Positive fatwas - using religious rulings in the AIDS struggle

Photo: Mercedes Sayagues/PlusNews

Compassion and action - Muslim response to HIV and AIDS

GLOBAL: Positive fatwas - using religious rulings in the AIDS struggle

JOHANNESBURG, 6 December 2007 (PlusNews) - To most Westerners, a fatwa, or Islamic ruling, evokes the imposition of a death sentence on author Salman Rushdie and the wearing of head-to-toe coverings, or burkas, on women.

Yet fatwas can also be progressive and bring widespread change. Issued by respected Islamic scholars known as ulama, fatwas are guidelines for the ummah, the worldwide Muslim community, which numbers between 1.3 and 1.5 billion people, according to the CIA Factbook.

The draft text of several progressive fatwas were discussed last week by the ulama at the International Consultation on Islam and HIV/AIDS, organised by the charity, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), in Johannesburg, South Africa.

One fatwa would approve the use of funds from the zakat (mandatory alms giving) for HIV-positive people, whether Muslims or non-Muslim, regardless of how they contracted the virus, as long as they are poor.

Another fatwa would approve the use of condoms by married discordant couples, where one is HIV-positive and the other is not, to avoid infection.

The findings are not final. As first-opinions, they will be discussed next year at regional and national consultations.

"These are two [potentially] revolutionary rulings here," said Dr Ashgar Ali Engineer, chairman of the Centre for Study of Society and Secularism, in Mumbai, India.

The use of condoms has long been a divisive issue in the Islamic response to AIDS. Muslim teachings condemn sex before or outside marriage, and reject condoms for both safer sex and family planning.

Yet the views on condoms were not unanimous: "A condom is a necessity sometimes," said Bangladeshi sheik Abul kalam Azad. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend. HIV is an enemy. The condom is the enemy of HIV. If we can save lives with a condom, let discordant couples use it."

Impact on the ground

For charities like IRW, if these opinions become rulings, "we can formulate programmes based on this advice", said Makki Abdelnabi Mohamed Hamid, a Sudanese agriculturalist and head of the Africa region at IRW.

Photo: Mercedes Sayagues/PlusNews

Sheik Abul Kalam Azad - condoms are an enemy of HIV

On the ground, the fatwas might smooth operations. "If we are working, say, in Somalia, we can show these fatwas and not be obstructed by local religious leaders," added Hamid.

Zakat, mandated at two percent of an individual's accumulated wealth above a certain threshold, mobilises large amounts of money that could go towards HIV and AIDS work. "People and institutions may now feel comfortable giving money for HIV and AIDS," said Hamid.

So far, the Muslim response to the pandemic has been dogged by "the prejudiced association of the disease with moral depravity", said Dr Asghar Ali Engineer, because the virus is transmitted, among other ways, through illicit sex and injecting drug use, which reinforced its link to sinful behaviour.

Muslims accord great importance to the Islamic holy book, the Qu´ran, and its explanatory notes, the hadith. "AIDS and condoms did not exist at that time. We are faced with new challenges and we need new fatwas to deal with new issues," said Hamid.

The unworldliness of many scholars compounds the problem. "Some religious leaders are not exposed to the real world. We, humanitarian workers, we listen to people's stories," Hamid added.

Muslim NGOs have low visibility yet they are doing extraordinary work. Like Christian groups 20 years ago, they are too busy working to attend international conferences and brag about it

Being informed about HIV and AIDS also helps. "A human being is an enemy of what he does not know. We need scholars to understand all aspects of HIV and AIDS and try to find suitable rulings," said Lina Al-Homri, a doctor of Sharia (Muslim religious law) in the Faculty of Dawa (Muslim missionary work) in Damascus, Syria, and one of two woman scholars who helped draft the fatwas.

Dr Ikram Bux, a South African physician and HIV/AIDS specialist working in the east-coast city of Durban, shared his view. "On HIV-related fatwas, the ulama should have advisers who are experts on the epidemic," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

Linking science and religion was the keystone of Senegal's response to AIDS, praised as a model by UNAIDS. As early as 1987, when African governments, with the exception of Uganda, were silent about the disease, Senegalese scientists, epidemiologists and health authorities - all Muslim - met with the traditional Islamic leadership to explain the new disease from a scientific, not moral, perspective.

As a result, imams across the West African nation of 12 million were mobilised to send clear messages on prevention and transmission 20 years ago. Today, many Muslim countries and communities have well-established and creative programmes to deal with the pandemic, ranging from assistance for intravenous drug users in Iran and Indonesia to family planning in Afghanistan and street children in Zambia.

Calle Almedal, a senior consultant to UNAIDS and a specialist on community responses to AIDS, was impressed by the variety and quality of work presented at the consultation.

"Muslim NGOs [non-governmental organisations] have low visibility yet they are doing extraordinary work. Like Christian groups 20 years ago, they are too busy working to attend international conferences and brag about it," he told IRIN/PlusNews.

Protest Fascism, Not Muslims

Protest fascism, not Muslims The Daily Evergreen Ah, October. The time of year when the leaves are turning brighter colors, the skies are turning darker, and Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is held on college campuses. Don’t worry if you haven’t heard of the last one. I-F Awareness Week (which is how we’ll refer to it for reasons explained below) is “the biggest conservative campus protest ever,” at least according to the David Horowitz Freedom Center, which is responsible for the week. Ostensibly, the week is designed to confront the “lies” the president created the current war on terror and that global warming is a greater danger to Americans than the terrorist threat. You may be wondering how this translates into “I-F Awareness Week.” We don’t really have an answer to that, and are tired of reprinting what the I-F Week guidebook says. Instead, we’re going to focus on the major problem with the week: The use of the Islamic faith as a scapegoat. The reason why we abbreviated the name was because the use of the Islamic faith in this context is not only unnecessary, but also amounts to hate-speech. The problem with terrorists and those countries that support them has far less to do with religion and almost entirely to do with fascism. For the purpose of this protest, we are assuming that fascism is taken to mean the repression of opposing ideas through terror and violence. This is a wonderful thing to protest against. We don’t support groups of people trying to force their views upon others through lies and obfuscations. If we were on the cusp of celebrating Fascism Awareness Week, you can rest assured this editorial would not exist. But we’re not celebrating Facsism Awareness Week. Instead, they’ve lumped in Muslims with fascists, thus ensuring that we all protest beliefs held by people of the Islamic faith. Refer to the petition that is encouraged to be passed around during the week, which states in part that “The Islamo-Fascist Jihad is a war against Gays ... [and] non-religious people.” If you’ll remember, 27 states have constitutional amendments barring gay marriage and there have been several attempts in recent years to adopt a national amendment doing the same. Additionally, when George H.W. Bush was campaigning for President in 1987, remarked “I don’t know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots.” It seems clear the opposition is not in conjunction with the issues. Instead, the entire week seems to be an opportunity to Muslim-bash under the auspices of fighting terrorism. We support the right to free speech. The College Republicans have every right to go out and protest fascism in all its forms and support democracy and free speech. We just wish they would.