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Honour killing against Islam: Pak clerics
ISLAMABAD: A group of influential Pakistani clerics has issued a fatwa against killings over perceived damage to a family’s honour and reputation, saying they are
ISLAMABAD: A group of influential Pakistani clerics has issued a fatwa against killings over perceived damage to a family’s honour and reputation, saying they are against the teachings of Islam.
The Sunni Ittehad Council, a representative body of the Barelvi Sunni Muslim ulema or clerics, has said anyone involved in an honour killing is a heretic.
The ruling came after a flurry of attacks on women, including murders in the name of honour such as last week’s killing of 16- year-old Zeenat Bibi in Lahore after she married a man of her choice. The teenager was burnt to death by her mother. The Sunni Ittehad Council, which includes 100 prominent clerics, is affiliated with the Barelvi school of Sunni Islam. The other school prominent in Pakistan is the Deobandi school, which is seen to endorse some of the violence against women. Earlier this week, a man killed his wife in the name of honour by attacking her with a fork. Last Friday, a father in Lahore killed his daughter and husband because he disapproved of their marriage. In May, a 16-year-old girl accused of helping a young couple elope was killed and her body set on fire, a case that brought honour killings into the spotlight.
