[Reader-list] Who gives muftis the right to give fatwas?

[Shuddhabrata Sengupta]

Dear Javed,

Thank you for forwarding this. I don't know who gives these muftis  
and tuftis the right to give fatwas, I think they give it to  
themselves. And since they routinely issue fatwas on all manner of  
ridiculous matters, we might as well treat this one too with the lack  
of seriousness that it deserves.

We are not governed by the Shariat, and I hope we never will be.  
Since we are not governed by the Shariat, it hardly matters whether  
or not Maulana Abdul Khalik Madrasi thinks homosexuality is an  
offence under Shariat Law. Not even the relevant (and anachronistic,  
misogynist and patrarchal) sections of Personal Law in matters of  
marriage and inheritance that govern the lives of Indian Muslims have  
anything to say about sexual relations in private between consenting  
adults. So, not even from the completely unacceptabe (to me)  
standpoint of defending a separate civil code for Muslims is it  
relevant to discuss the fate of Section 377. Maulana Madrasi is  
barking up the wrong legal tree.

Finally, a small historical digression. Section 377 was introduced by  
the British Colonial Administration in India. Which, as far as i  
recall, was not exactly a model Islamic state. In fact, the British  
Colonial authorities presided over the decline and destruction of  
'nominally' Muslim political power in India. if, for the roughly  
seven hundred years preceding the advent of British rule in India,  
when the territory happened to be ruled largely by Muslim rulers,  
(some of whom claimed to be guided by the Shariat) it was not found  
necessary to invoke a draconian law like section 377, are we to then  
understand that the British Colonial authority was more 'Islamic'  
than the Mughal rulers, than the rulers of the Delhi sultanate, and  
many other kings and princes of a Muslim persuasion.

And finally, how exactly would we remember a figure like the great  
Ghazi of Islam - Mahmud of Ghazna and his love for Ayaz, or Razia  
Sultana and her love for women, or the distinctly queer ecstasies of  
Amir Khusrau and Sarmad. Each one of these people saw themselves as  
devout Muslim. And there was nothing unusual in their being queer  
Muslims. Islamicate societies all over the world have been  
historically far more tolerant of various different kinds of same-sex  
relationships both male and female, and transgender identities, than  
societies largely anchored in Christian values have been. Islam is a  
sex positive religion. It celebrates the dignity, beauty and  
diversity of the human body and all its desires. There is (and always  
has been) a strong case for a queer theology of liberation that is  
rooted within the Islamicate cultural universe, and it has had a long  
history, and it will have a long future.

Maulana Madrasi is probably just as ignorant of the traditions he  
claims are his own as Praveen Togadia, the firebrand leader of the  
Vishwa Hindu Parishad, is. They would probably make an excellent  
couple, locked happily together within their private closet of paranoia.

Meanwhile, let us hope that Veerappa Moily's supposed u-turn is only  
a digression, and that the provisions in Section 377 that criminalize  
the behaviour of consenting adults in private (which should not be  
the business of the state)  are consigned finally to where they  
belong - the dustbin of history.

And congratulations to all those who paraded on the streets of Delhi,  
Bangalore, Madras and Calcutta. The future belongs to you (and us  
all) not to the likes of Maulana Madrasi.

regards

Shuddha

On 29-Jun-09, at 3:54 PM, M Javed wrote:

> Gay sex against tenets of Islam: Deoband
> 29 Jun 2009, 1353 hrs IST, PTI
>
> MUZAFFARNAGAR, UP: A leading Islamic seminary on Monday opposed
> Centre's move to repeal a controversial section of the penal law which
> criminalises homosexuality saying unnatural sex is against the  
> tenets of Islam.
>
> "Homosexuality is an offence under Shariat Law and haram (prohibited)
> in Islam," deputy vice chancellor of the Darul Uloom Deoband Maulana
> Abdul Khalik Madrasi said.
>
> Madrasi also asked the government not to repeal section 377 of IPC
> which criminalises homosexuality.
> _________________________________________

Shuddhabrata Sengupta
The Sarai Programme at CSDS
Raqs Media Collective
shuddha at sarai.net
www.sarai.net
www.raqsmediacollective.net