Sisters In Islam

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Sisters In Islam
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Background Info

• Formed in 1988 by a small group of professional
  Muslim women
• Registered as an NGO in 1993
• Started because these women were unfamiliar with
  their own religion
• Influenced by the active women from Muhammands
  lifetime

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Dakwah Movement

• 1970s New Economic Policy created more
  opportunities for rural people who moved into the
  cities and allowed for women to play a
  significant role in public life
• Islamic renewal movement adopted Arab cultural
  practices in an attempt to counter the
  Westernization taking place in Malaysia

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Sisters In Islam Goals

• Mission Statement Our mission is to promote an
  awareness of the true principles of Islam,
  principles that enshrine the concept of equality
  between women and men, and to strive towards
  creating a society that upholds the Islamic
  principles of equality, justice, freedom and
  dignity within a democratic state.
• Objectives
• To promote and develop a framework of women's
  rights in Islam, which takes into consideration
  women's experiences and realities To
  eliminate injustice and discrimination against
  women by changing practices and values that
  regard women as inferior to men To create
  public awareness, and reform laws and policies,
  on issues of equality, justice, freedom, dignity
  and democracy in Islam.
• Taken from SIS Website www.sistersinislam.org.my

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How They Work

• Resource center with available legal
  assistance/resources
• Publications
• Public Quranic study sessions
• Public lectures

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Use of the Quran

• Striving for reinterpretation of the Quran
• Quran should be accessible to everyone
• Revelation vs. Culture
• Quran and Hadiths central to their arguments

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Shamala Sathyaseelan

• Husband converted to Islam and also converted 24
  year old children without Shamalas knowledge
• Civil courts granted Shamala custody, but
  religious courts issued husband a Hadanah Order,
  allowing him to take the children
• Shamala is unable to enter religious courts to
  dispute their decisions and her applications for
  nullification have been denied.

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• Worked along side other NGOs to determine
• Mothers and fathers should play equal role in
  guardianship and upbringing of children
• Religious discrimination should be discouraged
• Surah 2256

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Kelantan Incest Case

• 17 year old girl being charged as a willing
  participant in the crime of incest with her
  father
• Juvenile or Adult
• Questions about coercion
• Daughter sentenced to 1 year in rehabilitation
  center, father admitted to crime and sentenced to
  2 years in prison, 4,000 dollar fine, and 2
  stroke of the rotan
• Cooperation between civil religious courts

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Maslinda binti Ishak

• Detained during a raid on a nightspot
• Mistreated multiple times by the raid officers
  and the court system
• Filed suit against an officer and appealed his
  sentence
• Charged with abetting the sale and purchase of
  alcohol and encouraging vice

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• Officers actions immodest Surah 2430
• Moral policing in general is not Islamic Surah
  2427-28, Surah 4912