Office of Abbas’ Islamic advisor attacks Hamas-affiliated religious body’s ban on women traveling alone
Headline: “The [PA’s] Supreme Shari'ah Judge’s Office: The civilians are not obligated by what was written in an announcement of [the Supreme Council for] Shari’ah Justice in the Southern Districts”
Ramallah, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida
“The Office of Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine [Mahmoud Al-Habbash] emphasized that the civilians are not obligated by what was said in the legal notice issued by [the Supreme Council for] Shari’ah Justice (i.e., a religious legal body subordinate to Hamas that presents itself as an official organization of “the State of Palestine”), regarding a ban on travel by men over the age of 18 and women without the approval of a custodian. It also emphasized that the judges of the Shari’ah courts should not take it into account in their rulings…
The Office of the Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine – as the one responsible for Shari’ah justice and the Shari’ah courts, which are the authorized source for dealing in matters such as these – explained that only it (i.e., The Office of the Supreme Shari’ah Judge of Palestine) determines this topic and other topics concerning personal status in the State of Palestine.
It emphasized that the notice, which was said to be issued by [the Supreme Council for] Shari’ah Justice in the Southern Districts of Palestine (i.e., in the Gaza Strip), is a notice issued by a source lacking authority… and that taking consideration of the situation and the periods is at the heart of Islamic legislation… such that there is no justification for implementing previous interpretation in a later period, if the situation in the later period requires different interpretation…
It also emphasized that ‘In limiting the freedoms of the public and the individual without religious legal justification, as was done in the notice, there is a clear contradiction of the lauded spirit of the religious law and a blow to the deep-rooted rights that Islam guarantees, and which the basic law of the State of Palestine explicitly determines.’”