Dr. Khalid Masaud, Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology, Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik, Rector, International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, President IIUI, Dr. Muhammad Farooq, Vice Chancellor Sawat University, Dr. Moeen Chima, Australian National University, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed, ED, IRD and others addressing opening session of the tow day conference on "Toward Revisiting the Debate on Shariah: Prospect and Challenges for Pakistan" held at IIUI
A number of recommendations were adopted in the concluding session according to which it was stressed upon the need of a new look at Shariah Laws keeping in view the prevailing situation in the world. The participants asked the government to re-asses present curricula of Shariah faculties of the countries to enable the graduates to cope with latest requirements of the modern day. Earlier Dr. Muhammad Khalid Masood, Chairman of the CII delivered a keynote address on prospects of Shariah in Pakistan.

Dr. Khalid Masood in his keynote address said;

Shariah stands for justice and peace but it is the cruelest irony of modern times that it conjures up fearful images of amputated hands, stoning and lashing in the western media. Regrettably, in the Muslim minds also Shariah invokes the notions of hudud, retribution and punishment. Debates on Shariah in Pakistan take the shape of demonstration against or in favor of its implementation and are associated with suicide bombings, militancy and bloodshed. It is perhaps the absence of serious rational analysis of the issues regarding Shariah in the public sphere that has turned these debates to be violent and blood-stained.

Dr. Khalid added that recent debates on Shariah are not limited to the Muslim countries; Shariah is debated in the whole globalized world including South Africa, United States of America, Britain and Canada. These debates have brought home the fact that we are living in an interdependent globalized world and whereas non-Muslim societies can no longer dismiss Shariah as irrelevant, Muslims cannot also effectively exercise Shariah as a modern legal system without taking the global context into consideration. Take the example of Canada. A Dutch scholar Anna Korteweg notes that from 2003 through 2006 a debate developed on the introduction of “Shariah Law” or Shariah arbitration in Ontario, Canada. The issue in its core was about legal principles and practices but it turned into a debate about women’s inequality, and by extension to Canadian national identity and culture. The ensuing public lambasting of Islam reinforced the notion that Islam and gender inequality are inherently incompatible.

Important questions regarding faith-based arbitration were thus ignored, and with it the possibility to improve gender equality (“The Shariah debate in Ontario”, ISIM Review 18, 2006, 50). Similarly, invitation by the Archbishop of Canterbury to consider Shariah as a possible source of law for Muslim in Britain turned into a debate about national integration in Britain, Denmark, France and Australia. The fact that the academic and objective studies in these countries were not influenced by hysteric outbursts of fears and anxieties about Shariah becomes irrelevant in the Muslim world because religious establishments to rally against the Western criticism of Shariah. It helps them to avoid any mention of their weaknesses.

Dr. Khalid speaking on the present Tahrik Taliban said that it began as a movement for enforcement of Shariah in Swat and Waziristan but gradually became politicized. In general, all these movement failed to introduce social and legal reforms. Nevertheless, since these movements were projected as political movements against westernized regimes their leaders became here as of the age. Debates about Shariah have repeatedly ignored to analyze the failure of Shariah movements or to discuss the issues in the enforcement of Shariah in the present day globalized world. Dr. Khalid Masood stressed upon the need of Ijtihad through Parliament because the Muslim Parliaments represent Muslims’ aspirations and dreams.

First Day:

Rector IIUI Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik, chaired the opening session while Dr. Muhammad Khalid Masood, Chairman of the CII delivered a keynote address on prospects of Shariah in Pakistan. Other speakers of the opening session included IIUI President Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, Swat University Vice Chancellor, Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan, Dr. Moeen Chima of Australian National University, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed, Executive Director IRD, Dr. Muhammad Zia ul Haq and others.

Professor Fateh Muhammad Malik in his speech also seconded views expressed by Dr. Khalid Masood. He said that the role of Ulama should be re-visited as it was called upon by Allama Iqbal.

Dr. Muhammad Farooq Khan focused on prevailing situation in Swat. He said that the demand for enforcement of Shariah by Taliban was not a new invention but it had its roots in history. Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui however stressed upon the need of bifurcation of extremist Ulamas and moderates.

Dr. Khalid Masaud, Chairman Council of Islamic Ideology, Prof. Fateh Muhammad Malik, Rector, International Islamic University Islamabad (IIUI), Dr. Anwar Hussain Siddiqui, President IIUI, Dr. Muhammad Farooq, Vice Chancellor Sawat University, Dr. Moeen Chima, Australian National University, Dr. Mumtaz Ahmed, ED, IRD and others addressing opening session of the two day conference on "Toward Revisiting the Debate on Shariah: Prospect and Challenges for Pakistan" held at IIUI