salima - Pakistan
Profession
Question Salamu `alaykum.
What do you mean by "UN Policies vs. Muslim Families"?
Please clarify.
Answer
Editor:
Wa `alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu.
As known, the UN formulates a number of agreements and declarations around many issues through what is known as the Economic and Social Council. Through these agreements, they try to globalize certain patterns of life in what is known as social globaization.
They try using many methods to oblige different countries to apply this pattern because many times these patterns contradict with the cultures of these peoples, especially those based on religions and other ‘conservative’ cultures.
Among these methods are political pressures which that UN puts on governmental delegations representing world countries during negotiations and discussions around these documents.
Another method is the funding. There is huge funding granted in exchange for the application of UN policies. Through this funding, certain non-governmental organizations are put into effect in different countries to act as agents of the UN. They adopt its policies and propagate it, work on putting its plans into actions.
This is what we are trying to show and discuss through this dialogue with islamonline.net guest, and the effect of such laws on our Muslim societies.
Name
Um Yahia -
Profession
Question As-salamau `alaykum.
Something that confuses me about the problems that UN tries to solve for the muslim world--which is "Why does the UN always chose our problem from her point of view." AIDS is important yes! --but it is sure not the most dangerous disease that threatens us-- we DO NEED HELP in Hepatitis C hundred times more than AIDS and this is just an example-- many like it.
Thanks
Answer
In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. As known, the UN formulates a number of agreements and conventions around many issues.
Supposing that the UN is trying to solve our problems, this would make sense. But the UN is not trying to solve our problems and doesn’t care to.
The proof is that at the time when UN is calling for granting children all their sexual rights, they leave Palestinian children to be killed and murdered, and they stand like spectators before the scene.
Other situations also show clearly the double standards applied by the UN that has an agenda to compel us to accept and apply. And they allocate huge capacities to that effect.
Name
Neena - United States
Profession
Question
Salams Sister. Thank you so much for paying attention to such important topic. The UN Commission, using different new laws, turning life between spouses to hell. No place for mercy, and love.. What can we do to stop that?
Answer
Wa `alaykum assalam dear sister. I appreciate your care and your drive to protect the family.
We must pay attention to the dangers transported to us through international agreements issued by the UN, especially those that have to do with women.
These agreements work on canceling all differences between men and women, even biological differences. They do not recognize the effects of these differences and the consequent.
The last UN conference we attended was in March, and the document laid for discussions was calling for complete sharing of all roles between men and women, that is, a fifty-fifty share with men taking part with women in all parts of caretaking inside the family (housekeeping, childcare, caring for the ill, etc.)
There is a very important point. It is true that Prophet Mohamed –peace and blessings be upon him- used to help his wives in house work, but that was voluntarily done by the husband. And the Prophet –peace and blessings be upon him– could have commanded Muslims to help their wives, but he did that himself so that Muslims will follow his example. But every person has their different circumstances.
This can be done as a form of love and compassion between the husband and wife, but not as a command. What we are against here is the formulation of firm laws that organize the relationship between a husband and wife, so that the relation becomes one of a ‘contract’ shape and not ‘love and compassion’. In a contract, there is a gain for one side and a loss for the other side. And each side will be careful to make the most gains, and at this point the love and compassion disappear to be replaced by a spirit of conflict
Imagine, dear sister, how the relationship would be between spouses, if the law interferes in every detail of their life?
Name
Yosra -
Profession
Question
But what's wrong with there being some laws to regulate the relationship between spouses. If people can't do by faith, they can do by law. Women are beaten and deprived of their rights in some societies, so may be laws can help.
Answer
This is a very important question. We have to look for the sources of the problems to deal with them.
We have know the solutions proposed by the UN –assuming that they are giving solutions– to decide for ourselves in the end what suits us and take it.
The problem lies in the fact that people are far removed from their religion; that religion which encourages men to be gentle with women, as the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) commended men to look after women; and encourages women to be ‘good wives’. And describes a good wife as one who obeys a husband if he commands her, and pleases him when he looks at her, and preserves his rights when he is away.
Aren’t these the commands of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) for the spouses? The fact that both of them are away from religion makes the two of them fail to meet these orders. The woman treats a man with great rivalry, obvious challenge. And the man tries to prove his male dominance and control over the family by beating, cursing, and humiliation. Both of them are far from the religious view, and so they have a poor life.
Men didn’t understand the true meaning of qawama: spending, caretaking, protection, counsel. These are the pillars for qawama. And the two spouses didn’t understand the reality of the issue: that qawama is a right for the woman. In return, she has to obey him, take his permission, avoid arousing his anger as long as he doesn’t order her to commit a sin, and to be a good companion.
The issue became one of challenge and competition, and families were ruined, and divorce rates are on the rise.
I think a small inspection of our reality shows that it is hard to count on your fingers the number of people adhering to these notions whether among men or women.
The solution, then, is to go back to the Islamic goldmine and spring to inhale from it. the solution is not to allow a non-religious international body to interfere with our lives while we know beforehand the nature of this interference.
Name
Hwaa -
Profession
Question
As salamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh Sr. Kamilia.
Plase can you explain the issues that arose form th UN conference (that took place last month I think), and what is the importance to the ordinary Muslim, man, woman, and child?
Answer
Wa alaykum assalam wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu. There is a committee under the UN called –Commission of the Status of Women CSW– that is in charge of issuing international agreements and conventions that have to do with women.
In 1979, they issued the Convention on the Elimination of all kinds of Discrimination Against Women.
The pressure followed on countries to sign the agreement then to ratify it since 1981.
Already most countries have signed and ratified this document and every year the CSW meets in March to follow up on government’s application of this agreement which stipulates the elimination of all differences between men and women in roles and laws.
For example, the main role for a man is qawama, which necessitates that a man does all the spending, provides care and protection for the family. And the basic role of a woman is to take care of the husband, raise the children, and take care of house issues.
These are basic roles, meaning that there can be other roles, but each one must do their part before moving to any other role.
Allah Almighty has given each one of them the psychological and physical qualifications to do their respective roles in the best form. And Allah has given an advantage to the man over the woman in respect to the qawama -according to the notion we explained before– in one degree according to the verse in surat Al-Baqarah
At the same time, God has given women three degrees of advantage over men when it came to motherhood –in the hadith, the Prophet tells the man to give best company to his mother three times before he mentions the father-. In that manner, both of the man and woman are given an advantage in their basic roles.
Based on these differences in roles, there are slight differences in laws, like the inheritance laws, marriage and divorce, etc. Whether in roles or laws, the CESAW considers this a kind of discrimination and violence against women.
The commission has a priority: to eliminate what they labeled Discrimination Against Women. But how will they do that? By compelling each signing country to the agreement to change their national laws to be in line with this convention, with all its contradictions with our societies and creeds.
Name
C.M -
Profession
Question
HIV care programs are fine, but we sometimes wonder about so many other things that need to be dealt with.
Do we need to teach people about contraceptives or about how to establish a healthy relationship and family?
Answer
The UN policy with regards to HIV is as follows:
A: Abstinence (Abstinence doesn’t only mean Chastity, but also means practicing Oral Sex which is unsafe.)
B: Be faithful to your partner (doesn’t mean faithfulness with its value oriented and ethical meaning, but means doing with one partner to prevent the virus spread.)
C: Condom (means spreading the use of condoms among teenagers and young people and training them on how to use it.)
This is the basic program that the UN promotes for HIV prevention. You can access this website to know the UN policies in spreading condoms.
It is good to know that condoms do not provide 100% safety against HIV.
But the very dangerous issue is the spread of the condom culture and passing it as a means of Safe Sex, which is untrue and misleading.
What is the condom culture? Because it is a complete system that includes;
First, social acceptance of this – destructive – idea, passed without objections, and instilling the conviction among people –as obvious in the website I mentioned– that a condom is the only efficient means.
Secondly, they convince parents that they shouldn’t object to their children’s use of condoms.
Actually, they aren’t asked to only not object, but also parents are supposed to make sure that their children have it everyday before they leave home!
Third, they integrate sex education in schools where children and teenagers are trained on how to use condoms.
Fourth, they provide condoms for a minimum or no price.
As for prostitutes and injection drug abusers and homosexuals – whom the document places among the most likely categories to be prone to the disease – the UN calls for reaching out to them to provide services, i.e., condoms to them as well as clean syringes to use fir drugs instead of exchanging a contaminated one among them and spreading the disease!
Clearly, the UN deals with the results and consequences of the disease, but never tries to treat the roots of the problem. Supposedly, since HIV is primarily a behavioral disease – meaning that the main cause is sin (adultery – homosexuality – drugs), then preventions should come through preventing the leading causes, not through handing out condoms to decrease the infection, right?
Name
Confused mother - United Kingdom
Profession
Question
How could we avoid HIV infection in a non-Muslim society where there are a lot of illegal relationships. How can we protect our children of being harassed or seduced?
Answer
During the George Bush term in the US office, he made all efforts to convince young people and teenagers that the only guaranteed method was complete abstinence from sexual relations outside marriage.
This year we gave a workshop at the UN on this notion. We printed the world HIV map that shows clearly that the Islamic region is almost clear showing a white color whereas in America and South Africa the color was almost black.
We explained that the reason is the Islamic culture prevailing in the region prohibits sexual practices outside marriage, prohibits homosexuality and drugs, what makes it the least likely region when it comes the spread of the disease. We invited them to make use of this experience, and try to imitate it.
We, as people who have a commitment to Islam, must insist on teaching people chastity.
Agreeing to the use of condoms means: if you don’t want to be chaste, use a condom.
But chastity is not an option is Islam; it is a must. And failing to follow this is prohibited and is a crime in Islam in order to preserve the health of the whole society.
Name
Dorria Fahmy - United States
Profession Social Worker
Question No question, just I want to say: Sr. Kamilia, I apperciate your hard work. Jazaki Allahu kul khiar.
Answer
Jazana Allahu wa eiakom Sr. Dorria. May God shower us with His blessings and wisdom, and make the best use out of us. Ameen
Name
Tareq - Egypt
Profession
Question
Assalamu `alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu Sr. Kamilia. As the president of the (IICWC), and one of the attendees of that session by the UN commission, what were the formal and informal responses to such laws from our Muslim countries? Did they take any action to prevent such destructive laws? And how can we react to stop applying such laws?
Answer
Official stances – sadly enough – are not a source of optimism and they are moving from bad to worse. For example, when signing the CEDAW in the eighties, the countries laid many objections to the terms that conflict with Islamic shari`ah (law) and the UN is supposed to respect these reservations. But in reality, they practice many consecutive pressures on governments to withdraw their reservations, and pressure other countries to change their local laws to harmonize them with the agreement.
In order to traverse these reservations, the UN rephrases the same terms in a different way to incorporate them in the annual documents of the annual CSW meetings to follow up the application of the agreement.
In that way, these countries sign them in an indirect way and – to our disappointment. Most formal representatives of Muslim country completely surrender to the process without trying to resist, with a few insignificant exceptions. Most representatives are absent from the sessions to start with.
People must start expressing their refusal, seminars must be arranged, columns must appear in newspapers and magazines and on the internet. It must reach decision makers that people refuse these agreements and are holding on to the Islamic Shari`ah.
Just like the Egyptian people declared a strike yesterday to oppose the rising prices and to call for democracy, why don’t they go on strike for ethics and the family? Why aren’t there posters in different places to promote this? Why aren’t there even small stands organized with the media for the world to see on satellite channels and other means.
Decision makers must hear the voice of the people. They have to realize that nations will not accept in compromises in Shari`ah. Currently, law drafts are proposed in parliaments.
In Egypt, for instance, we have the drafts laws on restricting polygamy to an extent of preventing it. Divorce is also going to be restricted to happen with the approval of a judge. Worse still, is that they are trying to establish a penal crime, that of marital rape. The husband in that case doesn’t have the right to have a sexual intercourse with his wife without her complete consent, a prior consent. If she doesn’t all she has to do is to make a complaint by phone and the husband will be immediately punished for the charge of raping his wife!
Is the system clear: the husband doesn’t have the right to have sex with his wife without her consent, at the same time he is prevented from having a second wife, and if he wants to divorce her, he loses everything (the house, children and everything). So he has no choice but adultery. What do we expect afterwards?
If we just remain silent and let these laws be passed, our societies will gradually turn into a cut-and-paste of Western societies where a family institution is almost extinct and prohibited sexual relations have replaced legal marriage, where the numbers of illegal children deprived of a healthy upbringing by legal parents abound and where many other dangers results appear.
Name
Khona - Algeria
Profession
Question
Please let us know how could we apply an Islamic alternative for HIV managed care for both men and women?
Answer
The only Islamic substitute is chastity and nothing else for the family in general.
We, at the International Islamic Committee for the Woman and Child, have issued a Family Charter in Islam that explains all the roles and relations between family members as well as their rights and duties.
It is a must read for all of us, and we must try to spread it among people.
Name
Editor -
Profession
Question .
Answer
At the end, we would like to thank Sr. Kamilia Helmy for her presence with IslamOnline readers today. And we appologize for not being able to answer all questions for time constraints.
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