Gender equality demand wins support

Gender equality demand wins support

Hera Diani, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Prominent Muslim scholars threw their weight behind a demand for
the revival of the alternative draft Islamic law code, which they
say will encourage gender equality in the country.

Syafiq Hasyim of the International Center for Islam and
Pluralism (ICIP) said he believed that the alternative draft
would not cause disquiet among Muslims as some influential Muslim
institutions had predicted.

"I'm pretty sure Muslims here won't have a problem with the
draft because they need it. There are many examples of interfaith
couples, for instance, who want to get married but cannot because
the state forbids it," Syafiq, who was also involved in the
finalizing of the draft, said on Tuesday.

As for polygamy, he said that Indonesia should take Tunisia as
an example. The African country applies sharia but banned
polygamy in 1959.

Syafiq urged a new discourse in order to find some compromise.

"We believe that we can overcome the arguments of those who
oppose the draft. Everything we have done was based on Islamic
teachings. Maybe it's our own interpretation, but don't be
judgmental because we have applied the legal rules contained in
Islamic jurisprudence," he said.

Women activists on Monday urged the revival of the draft,
saying it would strengthen the position of women in marriage.
They also regretted the government's decision to ditch it without
a public discourse.

Drafted by a team led by gender expert and Islamic
law scholar Siti Musdah Mulia from the Ministry of
Religious Affairs, the draft was aimed at accommodating
contemporary issues and women's needs, instead of veering heavily
into chauvinistic interpretations.

Among the proposed articles that sparked anger among Muslim
clerics were those that banned polygamy, allowed interfaith
marriage and gave women equal divorce rights, as extended to men,
as well as the right to marry without the permission of a
guardian.

Minister of Religious Affairs M. Maftuh Basyuni announced on
Feb. 14 that the controversial draft had been shelved for fear of
it's causing social disorder among Muslims.

Scholar Lily Zakiah Munir said on Tuesday that the right of
interpretation was not vested in one interest group only.

"There should be a process of public discourse instead of
simple abandonment. The draft is important in treating women as
its targets," she said.

Meanwhile, scholar and women's activist Maria Ulfah Anshor,
while agreeing with the revival of the draft and a public
discourse, thought the team had not come up with the right
strategy for launching the draft.

"It was launched too hastily. They should have disseminating
the draft to the public first before announcing it. People got
the wrong impression.

"People in this country tend to comment before they know the
issues they are commenting on. I know a cleric from the
Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) who said he had not even read it
but commented on it anyway," Maria said.

Syafiq said that whatever strategy was adopted, it would still
not work as the content of the draft was far too progressive and
controversial for Indonesia.

"But we will keep on going, discussing and campaigning for it
everywhere, especially among non-governmental organizations," he
said.

In line with the efforts of liberal Muslims and women's
activists to shed patriarchal interpretations of Muslim religious
teachings, a woman imam will lead Friday prayers at the Sundaram
Tagore Gallery, New York, on March 18.

Dr. Amina Wadud, professor of Islamic studies at Virginia
Commonwealth University, will be the first woman to lead public,
mixed-gender prayers.

Maria welcomed the news, saying the move would serve as a
reference for feminists here in their fight for gender equity.

"There is a text saying there was a woman imam once in the
period of the Prophet Muhammad named Ummu Waraqah. Unfortunately,
the text has never been used. Instead, people refer to another
text saying that an imam must be a man," Maria said.