Chinese calligraphy - Goodness & Virtue

A most unwelcome part of the fallout of the vicious May 12 suicide bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia was the firing of Jamal Khashoggi, editor-in-chief of the Saudi daily Al Watan. While it may never be known precisely why he was fired, many speculate it was due to the paper's increasingly vocal criticism of the Saudi Arabian religious establishment. The paper was especially critical of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, or so-called "religious police." This "religious police" has been accused by its critics of harassing Saudis for "un-Islamic" behavior. Recently, Al Watan reported that a man who was detained--with his children--for 12 hours after being caught smoking attempted to commit suicide.

In March 2002, a fire erupted in a all-girls school in Mecca, which killed 15. The March 14 2002 edition of the Saudi newspaper Arab News cited a report on the rescue effort by Mecca's Civil Defense Department which noted that religious police "intentionally obstructed the efforts to evacuate the girls. This resulted in the increased number of casualties." Why did they do this? Apparently because the girls were not properly dressed. 

Arab News quoted Civil Defense officers as saying, "Whenever the girls got out through the main gate, [religious police] forced them to return via another." Officers also said that they saw three people beating girls who had evacuated the school without proper dress. Commenting on the incident, Hanny Megally, Executive Director of the Middle East and North Africa division of Human Rights Watch, said, "Women and girls may have died unnecessarily because of extreme interpretations of the Islamic dress code. State authorities with direct and indirect responsibility for this tragedy must be held accountable." 

I could not agree more. Where did this concept of a religious police come from, anyway? The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) never had companions dispatched among the masses to see if they followed Islam's laws, measuring the length of men's beards or garments. No one beat anyone for laughing in Medina at the time of the Prophet. The Quran says, "There is no compulsion in religion" (2:256), and, in another verse, declares "O ye who believe! Guard your own souls: If ye follow (right) guidance, no harm can come to you from those who stray. The destination of all is to God. He will show you the truth of all that ye do" (5:105). God is not threatened when His servants sin against him, so why should we be? The Lord On High does not need a police force to make sure His servants live "Islamic" lives.

Having said all that, however, the truth is a bit more complex. Although God does not need a police force per se, it seems He wants one. Well, sort of. In the Quran, God told the angels He will place on earth a vice-regent, His representative, on earth: "Behold, thy Lord said to the angels: 'I will create a vicegerent on earth.' They said: 'Wilt Thou place therein one who will make mischief therein and shed blood?- whilst we do celebrate Thy praises and glorify Thy holy (name)?' He said: 'I know what ye know not'" (2:30). In this system, sovereignty belongs to God, and human beings will be agents of that sovereignty. Part of this task includes implementing (and enforcing) God's laws on His servants: a sort of, um, "police force." 

So have I contradicted myself? Not at all. Islamic law, or Shari'ah, has general principles that must be established: protection of life, religion, lineage, intellect, and property. Every one of Islam's laws heralds back to one of these principles. Some Muslims, unfortunately, focus solely on enforcing that part of the Shari'ah that deals with personal morality and think this is how God's law is established on earth, and it has led to disastrous consequences.

Let us take the Taliban as an example. Whilst they were in power, "religious policemen" made sure men wore beards of a certain length, women were covered head-to-toe, and no one laughed in public, all in the name of "establishing God's law." Yet, women and girls were barred from working or going to school. Is this not an affront to God's law? Does this not violate the principle of protection of the intellect? Is not equality of men and women an essential aspect of Islamic law?

Going back to the girls' school fire in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, is not the preservation of life one of the utmost principles of Islamic law? Did not the Quran state that is someone saves a life, it is as if they have saved the lives of all of humanity (5:32)? Didn't the "religious police" officers violate this principle by barring the girls from exiting the burning school because they were not properly dressed? 

In Nigeria, an Islamic court condemned a woman to death by stoning for adultery. This was despite the fact that she was not married at the time of the alleged sexual encounter, and thus, the punishment of stoning does not even apply. She received this sentence despite the fact that many Islamic scholars do not even accept pregnancy as a high enough burden of proof of sex out of wedlock. She was sentenced to death by stoning despite the fact that there were not enough witnesses to the alleged sexual encounter as required by Islamic law: the man in the case was released due to "lack of evidence." Is not due process an essential component of Islamic law?

I do not think God placed us on earth as his vice-regent solely to ensure men have beards and women wear "burqas". God made us His representative so that life, religion, lineage, intellect, and property be protected. Caliph Umar (God be pleased with him) showed us a just application of God's law when he suspended the punishment for theft during a time of extreme famine, because it is not just for the government to punish someone for theft out of want when the government could not provide for its citizens.

If Islamic law is established in a community that lacks clean water, then I believe the Shari'ah would demand that clean water facilities be established as the first priority. The gross misapplication of Shari'ah by some Muslims has its mischaracterization as a backward, barbaric system of government, doing enormous disservice to Muslims and non-Muslims alike. The Islamic scholars need to formulate a clear and present application of the Shari'ah that address the challenges of the world we live in today.

Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Chicago physician and columnist for the Independent Writers Syndicate. He is author of "Why I Love the Ten Commandments," published in the Book Taking Back Islam: American Muslims Reclaim Their Faith (Rodale).

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Arab News - School tragedy: The lessons we adults forgot to learn