A group of religious leaders from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kohistan primarily affiliated with the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl released a fatwa (Islamic decree) on 26th January pronouncing it unlawful for women to campaign for polls. Addressing a gathering, arranged at the outfit’s central office in Kohistan’s Kamila town, JUI-F’s Mufti Gul Shahzada of Upper Kohistan district’s Kandia region proclaimed, “The women’s act of going from door to door to solicit votes is against sharia (Islamic laws).”
According to him, the statement was issued by thirty recognized religious scholars and supported by attendees at the event who included around four hundred clerics from the Kohistan area. He laid up six ordinances in front of them, all related to the upcoming generals which are scheduled to occur on 8th February in Pakistan.
For the first time in the district’s history, two female candidates supported by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Tehmina Faheem from PK-31 Kohistan-I and former lawmaker Momina Basit as well as Sanaya Sabeel, an independent from PK-33 Kolai-Palas are running for office.
The assembly was informed by Mufti Shahzada that all directives had been issued considering the circumstances at hand. He asserted that these were derived from various religious texts and based on Islamic precepts. He noted that disobeying the fatwa was sinful. Additionally, he stated that locals shouldn’t vote along ethnic lines because it is prohibited by Islamic law.
He warned, “If anybody votes against Islamic ideology, it means he is testifying to an untrue and biased statement, which is a grave sin and also against Islamic sharia.” The clergy pointed out that using the Quran as a means of forcing someone to vote is a sacrilegious act that ought never to be done. The mufti voiced, “Those casting votes on the linguistic, regional and clan grounds are also negating Islamic teachings and no such exercise should be carried out in this district.”
Interestingly, a local political leader countered that anti-feminist sentiment was not the driving force for the fatwa. Rather, its goal was to stop women in Kohistan culture from abusing their alleged position of power.
According to the fatwa, it is forbidden to bring women to voters’ houses to do canvassing. Furthermore, it stated that it was a severe sin to vote for a candidate who opposed the Islamic form of government since doing so would be equivalent to endorsing a falsehood. The edict observed that it is also against sharia to make voters swear allegiance to the Quran under oath.
It mentioned that voting based on national, regional, or racial divisions is against the Quran and Hadith and voting for financial benefit is the worst kind of bribery. The order further stipulated that it was against the ideology of the Muslim scholars to differentiate between votes for national and regional legislatures. At least eighteen religious scholars have signed the order with their names on it.