There were proposals in Pakistan to put a 'mohtasib' program in place who would regulate public morality (think Saudi religious police and Iranian morality police). The Supreme Court of Pakistan struck the legislation down.
Here are the most important passages from the opinion:
Para 24-A: We are quite in agreement with the contentions of learned Attorney general that private life, personal thoughts and the individual beliefs of citizens cannotbe allowed to be interefered with.
Para 36: Islamic jurists are unanimous on the point that except "Sallat" and "Zakat" no other religious obligation stipulated by Islam can be enforced by the State. There is also unanimity that the "Zakat" obligation was seriously enforced through State Coercion by Hazrat Abu Bakr and for "Sallat" the only way is through "Taleem, Tableegh, Talkeen and Targheeb.
That paragraph 36 is saying that even in an Islamic State the only two elements of religious ritual/public morality that the State can impose are prayer and charity. Then it adds, that prayer can only be enforced by way of education and persuasion. Legal reasoning at its best.
Three cheers for free will.
The judges clearly sided with common sense- and in fact, morality.
Culture, religion or moral expressions cannot be legislated . It really is that simple.
"enforced by way of education and persuasion"
Umm... this sounds like a huuuge step if you're used to people physically forcing you to pray. But for me, it's still a bit bogus. Whatever happened to not forcing someone to pray at all? Cultural thing I'm guessing.
Ginan Rauf
How true. Amr Khaled uses the persuasion method to get women
to veil. It gives you the agency cover. But what does it mean when
you speak with the authority of tradition behind you, if you continue the khutba approach and fail to question the authority of
the speaker. It's the expert class manage our lives with more subtle
forms of coercion. I totally agree Robert.
cheers,
Ginan
Morality police! how absurd. I thought individual muslims make independent choices and that they are SOLEY responsible for these choices. Using a stick or shouting at peopl to even do prayer is immoral.
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