YamahaR1 said:Just wondering what my muslim friends think of this. I know many here don't read "western" news but this article was posted today and it certainly peaked my interest. From this story, it seems that the muslim world is divided. What are your thoughts?
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Victim ordered to wed rapist
By Shaikh Azizur Rahman
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 19, 2005
BOMBAY -- Hard-line Islamic clerics in a northern Indian village have declared that a woman's 10-year-old marriage was nullified when her father-in-law raped her -- and ordered the mother of five to marry the rapist.
The fatwa, or religious edict, was issued by Darool Uloom Deoband, South Asia's most powerful Islamic theological school known for promoting a radical brand of Islam that is said to have inspired the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The decision has outraged both Muslim and Hindu leaders and prompted a fierce debate that has dominated the front pages of national newspapers across India.
The fatwa ordered Imrana Ilahi, 28, to separate from her husband and treat him as her son.
"She had a physical relationship with her father-in-law, and it nullifies her marriage," said Mohammad Masood Madani, a cleric at the theological school. He said it made no difference whether -(censored)- . The village council then decreed that Mrs. Ilahi would have to marry her father-in-law.
Feminists and liberal Muslims reacted with fury, staging nationwide street protests.
But Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh on June 29 supported the fatwa, saying: "The decision of the Muslim religious leaders in the Imrana case must have been taken after a lot of thought. ... The religious leaders are all very learned and they understand the Muslim community and its sentiments."
The rape took place June 4 in the village of Charthawal in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, when Mrs. Ilahi's husband, Noor Ilahi, was away.
When Mr. Ilahi, a brick kiln laborer, learned of the attack, the village court instructed him to divorce his wife.
But Mr. Ilahi, 32, told his wife: "My father is dirty and you are clean. I still love you and I cannot desert you." Mrs. Ilahi, with her husband and five children, sneaked out of Charthawal and took shelter in Kukra, the village of her parents.
Mrs. Ilahi received another rude shock when the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, the country's most influential Muslim umbrella organization, endorsed the punishment meted out by Darool Uloom Deoband.
"The fact that the woman was 'used' by her husband's blood relative makes her [unclean] for her husband and there is no way she can be allowed to live with him," the law board said.
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20050718-111059-2058r.htm

Lack of KNOWLEDGE is certainly very dangerous in the realm of law, justice and equity and if this article reflects what truely happened then my heart goes out to the victim and her family inchAllah.
Ok since when does the victim become unclean for being raped by a dirty old man astaghfirullah? If her father-in-law was a woman he would have been killed by now for shaming the honor of the family (which incidentally is haram). The law of hirabah is surely applicable in this case which I understand means the death penalty because it is a melicious attack on a happily married woman with a motive to harm and terrorise her in order to satisfy some dirty mans carnal desires. If the village council decreed that the victim marry her rapist then we should all be very worried about the kind of people who think they are qualified to issue willy nilly fatwas left right and centre and lead our ummah. As for preaching a radical brand of Islam, is not radicalism and extremism against the middle way recommended by the prophet sws???? Darool Uloom is clearly trying to take the law of almighty Allah into their own hands and subjective rulings of this nature both legitimise incest and mock our our just deen which will leave no one unaccounted for.
Wa Allahu 'allam
