pan-American competition is run by United World
Wrestling, the international governing body for amateur wrestling, and Latifah
would have to follow its rules — including those pertaining to clothing.
Latifah, who is now 18, said she was told she could only compete in the
championship if she wore the singlet. Ultimately, she forfeited her spot.
The organisation’s
website says that “to compete at UWW events from January 1st 2017 onwards,
athletes of all age categories must comply with the UWW Uniform Guidelines,”
and that the singlet is “the standard uniform which is used across all Olympic
styles.”
UWW did not
respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
A spokesperson
for USA Wrestling told HuffPost that the organisation “strongly supports the
opportunity of all athletes to compete on a level playing field, and it is USA
Wrestling’s position that the accommodation of most religious restrictions on
the clothing that wrestlers wear is appropriate.”
But the group
said the matter is out of its hands once athletes qualify for international
competitions.
“USA Wrestling
will continue to advocate for more inclusive rules at the UWW level, but until
and unless UWW changes its position, USA Wrestling is not at liberty to enter
athletes into international competitions or in events that are on the pathway
to international qualification who do not comply with UWW equipment
regulations,” the spokesperson said.
Zaynah, at 17
the youngest of the sisters, was especially emotional when she learned Latifah
wouldn’t be able to compete.
“She pushed
herself and did all this stuff that she had to do to get there,” she said. “It
was just like, ‘Why not?’ She works harder than anybody else. That tournament
proved it. She placed second. Let her go. I still get worked up thinking about
it.”
“The thing that
was really frustrating was it was clearly because she won, because she was
successful,” Zaynah said. “It was fine when we were nobodies and they didn’t
know us coming in. Then we wrestle, and the first year we all place, and then
we come the second year and she wins and is able to represent us, and then now
all of a sudden we’re stopped. Now we can’t wrestle.”
‘No Way To
Sugarcoat It’
Muslim women
have long faced obstacles in athletics due to uniform rules, even as those
rules have slowly started to change in the past few years.
FIFA, the
international governing body for soccer, lifted its ban on the hijab in 2014;
the basketball governing body FIBA followed suit in 2017. In 2020, the
Tennessee association that oversees high school and junior high school sports
activities amended its rules after initially disqualifying a hijab-wearing volleyball
player from participating in school games.
But progress is
slow, and Muslim athletes continue to face discrimination. Just last year,
French lawmakers proposed a hijab ban in competitive sports there.
“When you look
at sports in general, the whole idea is to have the physicality of freedom ―
that’s really what we’re talking about here,” said Shireen Ahmed, a senior
contributor to CBC Sports who covers the experience of Muslim athletes. “But
that’s not an option for these athletes, and it’s really frustrating.”
Ahmed said
athletic organisations often say hijab bans are a safety issue, but that there
is no evidence that not wearing a singlet, or that covering one’s arms and legs
during a competition, would pose any risk. She said such prohibitions, including
those from UWW, are outdated.
“It’s men who
have no contact or information or input from women who are actually Muslim who
are creating these regulations,” Ahmed said. “It’s outwardly anti-Muslim in its
sentiment. There’s no way to sugarcoat it.”
But despite the
challenges, Muslim women and girls continue to wrestle.
Ameerah Colon,
a 15-year-old in Phoenix, has been wrestling since she was 12. She has learned
how to tape her hijab to avoid slippage, and where to buy more modest wear.
She’s grateful to have a network of other Muslim wrestlers to talk to.
“I know some
people think that I’m not as good, or not as strong as some of the other girls,
just because I look different,” she said. But she finds comfort knowing she’s
not the only one.
Colon’s father,
Abdullah, who initially encouraged his daughter to join wrestling as a means of
self-defence, knows his daughter stands out in a sport that is predominantly
male and white.
“Not too many
women who are wearing hijab are competing,” he said. “That’s just the reality
of the situation, so there’s always a concern that there’s going to draw
unwanted attention.”
In Winterville,
North Carolina, 14-year-old Zainab Hijawi has broken barriers during her six
months of wrestling.
Earlier this
year, Hijawi became the first wrestler to compete at the state level while
wearing a hijab. She said her teammates and the school have all been
supportive, and her coaches are constantly communicating with the state to
ensure she can always compete with her hijab and attire without issues. She
said people in the stands cheer for her all the time. She’s grateful for the
support ― and surprised by it.
“My favourite
part of wrestling is the sportsmanship,” she said.
In Oregon,
Ibrahim has been at the gym lifting weights, waiting for her teammates to
return from Washington so she can get back to the wrestling mat.
She’s hoping
for an adjustment to the uniform rules so she can compete next year, and maybe
even one day represent the country to which her family immigrated.
At the end of the
day, she said, it’s not the clothes that make her a good wrestler.
“We can compete
in what we feel comfortable in,” she said. “No one should feel uncomfortable
doing something they love.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/muslim-women-wrestlers-just-want-to-compete-but-they-cant-for-an-arbitrary-reason_uk_64410baae4b0d8403886a6ca
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URL:
https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/bangladesh-muslim-woman-imam-sharia/d/129612