Religious leaders target CII stance

ISLAMABAD - Expressing their serious reservations over the current composition of the Council of Islamic Ideology, leaders of various major religious parties asked the government to oust ‘Musharraf’s men’ from the CII.
Maulana Sami-ul-Haq, President, JUI-S said that the former President Pervez Musharraf, according to his theory of enlightenment, had appointed such persons in the CII who were not capable of issuing religious decrees (Fatwas). “The so-called scholars of CII were spreading confusion among the people of Pakistan by doing wrong interpretation of Shariatâ€�, he said adding that the recent recommendations of CII regarding family laws were incompatible with various ‘Fiqhas’, schools of thought of Islam.    
He also criticized various governments for not giving importance to the recommendations of CII in the past. “For the last 30 to 40 years, no parliament has taken the recommendations of CII for debate and legislation, therefore the whole functioning of CII has been reduced to nothing but only a wastage of millions of rupees�, he stated, adding that his own book cabinet was filled with the proposals and recommendations which the Council forwarded to the previous governments for the last many decades with no progress thereafter.
Senator Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri, central leader JUI-F talking to The Nation said that there was no authentic religious scholar in the Council of Islamic Ideology who could exercise the practice of ‘Ijtihad’. “Former President Pervez Musharraf appointed liberal minded scholars in the Council for his vested political interestsâ€�, he said, adding that the Chairman and members of CII had no authenticity or credibility.  He said that JUI-F had proposed various recommendations to the government for revamping CII and making the Council a useful body.
Severely flaying the recent recommendations of CII, Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed of Jamaat-e-Islami said that the government was repeating the mistakes of Ayub era. “Till today, women in Pakistan are suffering from the amended family laws of Ayub eraâ€�, he said. Prof Khurshid said that CII was interfering in the agreed Islamic traditions and laws regarding nikkah and talaq affairs. “The credibility of present CII is very low as  Musharraf’s implanted men are still holding the offices with the old agenda of promoting enlightened moderation in the name of Islamâ€�, he stated.  
Allama Zubair Ahmad Zaheer, Ameer, Aalmi Jamiat Ahl-e-Hadith said that the recommendation of CII saying that woman could proceed to Hajj without Mehram was totally against the teachings of Quran and Sunnah. He somewhat endorsed the recommendations of CII regarding moon seeing and Talaq Nama registration. “The marking of Fast and Eid simultaneously in the whole Islamic world by taking Makkah Mukkarma as centre for moon seeing would promote unity and harmony among Muslimsâ€�, he observed.