A lawyer living in Iran sent in the below message when he found out about today’s seminar on Sharia and the Childrens Act. Whilst today’s seminar addresses Sharia courts here in Britain, it is astounding how similar Sharia rulings are no matter where you live.
Obviously the courts here in Britain deal primarily with family matters so child executions and punishments for crimes against ‘chastity’ don’t apply (as that’s part of Sharia’s criminal code). Nonetheless, there are many aspects that are applicable to children and young people in Britain, from forced and child marriages, inheritance, child veiling, violence against children, honour killings and matters around child custody to name a few. There will be more information on the situation here but for now, here is the lawyer’s letter:
Dear Maryam Namazie
I have been informed that you will attend the Sharia Law and Children Act seminar. As you know I am a lawyer in Iran, practicing as attorney at law under Sharia law and Islamic regulations.
I wish I was there with you, not only as a lawyer but also as a victim and as a witness. I hope you can help me to have my voice heard at today’s seminar.
Dear audience, I am living in the country where according to Sharia law rulings here:
– A child is not eligible for any heritage from natural parents (natural parents against legal and Islamic married parents).(884. Civil code).
– A child born of adultery (non Islamic marriage) shall not belong to the adulterer.(1167. Civil code)
– A child must obey its parents (1177. civil code)
– Parents are entitled to punish their children (1179. civil code)
– Either the father or the paternal grandfather has the right of guardianship over his children.(1181. Civil code) {not mother}.
– A child will have the same criminal responsibility as adults when he reaches 14 years old and she reaches 8.5 years old (Sharia sexual puberty) (49.1. penal code). (Please note the difference between the Gregorian calendar and Ghamari calendar, 15 and 9 years in Ghamari calendar is about 14 and 8.5 years in Gregorian calendar)
-If either the father or the paternal grandfather murder their child or step child or children they would not punished like other murderers (Ghesas- death penalty) but must only pay some money to inheritors (220.penal code) and may be convicted to bear between 3 to 10 years jail (612. penal code-Tazirat). It should be mentioned that this jail penalty is not according to Sharia and legislators were forced to add this punishment recently because of societal pressures).
– Marriage before puberty with the permission of the male Guardian is legal and possible. (1041.Civil code) [It means even a 1 day old girl could easily be sold. I think it is rape and a crime. The only restriction in Sharia about the child wife is intercourse before 8.5 years old. Other sexual activities are permitted and considered halal. After 8.5 years old even intercourse is permitted.] It must be noted that under these rule, the man rules over the wife. For example, according to Quran 4th sura 34th Ayah (Soorato nesa ayatol 34) men are superior to women and even a husband should hit his wife in some conditions. So just think about those child wives in Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and other Islamic countries.
This is Sharia law in theory and practice. It is naked Islam. I have studied it and now I am feeling and seeing it.
In summary I am a lawyer under the Sharia legal system under which a child could be beaten and raped legally or be accused and charged for any crime like an adult or be used for military activities in Basij force.
I want to be their voice, the voice of those who are beaten legally, and who can do nothing but cry in hiding…
I almost forgot….
” what he said almost all are accepted all around Islamic societies”
False, I can easily name positive Islamic societies like Tatarstan, Algeria or Morocco, if we examine Islamic history we find that such laws are rather recent: the Vainakh lived under unwritten anarchic customary law for centuries as did various Berber societies.
“he mentioned some of them are exactly mentioned in Qur’an, Do you think any Muslim would criticize or deny or even amend Qur’an??”
The issue is interpretation which occurs throughout Muslim societies, I once read a comment by Islamist tourist to Algeria bitching about how he was laughed for not drinking alcohol.
“if it was Khomeinism it was only in Iran but it is the same legal and social situation in other Islamic countries.”
See above and Khomeinism itself it basically the deification of Khomeini fused with Persian chauvinism, a recent ideology.
Yes, Maryam, thanks for giving this man a voice. It is disturbing to think that Sharia courts like the courts in Iran exist in Britain. There should be some way to close them down. It is unacceptable that in Britain there should exist a parallel legal system in which the rights that should be available to all British subjects will not be accorded to women and girls. This is entirely unacceptable. And whether or not this is an expression of normative Islam — I suspect it is, contrary to Riley — it should be made clear to anyone living in a democratic jurisdiction that this is an unacceptable expression of religious belief, and however intrinsic or non-intrinsic it is to Islamic tradition, must be revised for compatibility with democracy.
Thank you for giving him a voice.
In contrary to Riley’s idea I think it is not Khomeinism (only because it is in Iran). what he said almost all are accepted all around Islamic societies and as he mentioned some of them are exactly mentioned in Qur’an, Do you think any Muslim would criticize or deny or even amend Qur’an?? all new and old Muslim generation believe in then otherwise according to Islam, they are not Muslim.
if it was Khomeinism it was only in Iran but it is the same legal and social situation in other Islamic countries. an small probable difference do not change the merit of Islam.
regards
Goody
Defining Khomeinism as Islam personified is very stupid, the key way to defeat Islamism is to portray it as a recent movement, a perversion of Islam: which is actually true. This post just reveals a lack of strategic thought since Islamists want to hear that their recent views are inseparable from Islamic identities.
I am sure apologists will defend these atrocities as glibly as ever.
Thanks for giving this guy a voice.
This kind of stuff is, simply speaking, barbaric. Nothing else can bring out the primitive barbarity of Islam like sharia law. I see christian “values” and “god’s law” compared a lot to islamic values and sharia, but thanks to the Enlightenment, christianity has had at least some of the medieval barbarity knocked out of it.
This lawyer’s letter brings that difference home in spades! Thanks for publishing it.