International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC)

International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC)

Overview

* Contends that Islam is highly respectful of women
* Supports strict Sharia Law
* Is chaired by Saleha Abedin


The International Islamic Committee for Woman and Child (IICWC) was established in 1992 by the International Islamic Council for Da’wa and Relief (IICDR). Its mission is to promote the notion that, contrary to the claims of some critics, women have always been afforded a “respectable status,” replete with “rights and advantages,” in Islamic tradition; to improve the lives of Muslim women “educationally, healthwise, financially, [and] intellectually”; to prevent “any violation” of Muslim women’s rights “on the basis of [their] religion, appearance, or costume”; and to “highlight the Islamic vision of family issues, women and children.” To advance these agendas, IICWC periodically holds workshops and symposia; publishes booklets in several languages; makes use of the mass media; and dispatches representatives to attend pertinent regional and global conferences.

According to IICWC, Sharia Law offers the only valid, legitimate legal framework by which a society should be governed. This view was reflected in a 2012 publication that appeared on the IICWC website, articulating the organization’s belief that:

  • laws criminalizing female genital mutilation should be revoked

  • laws forbidding child marriage prior to age 18 should be revoked

  • laws against marital rape should be revoked

  • polygamy should be permitted for all Muslim men who wish to practice it

  • the minimum age of criminal responsibility should be reduced from 18 to 15

  • a woman should not be permitted to register her newborn baby (for a birth certificate) by herself, because Sharia Law states that a child’s lineage is given strictly to the father and his paternal line; i.e., the child belongs to the father even if it was the product of adultery or rape

  • physical and mental abuse by parents against children should be decriminalized, so long as the abuse does not cause a permanent deformity.

The longtime chairperson of IICWC is Saleha Mahmood Abedin, who has close ties to the Muslim Brotherhood and is an ardent supporter of Sharia Law.

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