



Murder in the name of honour is ‘haraam’ and there is no permission in Islam ‘for such a callous offence’, according to members of the Sunni Ittehad Council (SIC).





Some 30 muftis of the SIC issued this statement following the murder of a 25-year-old woman, Farzana, in Lahore on Tuesday last week, allegedly by members of her family including her father, brothers and cousins. “There is no justification for the killing of Farzana in such a barbaric manner,” said Mufti Muhammad Shareef Rizvi, speaking after the meeting. “The accused should be punished under the law, which they violated when they stoned an innocent person to death.”A special moot was called by the SIC to consider incidents of killing of women under the guise of ‘honour’ on Sunday. Rizvi told the media that SIC members unanimously agreed that there is no concept of killing for honour in Islamic jurisprudence nor are there instances in which a woman can be killed on the pretext of ‘honour’. “Islam allows every girl, after attaining the age of puberty, to marry or solemnize her nikkah with her own will and in the presence of two witnesses,” he said. “If the girl’s parents have any objection, they should file a petition in the court.”Mufti Rizvi said that Farzana’s alleged honour killing had “defamed Pakistan and the esteem and prestige of the judiciary as well as Islam at global level”. He said the accused should be made an example of so that ‘no one could dare to take the law into their hands in the future and make a mockery of Islam’.

Those present at the SIC on Sunday were: Mufti Muhammad Akbar Rizvi, Mufti Muhammad Kareem Khan, Mufti Muhammad Haseeb Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Saeed Rizvi, Mufti Ghulam Nabi Jamati, Mufti Muhammad Hussain Siddiqui, Mufti Masoodur Rehman, Maulana Muhammad Wazeerul Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Ramzan Jami, Allama Hamid Sarfraz, Mufti Muhammad Younus Rizvi, Allama Sharafat Ali Qadri, Allama Bagh Ali Rizvi, Mufti Shoaib Muneer, Mufti Abdul Haq Daryai, Mufti Liaqat Ali, Mufti Azhar Saeed, Maulana Muhammad Akbar Naqshbandi, Allama Mushtaq Ahmad Noori, Allama Muhammad Saleem Hamdami, Mufti Bahawal Sher Rizvi, Mufti Ikram Ullah Junaidi, Allama Muhammad Asif Raza Qadri, Mufti Muhammad Haseeb Raza Qadri, Allama Farooq Sultan Qadri, Mufti Ghulam Murtaza Mehrovi, Mufti Ghulam Nabi Fakhari, Allama Qazi Muhammad Yaqoob Rizvi and Allama Qari Faiz Bukhsh Rizvi.