Remember Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein, that former journalist who last worked for the UN Mission in Sudan? She was arrested along with several other women at a restuarant and charged wearing indecent clothing (basically a pair of trousers, or jeans)?
Several of those ladies were caned for this offense, but Lubna fought it out. In the end, bowing to international and domestic pressure, the Sudanese court did not impose a caning sentence on Lubna (although the other women arrested with her were caned). Instead she was fined, and if the fine is not paid, she would end up serving 30 days in jail.
Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein chose to go to jail, and asked that none of her friends should pay the fine for her. But a third party did pay the fine against her wish, and so she was freed after a day in jail. But she has not given up the fight, so the Sudan caning case may not be over. She still thinks that women wearing trousers/jeans should not be a crime in Sudan.
Indeed women wearing jeans is not a crime elsewhere in the Muslim world. Certainly not in Iran, which some believe its capital, Tehran, to be the heart of the Muslim world.
Recently Tehran police arrested 3 businessmen who imported a shipment of woman’s jeans from China. These jeans, sold in Tehran’s southern and eastern districts at a retail price of around US$10-12 each, were seized by the Tehran police.
The reason for the seizure and arrest was that the jeans bore the Islamic expression “Bismillah-ir-Rahman-ir-Rahim” in Arabic (in English, it means “In the name of God, the compassionate, the merciful”). Nothing wrong with this phrase, as it is found in each of the Koran’s 114 chapters. But what’s wrong is that this phrase is displayed prominently on the rear pockets of the jeans, something which devout Muslims find offensive.
Iranian media took the lead in condemning these jeans, and one of them, Asirian, said in its website: “In Islam, Allah is a respected word that you need to have ablutions before saying. Now it is embroidered on the sitting place of these jeans. Worse, they are sold in Tehran, which many would like to call the heart of the Islamic world.” Asriran also accused China of “attacking Iranian Muslim sacred symbols in the most offensive manner”.
But China is a close political and economic ally of Iran. Not surprisingly therefore, Colonel Abbas Mirzai of Tehran police told Iranian journalists that he had “no accurate information” about where the jeans were made despite the fact that these jeans bore labels reading “Made in the PRC” (People’s Republic of China).
Think about it. Why is it a crime for women like Lubna Ahmed al-Hussein to wear jeans in Sudan but not so for women in Iran? Are they not both Muslim countries. Why different standard? Is Lubna Hussein right therefore to continue her fight to remove or modify Article 152 of the Sudanese criminal code under which she was charged for indecent dressing?
Earlier posts
Sudan Caning Case – Lubna Hussein In Jail
Sudan Caning Case – Lubna Released, But What Next?
That’s the problem with a religion that is based on man’s interpretation of moral standards. Man keeps changing the rules.