Maisam Najafizada explores the controversy that surrounded the proposed Shi’i personal status law in Afghanistan – and in particular its implications for Shi’i Muslim women.

Obama called it ‘abhorrent’, the UN proclaimed it ‘legalised rape within marriage’ and western leaders described it as ‘outrageous’; the Shi’i Personal Status Law in Afghanistan. This proposed new law for the minority Shi’i community drew widespread international criticism with accusations that it legalised marital rape and prohibited women from leaving their home without the husband’s permission.

On the other hand, Shi’i women in Afghanistan rarely knew about the pending law signed by President Karzai on 29 March 2009 but not printed in the official gazette of the government yet. The few within the Shi’i minority who knew about some controversial articles of the law were hit with stones and insulted in a public rally by conservative men.

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Background

The Shi’i community forms around 15-20% of the Afghan population mostly residing in the central highlands and big cities in the west, north and the capital Kabul. The Shi’i community is considered more open than the strict Sunni majority as they allow women to leave home and sometimes find a job. The level of girls’ education in Shi’i areas is more than anywhere in the country. The Shi’i dominant province of Bamyan has the first-ever female provincial governor in Afghanistan.

At the time of the Taleban Shi’is were mostly considered as infidels and condemned to execution on the spot found by any local Taleban commander. They rarely had their mosques and could hardly reveal their identity in public. After the fall of the Taleban, it was a true liberation for the Shi’i community in Afghanistan. Not only could they      publicly state their religious status but also their existence was officially recognized in the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.

The constitution drafted in 2004 proclaimed that personal matters of Shi’i community as well as Sunnis should be   resolved according to their own sects. Based on the Constitution, the parliament started to work on the Shi’i Personal Status Law around two years ago. It was finally approved by parliament on 19 March and signed into law by President Karzai on 29 March 2009.

Western and Afghan perspectives

The first sparks of criticism against the law were ignited by an article in the Guardian newspaper on 31 March slamming Karzai for signing such a law for Afghan women.

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Afghan president Hamid Karzai

Article 132 of the Shi’i Personal Status Law says: “The   couple should not commit acts that create hatred and bitterness. The wife is bound to preen for her husband, as and when he desires. The husband, except when travelling or ill, is bound to have intercourse with his wife every four nights. The wife is bound to give a positive response.” It is the most controversial article of the law for westerners.

But that has only been a look at the law from outside. The voices they heard from Afghanistan were what they wished to hear rather than the reality on the ground. For an Afghan woman who is liberated from the oppression of the Taleban and given the right to existence, the right to education and the right to work, it is comparably acceptable.

Even an Afghan-Canadian journalist, Nelofar Pazira, writes in her article published in the Washington Post law on 8 April: “My phone has been ringing too many times these past few days – mostly journalists and producers calling to book an interview. I am an Afghan. The topic: ‘Sharia law in Afghanistan allows men to rape their wives.’ All of a sudden, there is an enormous interest in Afghan law. But all they are interested in is condemnation. My favourite producer says: ‘We are looking for local outrage and you are our top choice.’ When I try to explain that I’m equally outraged at the way the media is treating this story, there is silence on the line. And when I say, what about context as well as outrage, she says: ‘Let me check to see if we have time in the show.’ I never hear from her again.”

Moreover, an Afghan girl who was given the opportunity to study at a top university in Afghanistan is also not so unhappy with the law. “This is not a good law. Women should be allowed to do what they want,” said Hamida Hasani, 18, a Hazara-Shi’i architecture student at Kabul University in an interview with Canadian Canwest News. She said she was familiar with the controversial legislation, which President Hamid Karzai has pledged to urgently review in the face of strong complaints from western governments.

“But we do not want total freedom. We wanted it to be limited and to be within Islam.” Karzai pledged on 14 April to review the law if it was unconstitutional.

Accusations of ‘spreading christianity’

But that is not the whole story. There were a number of  intellectual and women’s rights advocates inside Afghanistan daring to stand against the law and face the traditional and religious society. Almost two weeks after the international media frenzy over the Afghan Shi’i law, on 16 April some dozens of Afghan women critical of the law staged a rally to protest against it and demand a modification for equal rights of women within the law.

At the very same day, the daring women faced a counter-protest in favour of the law by almost a thousand supporters, mostly men. There were also a handful of men, mostly intellectuals and politicians, standing besides the women protestors expressing disapproval of the law.

“Death to you dogs!” and “Death to the slaves of the Christians!” chanted the men who backed the law.

Why Christians? Advocates of women’s rights in Afghanistan are easily accused of spreading Christianity. Anyone who opposes traditionally accepted rules and stand against religious clerics seeking political power through religion can quickly become a political and  social outcast.

Sherwali Wardak, who runs women’s literacy and business training programmes, says that he has received threats. “They write, ‘Close this project because it is working for Christianity,’” he said. It’s a common accusation of those who support women’s rights in Afghanistan – that the advocates are stooges of the ‘Christian West’.

There, somewhere in between, Afghan women are stuck – Shi’i Afghan women in this particular case. They can be isolated as spreading Iranian-style religion or can be accused of spreading Christianity if they stand for equal rights; the right to education, the right to employment, the right to  inherit a child and the right to initiate divorce. Therefore, Afghan Shi’i women need support either for equal rights or an equal opportunity to practise their rights. The law is still pending review.