Islam steps toward the 21st Century.

I cut this speech down a bit but this is an incredible chance to actually work with the Muslim community. We should all support this effort.

Muslim press has been going crazy all day after leading Shia and Sunni clerics announced a joint plan to modernize Islam. After a secret conference convened last month the two most powerful sects of Islam made an early morning press conference to announce the plan. Citing international law and comparing it with sharia law the Clerics issued the following statement:

Although based on some views of sharia most Islamic laws is based around sex. Sex with anyone and any beast is allowed if minor rules are followed. Actually most methods of perversion are allowed if precautions are taken to hide or disavow your involvement. Enough! No longer will pedophilia, bestiality, and forced sexual slavery be considered normal. No more degrading women, non-Muslims and children. If our religion is going to bring benefits to humanity it needs to actually offer hope for the future and build toward that goal. We are asking all Muslims to stop supporting terrorism and instead offer a sign of repentance and the hand of friendship to all mankind, Muslim and non-Muslim. Stop giving support to terrorists and give your money to international groups with an established record of helping mankind, organizations like the American Cancer Society and the American Red Cross. Working together with all religions we can improve this planet and turn back centuries of hatred and violence.

We realize the reasons behind the view some people have that all Muslims are terrorists are partially our own fault. We vow to challenge this view and provide proof that it will not be tolerated. From this day forward we will not support terror and we demand all Muslims follow international law and basic human rights.

Pakistani Rape victim’s not bound to bring four witnesses.

This might be the Pakistani governments answer to recent demands by powerful radical imams to immediately implement sharia law (or they would). Looks like there is a bad moon on the rise (my apologies to CCR but I love that song). I find it strangely fascinating that Pakistanis are fighting to stop sharia in Pakistan and fighting for it in the UK. Talk about one hand not talking to the other. Whichever way this plays out trouble will soon visit Pakistani streets. The challenge to the government has been heard and now countered, let loose the dogs of war. What will it be the 21st century or the 7th?

Islamabad, April 01: In a landmark observation, a government-backed constitutional body on Islamic ideology in Pakistan has said a rape victim should not be required to produce four witnesses to file a complaint as stipulated by ‘Hudood’ laws brought in by former military ruler Ziaul Haq. The Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) unanimously ruled that rape (‘zina-bil-zabr’) and adultery — consensual sex other than with spouse (‘zina-bil-raza’) — are two separate crimes, endorsing the women protection law enacted last year amid strong opposition from Islamist groups and parties. The law for the first time has done away with the stipulation that a rape victim has to produce four Muslim witnesses to back her charges, failing which she herself would be prosecuted for adultery.

After sustained campaign by human rights groups, the government amended the section relating to rape and brought it under the criminal law of the land. The CII agreed that in rape cases, the affected woman would be a complainant, not a defendant. “In this case, the woman will be a complainant and the state will be bound to investigate, arrest the rapist and punish him if the crime is proved,” state-run APP news agency quoted a press release of the CII as saying. The CII also observed that a person accused of adultery should be acquitted if the complainant fails to produce four witnesses to prove the charges in court. Once acquitted, the accused could not be punished under any other law unless he or she refused to give a statement under oath or confessed to the crime, the CII said. The CII called upon Parliament to legislate to prevent children from removing their elderly parents from their homes. It demanded that the government form a commission of experts to review reforms in agriculture and point out why they were not implemented. The CII also decided to hold an international conference on “Islam and Social Problems” in collaboration with the International Islamic University, Islamabad.