خواتین کے شرعی حقوق پر بعض اہم عدالتی نظائر کا تجزیہ

Abstract

Pakistan is an Islamic Republic and its Constitution mandates bringing all existing laws into conformity with the Injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Holy Qur’an and Sunnah. This onerous task cannot be performed by the legislature alone because it is the courts which have the power and authority to interpret laws. Therefore, the law also mandates adopting that interpretation which is in consonance with the Islamic Injunctions. However, very few judges use Islamic principles in their judgments. This is particularly true in cases involving the rights of women where more often than not the Western notions of human rights seem to influence the lawyers and the judges. Some judges, however, tried to change this trend and extensively used Islamic principles in their judgments. The present paper analyzes some judgments authored by Qazi Faez Isa, initially as Judge of the Supreme Court and later as Chief Justice of Pakistan. The paper concludes that the use of Islamic principles makes the judgments more sound, authentic and convincing, and that they not only protect the rights of women in a much better way, but also give greater acceptability to these judgments in our society. Islamic principles should, therefore, be made part of curriculum and training manuals for lawyers and judges so that they are better equipped to perform their religious, Constitutional and legal duty of interpreting laws in accordance with the Islamic Injunctions.