| "That's why we have holy men, dammit!" |
 ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has no authority to define Shariah because he has no knowledge of Shariah, said Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the opposition leader in the National Assembly (NA), on Wednesday.
| "Only devout men have knowledge of shariah. Men with turbans. Men with automatic weapons..." |
"How can a person who is not aware of Islamic jurisprudence interpret Shariah? The prime minister is pretending to be a mufti (Islamic scholar) in defining Shariah, Quran and Sunnah," Maulana Fazl told reporters in Parliament House. He said interpretation of Shariah was the job of religious scholars who spent their lives studying the Quran, Sunnah and Shariah.
| "People like... ummm... me." |
"It is not a job for people like the prime minister, Kashmala Tariq and Sumaira Malik," he said. He also rejected government allegations that the MMA had desecrated the Quran by tearing up copies of the Women's Protection Bill when it was tabled in the NA on Monday. Maulana Fazl said MMA members had not desecrated the Quran, but the government did by bringing a bill in parliament which was against Islamic injunctions. |