SHARIA-Jeering Human Rights

Sharia is religious law and code of life in Islam and covers a wide area including family laws, economic, political, marital, criminal, military, dress code and even dietary, hygiene and purification. The Sharia law has always been under question because of it being extremely barbaric and misogynist. Its rulings fly in the face of Human rights and Feminism.

Sharia courts traditionally do not rely on lawyers. The plaintiffs and defendants represent themselves. Trials are conducted solely by the judge, and there is no jury system. There is no pre-trial discovery process, and no cross-examination of witnesses. A confession, an oath, or the oral testimony of a witness are the main evidence admissible in a case, written evidence is only admissible when deemed reliable by the judge. Testimony must be from at least two

witnesses, and preferably Muslim male witnesses. A woman's testimony is considered half as reliable as that of man. Forensic evidence (i.e., fingerprints, ballistics, blood samples, DNA etc.) and other circumstantial evidence is likewise rejected .Oral testimony of the eyewitnesses is solely preferred.

Sharia laws completely prevent freedom of expression and religion. Leaving Islam is a sin and a religious crime. If you Question your religion, you will face serious Blasphemy Laws and you might land yourself in jail  or even get executed. It does not stop here. Once any man or woman is officially classified as Muslim, because of birth or religious conversion, he or she will be subject to the death penalty if he or she becomes an apostate, atheist, agnostic or to convert to another religion. Before executing the death penalty, Sharia demands that the individual be offered one chance to return to Islam. In practice, as of 2011, 20 Islamic nations had laws declaring apostasy from Islam as illegal and a criminal offense.

-Under Sharia Law, if you commit adultery or fornication, you would be stoned to death.

-The punishment of theft or robbery is the amputation of your hand.

-Religious minorities in sharia states are treated as second-class citizens. They have  limited rights and are often forced to convert to Islam

Women and Sharia

Sharia laws are heavily misogynistic.

-Sharia permits the marriage of girls as soon as she attains puberty, sometimes it even permits below the age of 10. Just imagine the serious ill- effects on the physical and mental health of girls getting married at such ages. Think of the society that would evolve out of its consequences.

-Sharia considers a woman’s testimony half as reliable as that of man. This is followed in many countries including Pakistan and other Arab countries.

-A man can initiate the divorce just by oral declaration while if a woman wants to divorce her husband, the process is complex. Moreover, Child custody reverts to the father at a preset age, even if the father is abusive; women who remarry lose custody of their children

-Under Sharia Law, to prove that you are raped,either you require the confession of the one who raped you or you require four eyewitnesses who should have seen you being raped. A sheer non-sense. Forensic evidences are most likely to be ignored. Now this causes severe difficulties for women plaintiffs in rape cases. Sharia courts in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Libya, Morocco, Syria and Tunisia in some cases allow a rapist to escape punishment by marrying his victim. Height of injustice! In some cases, the victim who complains is often prosecuted with the Sharia crime of Zina (adultery)..In 2012, a 16 year-old Moroccan girl, having been forced by her family and the government prosecutor to marry her committed suicide by swallowing rat poison.

-Sharia allows a man to beat his wife even if he fears or suspects suspects nushuz (disobedience, disloyalty, rebellion, ill conduct)

in his wife.So, in a way,when domestic violence is “divinely” allowed,one can guess the prolific cases of domestic violence in Muslim countries like Syria, Pakistan, Egypt, Palestine, Morocco, Iran, Yemen and Saudi Arabia.

- Domestic violence is so common that 85 per cent of women admit to experiencing it. 60% of all women report being victims of multiple forms of serial violence.

- A 2012 United Nations Women's study found that 33% of women in Egypt have experienced physical domestic violence in their lifetime.

-In Pakistan, reports claim domestic violence rates between 70% to over 95% in Pakistan. According to the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences in 2002, over 90% of married Pakistani women surveyed reported being kicked, slapped, beaten or sexually abused by their husbands and in-laws. Over 90% of Pakistani women consider domestic violence as a norm of every woman's married life. Between 1998 and 2003 there were more than 2,666 women killed in honor killings by a family member. These are just the reported cases, tip of the iceberg.

-Afghanistan is the only country in which the female suicide rate is higher than that of males.

-In Syria, found that 25% of the married women surveyed said that they had been beaten by their husbands

-According to a WHO, United Nations study, 30% of women in rural Bangladesh reported their first sexual experience to be forced.[52] About 40% report having experienced domestic violence from their intimate partner, and 50% in rural regions report experiencing sexual violence.

According to a 2004 study,undertaken by Ministry of Higher Education and Interior Ministry of 28 provinces of Iran, 66% married women in Iran are subjected to some kind of domestic violence in the first year of their marriage, either by their husbands or by their in-laws. 9.63%  women wished their husbands would die, as a result of the abuse they had experienced.

- I think Saudi Arabia is the torchbearer in stupidity. Not only it officially recognises Sharia Law , here women can’t even drive cars. Interestingly, women are permitted to fly airplanes even though they have to be chauffeured to the airport. Does that make sense?

To put in a nutshell, the condition of the Women in states strictly following sharia is terrible. Mostly,women are treated someone brought for satisfaction of lust and bearing child. Women do not have a meaningful identity of their own and are just puppets in hands of their male guardians. Sometimes the submissiveness is brainwashed but often it is forced.

In many Muslim countries, Police and judges often tend to treat domestic violence as a private or family matter or, an issue for civil courts, rather than criminal courts. Sometimes,they seem to sympathize with the husbands. Most women hide their bruises and don't report domestic abuse to authorities, often because of the social stigma attached to it or because of little or no hope of justice. 

So people should raise their voices against this cowardly barbaric system of justice practiced by early Arab pagans. Not only Sharia Law, but the very idea of  theocracy should never be considered as an option for any state. No major world religion or civilisation has been free of misogyny, inequality, or patriarchy.In secular states.Even in democracy and constitutionally secular states, religious tolerance should never be at the cost of universal rights.