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 Shariat", 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 interests", 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 era", 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 Islam", 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 Muslims", he observed.     

He said that Nikkah and divorce matters generally varied on case to case basis, therefore the courts of law could give different verdicts on them and it was not appropriate to form a uniform principle for all of them. Zaheer said that constitutionally CII was incomplete as no Ahl-e-Hadith scholar had representation in it for the last many years. "Constitutionally all schools of thought should have equal representation in the council", he added.

Shah Anas Noorani, President Jamiat Ulema-e-Pakistan said that it was not appropriate time to touch such controversial subjects. "The recommendations of CII regarding family laws have further created restlessness among masses", he said, adding that the incumbent regime was repeating the mistakes of the previous government. Noorani said that CII was uselessly interfering in the agreed issues of Shariat.   

Noorani noted that JUP would oppose the move of CII on streets for amending the existing family laws if the latter did not take its recommendations back. He said that he had no hope of betterment from the CII as  Musharraf's implanted men were running the Council. "The other recommendations of CII should be tabled in the parliament and there should be major reshuffle in the Council", he stated.  

Allama Syed Jalil Naqvi, central leader, Tehreek-i-Islami Pakistan said that Council of Islamic Ideology was a useless body that had done no scholarly work in the past. "No one listens to its recommendations and till today no proposal of CII has been tabled in the parliament for debate and legislation", he said.

He said that the only task of CII was to create confusion among Muslims and give rise to controversies. Naqvi said that the recommendations of CII on family laws were totally un-Islamic and were against all schools of thought (Fiqhas) of Islam. He urged the government to appoint real Islamic scholars in the Council to make it purposeful while alleging that sitting members of CII were interpreting Islam according to their own will.