Kaduna Islamic Scholar Urges Sharia Judges To Grant Wives’ Divorce From Abusive Husbands Without Compensation
New Age Islam News Bureau
28 October 2025
· Kaduna Islamic Scholar Urges Sharia Judges To Grant Wives’ Divorce From Abusive Husbands Without Compensation
· Iranian Court Sentences Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, A Political Prisoner, To Death
· Iran Blocks Instagram Accounts Of Female Singers
· With Pink Scarves And Hijabs, Arab Women Unite To Fight Breast Cancer Across The Middle East
· The Lasting Psycho-Social Impacts of Türkiye’s Hijab Ban
· Syria’s Only Female Minister On What She Says To Her New President About Hiring Women: ‘Quotas Are So Important’
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/islamic-scholar-sharia-judges-divorce-husbands/d/137425
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Kaduna Islamic Scholar Urges Sharia Judges To Grant Wives’ Divorce From Abusive Husbands Without Compensation
OCTOBER 27, 2025
Sheikh Ahmad Gumi
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A renowned Islamic scholar, Ahmad Gumi, has called on Islamic judges and clerics to ensure that women suffering from domestic abuse are granted the right to divorce their husbands without being compelled to pay any form of compensation.
Mr Gumi made the call during his weekly Tafsir session held at the Sultan Bello Mosque in Kaduna, where he addressed the topic, ‘How Wives in Islam Can Also Divorce Their Cruel Husbands Without Compensation’.
The cleric, drawing references from Al-Mukhtasar Al-Khalil, a key Maliki jurisprudence text, said Islam does not condone oppression in marriage and that both men and women were granted the right to end a union when mutual respect and compassion are lost.
He lamented that societal and judicial double standards often make it easy for men to dissolve marriages while placing unfair hurdles before women who seek divorce on grounds of abuse, neglect, or humiliation.
Mr Gumi said, “A husband can simply utter the words and end a marriage, but when a woman seeks freedom from an abusive man, she is made to suffer further by being told to pay compensation. That is injustice, and Islam stands firmly against oppression.”
Mr Gumi cited verses from the Holy Qur’an (Q4:35, Q4:19, and Q4:130), highlighting that God allows separation when harmony between spouses is no longer possible and that both parties should be treated justly.
He condemned the rising cases of domestic violence and criticised some husbands who subject their wives to physical and emotional torture while refusing to release them from unhappy marriages unless they pay through khul’ (compensatory divorce).
The cleric added, “When a husband insults, humiliates, or beats his wife, he forfeits the right to demand compensation. It becomes the duty of the judge to dissolve such a marriage immediately. No woman should be trapped in misery.”
Mr Gumi further urged Islamic judges (Qadis) to exercise courage and fairness in their rulings to protect women from unjust treatment, stressing that an abused wife should not be made to buy her freedom from a tormentor.
He added, “The justice system must stand for what is right. When a woman brings forward her case, the judge should be her knight in shining armour, freeing her from an oppressive husband without delay.”
Source: gazettengr.com
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https://gazettengr.com/gumi-urges-sharia-judges-to-grant-wives-divorce-from-abusive-husbands-without-compensation/
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Iranian Court Sentences Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, A Political Prisoner, To Death
OCTOBER 27, 2025
Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a political prisoner from Rasht, was sentenced last week by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court after a video conference trial lasting less than 10 minutes
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A Revolutionary Court in Tehran has sentenced a 67-year-old woman to death on alleged charges of cooperating with opposition groups.
Zahra Shahbaz Tabari, a political prisoner from Rasht, was sentenced last week by Branch 1 of the Revolutionary Court after a video conference trial lasting less than 10 minutes.
Judge Ahmad Darvish issued the death sentence. The family called the proceedings a show trial, the Human Rights Activists News Agency reported.
“My mother had no effective access to an independent lawyer,” her son said. “The lawyer introduced by the judiciary confirmed the result without defense. The whole court was a show.”
The family said Shahbaz Tabari had no connection to any political group and that the charges were fabricated.
She was arrested on April 17 at her home in northern Rasht and transferred to Lakan Prison.
Authorities searched her home and confiscated personal belongings.
Evidence in the case was limited and unreliable, the family said, including a piece of cloth with the slogan “Woman, Resistance, Freedom” and an unpublished voice message.
They said there was no evidence of organizational or military ties.
Shahbaz Tabari is an electrical engineer and a member of the Iranian Engineering Organization.
She holds a master’s degree in sustainable energy from the University of Borås in Sweden.
She was previously arrested for peaceful social media activity and released with an electronic ankle monitor.
Judicial authorities accused her of cooperating with the Mujahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) opposition group, the family said.
They have seven days to appeal and have asked human rights organizations and the public for urgent help.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/145851-iranian-court-sentences-67-year-old-woman-to-death/
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Iran Blocks Instagram Accounts of Female Singers
OCTOBER 27, 2025
Iranian authorities blocked the Instagram accounts of several female singers in northern Mazandaran province.
Identical posts appeared on the Instagram pages of Azadeh Kebriya, Zainab Barimani, and Mandana Akbarzadeh, three female singers from Mazandaran, saying that public security police blocked the pages and deleted all published content.
Some pages displayed messages saying they were blocked for producing “criminal content.”
The messages said the pages were blocked “by order of the judicial authority by the public security police.”
Blocking accounts of female singers, models, and dancers is common in Iran, where women’s singing in public has been banned since the early years of the Islamic Republic.
In April, human rights media reported that security agencies summoned seven female singers in Behbahan.
Previously, several female singers in Isfahan were summoned by security police and told their pages would be blocked and content deleted.
Female singers typically face charges including “promoting corruption” or “propaganda against the Islamic Republic.”
Despite decades of bans and restrictions, Iranian women have continued singing activities.
Source: iranwire.com
https://iranwire.com/en/women/145858-iran-blocks-instagram-accounts-of-female-singers/
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With pink scarves and hijabs, Arab women unite to fight breast cancer across the Middle East
October 28, 2025
Across the Arab world this month, one cause has brought nations together: the fight against breast cancer. From Beirut to Damascus, Amman to Riyadh, women took to the streets wearing pink scarves and hijabs to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month and urge early detection amid rising mortality rates.
In Lebanon, Health Minister Rakan Nassar al-Din—a doctor affiliated with Hezbollah—launched a nationwide campaign under the slogan, “You’re 40, don’t think twice, get a mammogram.”
Lebanon revives campaign after six-year break
According to local media, it was the first such initiative in six years, following a series of national crises: the economic collapse, the 2020 Beirut port explosion, the COVID-19 pandemic and the latest conflict with Israel.
At the campaign launch, the minister announced that all Lebanese women can receive free mammograms at both public and private hospitals partnered with the Health Ministry through the end of the year.
A recent study in the medical journal The Lancet found that between 1990 and 2023, Lebanon recorded the world’s steepest increase in cancer incidence and mortality. It also projected that by 2050, Lebanon could lead the world in cancer-related deaths, with an 80% rise. The report sparked national debate and criticism of the government’s handling of the health crisis.
Nassar al-Din dismissed the report’s conclusions, saying, “The data used in The Lancet is not based on available scientific evidence. There are no accurate statistics on cancer deaths in Lebanon, so the projections may be exaggerated or misleading.”
Syria joins in, despite sanctions and medicine shortages
In Syria, the new government also marked the awareness month under the slogan, “Your awareness is life.” Health Ministry official Alaa Arksousi told state TV that breast cancer accounts for 25–30% of all cancers among Syrian women, emphasizing the importance of early screening and prevention. She added that free mammograms are available, though the country faces ongoing shortages of cancer drugs due to international sanctions hampering imports.
State-run Syrian news agencies covered awareness marches, seminars, and lectures held across multiple provinces. In Homs, a large rally drew hundreds of participants. Abdel Karim Amreen, a member of the Syrian Cancer Society, said the goal was to “raise women’s awareness of early detection,” while one marcher told reporters, “This is how we get people’s attention in the streets.”
The previous Assad regime knew the disease firsthand. First Lady Asma al-Assad was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2018 and recovered, only to reveal in May 2024—shortly before Syria’s political upheaval—that she had leukemia. Two weeks ago, a Die Zeit report on her secret life in Russia described her condition as “critical.”
Regional momentum: Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen
In Jordan, Princess Ghida Talal, cousin of King Abdullah and chairwoman of the King Hussein Cancer Center, launched a national awareness campaign under the slogan, “You matter most—get checked.” In a video shared online, she urged women, “All I ask of each of us is to break the barrier of fear and hesitation and go get screened immediately.”
Saudi Arabia also held lectures and community events to promote early testing, while in Yemen, Houthi-affiliated media reported similar initiatives despite mounting evidence that the rebels’ internal disputes have disrupted hospital operations in areas under their control.
Despite war, sanctions, and political rifts, October’s campaigns offered a rare moment of unity across the Arab world—where pink ribbons, headscarves, and slogans of empowerment symbolized not only hope but defiance in the face of hardship.
Source: ynetnews.com
https://www.ynetnews.com/health_science/article/sk1znz6ale
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The Lasting Psycho-Social Impacts of Türkiye’s Hijab Ban
Date Published: October 28, 2025
On February 28, 1997, Türkiye experienced what became known as a “postmodern coup”—a military intervention that removed the government without the use of force—and institutionalized a hijab ban that profoundly altered the public presence of veiled women. What had been a personal expression of faith was transformed into a symbol of exclusion and political conflict. Nearly three decades later, debates over religious freedom, women’s rights, and authoritarian governance continue to define Türkiye’s political landscape, underscoring the enduring significance of this prohibition.
This article argues that the hijab ban demonstrates the dangers of coercive secularism: it traumatized citizens, fractured social cohesion, and undermined trust in the state, while paradoxically also generating strength, solidarity, and new forms of agency among the women it targeted. This argument is supported by a qualitative study based on semi-structured interviews with 28 women from academia, politics, and business who experienced the February 28 hijab ban. Their narratives, thematically analyzed and validated through expert review, illustrate how trauma, stigma, and symbolic violence shaped identity, resilience, and faith.
Historical and Political Background
The hijab has long been at the center of Türkiye’s struggle to balance secularism and religious expression. Shaped by the state’s interpretation of secularism, the hijab became marginalized as a symbol of anti-modernism and lower socioeconomic status. For much of the twentieth century, state elites regarded the veil as a threat to modernity. By the 1990s, this cultural suspicion hardened into policy. The February 28 coup codified restrictions on veiling, excluding veiled women from universities, public service, and politics.
This prohibition was not merely a bureaucratic matter. It rendered veiled women hyper-visible as symbols of political Islam and simultaneously erased them from public life. Media portrayals criminalized their presence, associating the hijab with extremism. One infamous episode—the “Fadime Şahin incident” staged in 1996—amplified public anxieties about veiling and framed religious women as threats to the republic. Thus, when the ban came into effect, it was experienced not only as a denial of rights but also as a stigmatization of identity.
Psychological Consequences: Trauma and Resilience
For many of the women interviewed, the hijab ban represented a personal crisis. Denied the ability to attend university, sit for exams, or enter workplaces, they experienced what trauma theorist Ronnie Janoff-Bulman calls “shattered assumptions”: the collapse of fundamental beliefs in fairness, safety, and belonging. One participant recalled the devastation of receiving a rejection letter stamped with the words “You have not been placed in any institution.” Another described hair loss and chronic anxiety linked to the stress of hiding or removing the hijab.
The trauma was embodied. Women spoke of sitting in the back rows of lecture halls to avoid scrutiny or hiding behind billboards to shield themselves from stares. These are not isolated anecdotes but consistent with sociologist Erving Goffman’s concept of stigma and Pierre Bourdieu’s notion of symbolic violence—the subtle, systemic enforcement of social exclusion.
And yet, psychological suffering was not the whole story. Several participants described themselves as “pruned but stronger,” acknowledging that adversity had paradoxically deepened their resilience. The ban, they argued, had stripped away illusions of state protection but forced them to develop new sources of confidence rooted in faith, family, and community. This dual legacy—trauma and resilience—underscores how coercion can wound but also galvanize resistance.
Sociological Consequences: Exclusion and Polarization
Socially, the hijab bans entrenched exclusion at multiple levels. Participants described being labeled “hooded girls” or“ninjas,” terms that reduced them to caricatures. In universities, they were barred from entering classrooms; in government, they were treated as disloyal citizens. One woman summarized the experience succinctly: “We were stepchildren of the homeland.”
This sense of alienation eroded trust in state institutions, deepening the divide between secular and religious communities. Families responded ambivalently—some rallied to protect their daughters, while others pressured them into marriage or discouraged resistance for fear of reprisal. These dynamics highlight how authoritarian secularism not only excluded women from public institutions but also restructured private relationships, shaping life trajectories in profound ways.
Yet exclusion also sparked activism. Many participants became active in NGOs, volunteered in rights organizations, and worked to redefine intellectual discourse. Instead of disappearing, they created spaces for civil society, often led by women. In this sense, the ban polarized society but also gave rise to new forms of civic participation, challenging the state’s monopoly on legitimacy.
Spiritual and Religious Consequences: Rupture and Resistance
Perhaps the most intimate consequence of the hijab ban was spiritual. For women who saw the hijab as a reflection of their faith, being compelled to remove it felt like a separation between their identity and their beliefs. Some individuals expressed feelings of shame and doubt, questioning their worth as believers. Others mentioned confusion and a delayed reconciliation with their religious practices.
At the same time, participants highlighted how religious communities both provided support and contributed to conflict. Discussion groups and prayer networks offered solidarity. Some participants described being held in coercive ‘persuasion rooms’—spaces where students wearing headscarves were subjected to verbal pressure and threats in one-on-one meetings with university administrators aimed at forcing them to remove their headscarves—experiences that intensified their suffering, though they coped with them through the support of religious communities. In line with psychologist Kenneth Pargament’s theory of positive religious coping, women transformed suffering into a reaffirmation of belief. For many, the hijab itself became more than an article of clothing; it was a flag of resistance carried against authoritarian repression.
Redefining Citizenship
These findings reveal an intriguing paradox. The hijab ban aimed to exclude women from the public sphere, yet it unintentionally fostered new forms of agency. Women who had been denied entry into universities later became academics, journalists, and politicians. Their activism redefined the terms of debate about citizenship, secularism, and gender.
One striking pattern is how participants reframed exclusion as empowerment. “They tried to erase us,” one woman explained, “but we learned how to write ourselves back into history.” This perseverance complicates narratives of victimhood. While trauma and stigma were undeniable, they coexisted with defiance and creativity, reminding us that marginalized groups are never passive recipients of power but active agents in reshaping it.
Policy Lessons for Today
Although some commentators contend that the hijab ban was necessary to safeguard secularism and women’s equality, and that the tenacity women later displayed suggests its harm was limited, this reasoning is flawed. It confuses coercion with secularism, which in a democratic context should mean neutrality and equal citizenship, not exclusion based on religious expression. Moreover, this fortitude does not erase the trauma, stigma, and symbolic violence women endured. As the evidence shows, the ban fractured trust in the state and deepened social divisions rather than protecting democracy.
To move forward, Türkiye must confront the legacy of the hijab ban through deliberate policy choices that acknowledge harm and prevent its repetition. A formal state apology and symbolic measures would help rebuild trust, while stronger legal protections are needed to guarantee religious freedom and equal citizenship. Universities should be safeguarded as inclusive spaces, and psychosocial support provided to address the long-term trauma women continue to carry. At the same time, empowering civil society organizations—particularly women’s groups—can foster dialogue across social divides and strengthen democratic participation.
Conclusion
The February 28 hijab ban was more than a dress code regulation; it was experienced by participants as a direct assault on religious identity with enduring psychological, social, and spiritual consequences. While many women transformed trauma into defiance and faith-based agency, others continue to carry psychological wounds and disrupted educational and career paths. The persistence of these effects demonstrates that authoritarian measures against religious expression not only marginalize citizens but also erode trust in state institutions.
The structural reforms introduced under the Erdoğan administration—including constitutional and legal amendments and the dismantling of public barriers—significantly alleviated the adverse effects of the ban by curbing military tutelage, reinforcing civilian authority, and broadening religious and civil liberties through reforms aligned with the European Union’s democratization agenda. However, since full confrontation and acknowledgment have not taken place across all segments of society—particularly within elitist secular bureaucratic and social circles—the collective trauma continues. Public apologies and symbolic reparations remain essential for restoring trust between citizens and the state. At the same time, women’s faith-based resistance has enabled them to achieve subjecthood and assert new roles in academia, politics, and bureaucracy, paving the way for a significant transformation in the reshaping of Türkiye’s public sphere and enabling substantial progress in this process. To consolidate these gains, policymakers must also ensure that future state policies do not reproduce similar forms of exclusion, thereby fostering an environment of inclusion, justice, and democratic resilience for future generations.
Source: georgetown.edu
https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2025/10/28/february-28th-28-years-later-the-lasting-psycho-social-impacts-of-turkiyes-hijab-ban/
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Syria’s only female minister on what she says to her new president about hiring women: ‘Quotas are so important’
October 27, 2025
At the Fortune Global Forum in Riyadh, the newly appointed Syrian minister of social and labor affairs, Her Excellency Hind Kabawat, spoke about the future of a nation emerging from nearly 14 years of civil war under a new administration. The country’s only female minister, Kabawat described her passionate appeals to Syria’s new president—and to the international community—to make sure that her status as Syria’s only female minister ends soon, with more women joining her.
The veteran diplomat, a former nonresident fellow of the Atlantic Council’s Syria Project, has assumed a central role in Syria’s transitional government. “First of all, quotas are so important,” she said in conversation with Hala Gorani, a contributing correspondent at NBC News. “If you don’t have quotas, women always will be excluded. So we need to put quotas in from the beginning.” She estimated that her industry is 70% female, and most of her new appointees are women, not because of their gender but because they’re highly qualified.
“I think we have the will, and we want to have more women,” she said, adding that it’s “lonely” and “not fair” that the Syrian parliament has only six women. “Am I upset? Very. Am I angry? Very. But are we going to do something about it? Yes,” she argued, noting that President Ahmed Al-Shara has promised to bring more women into his new government. Al-Shara acknowledged “shortcomings” in the election results that produced only six women in parliament, along with 10 members of religious and ethnic minorities among the 119 people elected to the new People’s Assembly. The election did not feature a direct popular vote, but rather an electoral college for two-thirds of the government’s 210 seats, with the remainder being appointed by Al-Shara himself.
In January, Al-Shara met with a delegation of Syrian-American women at the People’s Palace in Damascus, L24 Levant reported, vowing to make appointments based on “competence without discrimination” and committing to advancing women’s rights and empowerment. “Syrian women have always played an active and distinguished role in society,” Al-Shara said, according to the outlet.
Rebuilding the mosaic of Syria
Minister Kabawat is a member of the Christian minority and a longtime member of the opposition to the former dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad that was defeated by Al-Shara in late 2024. The New York Times reported that Minister Kabawat’s previous exile from Syria began in 2011, after she gave a speech in New York that was met with displeasure from the dictatorship. At the Fortune Global Forum, she framed the rebuilding of Syria as a test of endurance and collective purpose. “Rebuilding means more than reconstruction,” she said. “It’s about restoring stability, trust, and systems that hold society together.”
The challenges remain monumental. She described the immense poverty that she witnessed when she visited Damascus after her exile ended: “The economy is in shambles. The banking system is still comatose.” She explained that her ministry, formed from the combination of preexisting social affairs and labor ministries, is responsible for all of Syria’s vulnerable communities such as orphans, refugees, and people with special needs. She told Gorani that she is working on a “special social protection program” to fight poverty. Accurate statistics are hard to come by, she said, but she estimated the poverty rate at almost 90%. Yet, she insisted, patience and cooperation are Syria’s only way forward. “There’s no magic stick,” Kabawat said plainly. “Only hard work.”
Throughout the conversation, Kabawat repeatedly emphasized that “inclusivity is key,” noting that Syria has many religions and ethnicities. “Syria is a mosaic,” she said. Alawites, Kurds, Druze, Sunnis, all must play a part in rebuilding the country, she noted. “We cannot control Syria by power.” The only way forward is to include people and to listen to them and their suffering.
She described visiting families from once-warring communities and finding the same unifying longing: They all want the same thing, she said: a school for their children, a clinic, and a safe home.
Minister Kabawat’s optimism comes despite immense obstacles. The promised lifting of sanctions and more than $6 billion in pledged reconstruction aid from Saudi Arabia have yet to trickle down to the daily lives of ordinary Syrians. “It’s taking time,” she acknowledged. “People don’t understand how long change can take. But it will come.”
She emphasized that the immediate priorities are restoring electricity and water, followed by expanding social protection programs to offer a safety net for the poor. “Once money goes into social protection and helping the poor and making a better system, people will start feeling it,” she said.
Source: fortune.com
https://fortune.com/2025/10/27/syria-female-minister-hind-kabawat-quotas-female-hiring/
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URL: https://newageislam.com/islam-women-feminism/islamic-scholar-sharia-judges-divorce-husbands/d/137425