DoreneC Seattle WA
On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 3:38 AM, Sujeet Bhatt <sujeet.bhatt at gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200904041455.htm
>
> The Hindu
> http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/002200904041455.htm
>
> India's Muslims denounce Taliban whipping of girl as un-Islamic
>
> New Delhi (IANS): After video clips of a 17-year-old girl being
> flogged in public by Taliban fighters in Pakistan's Swat valley were
> shown on TV, India's Islamic scholars denounced it as "un-Islamic" and
> "satanic" and condemned it as "gross violation" of Quranic codes.
>
> Renowned Islamic scholar Maulana Wahiduddin Khan spoke out strongly
> against the incident and added that if anything, the act was
> absolutely "un-Islamic - even satanic".
>
> "This kind of treatment is neither Islamic nor human. In fact, not
> only is it un-Islamic and inhuman, but also satanic," Khan, who has
> authored over 200 books on Islam, told IANS.
>
> "The first thing that should be done is to educate people, develop
> ethical values, sensitivity towards women and treat them equally.
> Society can be reformed through education - punishment (of the
> perpetrators) can never be the starting point for any kind of reform
> or change," he added.
>
> Similarly, Mushirul Hasan, vice chancellor of the Jamia Millia Islamia
> university, condemned the incident saying that it was a wrong
> portrayal of Islam, which preaches exactly opposite of what the
> Taliban were seen doing to the hapless young girl.
>
> "I am horrified. This (incident) is a gross violation of Islamic and
> Quranic injunctions which teaches humanity, love, peace and
> magnanimity," Hasan told IANS.
>
> The dangers of imposing Sharia laws in Pakistan's restive Swat Valley
> were brought into sharp focus Friday with the airing of a two-minute
> video showing a 17-year-old screaming, burqa-clad girl being whipped
> by Taliban fighters for coming "out of her house with another man who
> was not her husband".
>
> The grainy video, shot on a mobile phone, showed the girl face down on
> the ground. Two men held her arms and feet while a third, a
> black-turbaned man with a flowing beard, whipped her repeatedly.
>
> Salima Khan, a student doing her PhD in Delhi University, said that
> she literally boiled in anger after seeing the video clip on YouTube,
> the popular video sharing website and then again on TV.
>
> "I can't believe how anybody can humiliate and beat up an innocent
> young girl in the name of religion. And what was her fault - that she
> was seen with a man who was not her husband! Who in their right state
> of mind would ever dare to do such a dastardly act?
>
> "Such acts just show how Islam has been grossly misinterpreted by a
> handful of people who are using it as a tool to serve their own
> cause," Salima said angrily.
>
> On YouTube, the video received thousands of hits overnight and a
> barrage of comments.
>
> One of the comments read: "These people (Taliban) should be given a
> taste of their own medicine. They should be whipped in public for
> maligning the name of Islam and inflicting torture on poor, helpless
> women".
>
> Another comment from an Indian woman read: "Thank God I was born in
> India and not there (Swat valley). There they treat women like animals
> - no, even worse. To live a life like that seems like sheer hell."
>
> However, the authorities of Darul Uloom, one of the most renowned
> seminaries in the Deoband town of western Uttar Pradesh, chose to keep
> mum.
>
> Maulana Abdul Khaleeq Madrasi, pro vice chancellor of the seminary,
> told IANS: "We cannot give any statement on the matter from the
> institution as we don't know the details at the moment".
>
> India has an estimated 140 million Muslims, the third largest Muslim
> population in the world after Indonesia and Pakistan.
>
> --
> My humanity is in feeling we are all voices of the same poverty.
> - Jorge Louis Borges
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