And these are the bastards we are supposed to be supporting in
Afghanistan?

Afghan cleric defends controversial marriage law

Critics say the law strips Afghan Shia women of rights

Mohseni: "Law ... which I created I see as correct for both men and
women"

Afghan human rights campaigner says law does not represent Islam

By Atia Abawi

Walking into the Khatmul Nabeen Masjid (mosque), you can for a moment
forget that you're in Afghanistan. Beautiful buildings, walkways,
flowerbeds and even a grass soccer pitch.

Young men and women, dressed in Muslim attire, walk around freely and
with smiles.

Smiles are a bit of a rarity in today's Kabul, a polluted city of
survival and despair, so this was both shocking and refreshing to me.

We didn't have an appointment but we were hoping to interview Mohammed
Asif Mohseni, a conservative Shia cleric. He is said to be the man
behind the controversial Shia state law, a law critics say strips Afghan
Shia women of many rights.

While security was checking our bags, one guard said that Mohseni had
been waiting for us. I tried explaining that we did not have an
appointment.

Nonetheless, we were sent back to where Mohseni was waiting. Before
entering the room I was cautioned by a guard to make sure none of my
hair was showing below my headscarf. They were apologetic; one even
asked me to zip up my sweater higher because too much of my neck was
exposed.

I complied, tucking in my hair and zipping my sweater as high as it
could go. Now paranoid about the design holes in my scarf that exposed
parts of my hair, I took off my shoes to enter.

As we walked in, Mohseni, an older man with a white beard wearing a
Shia-style turban called a "dulband" was sitting on a brown couch.

He looked at the two men who brought us in and said, "These aren't the
two I was waiting for." I explained that we just showed up for an
interview because we did not have a number to reach him.

He smiled and said, "I guess you are in luck."

Mohseni welcomed us and asked me to translate his warm welcome to our
Scottish cameraman.

As the interview started, I noticed that Mohseni avoided my eyes. I
wondered if it was because I was female. I was also prepared for verbal
attacks; a journalist friend told me that when he brought a western
journalist to interview Mohseni a few days ago, the journalist ended up
having more questions thrown at him than he was able to ask.

But it didn't take long for Mohseni to warm up and explain why Shia
state law is just and a part of Islam. Those who don't agree don't
understand it, he said.

"The law ... which I created I see as correct for both men and women,"
he said. "We have given rights to both men and women, even better than
rights given to women in the West. We give women more in this law."

I asked him about reports that if a woman does not comply in having
sexual relations with her husband, then the husband can refuse to feed
her. "Yes, I said that," Mohseni said looking me in the eye. "When a
couple marries, sex is a part of marriage, and they agree to that."

He went on to explain that a woman isn't obliged to have sexual
relations every single night or if she is told by her doctor to refrain.
But otherwise it is her obligation and something she signed up for when
she got married. He calls it the wife's duty.

Mohseni added that a wife wearing makeup "prevents a man from thinking
about other women on the streets and he can just think of his wife."

He continued: "It is natural that women (wear makeup). Don't they in the
West? Their women wear it on the streets and in shops. Women should put
make-up on for their husbands as it will increase the love and
attraction between the two."

The cleric also explained that a woman is not required to ask the
permission of a man to leave the house if she has a job and needs to go
to work. But they do need to get permission if they are leaving for
other reasons.

More importantly, he said, a couple needs to make clear the day they
marry whether or not she will need permission to leave the home. If they
disagree then they should not get married.

"Like, you are working for CNN," he said. "If your boss tells you,
you'll be working for 8 hours a day, then you're responsible for that.
It's the same here. They both have to agree on it."

According to Mohseni, the West is imposing its beliefs on the Muslim
world because they don't understand.

However, it's not just people in the West who are opposed to this law.
Many Afghans, men and women, have vehemently resisted it. They fear it
will set women back after the progress that has been made in the last
seven years.

Sima Samar, head of Afghanistan's Independent Human Rights Commission,
has been working for a year now, trying to amend certain articles within
the law.

"I feel discriminated. Clear-cut. I don't feel equal in this country,"
she told us.

Samar said the law does not represent Islam. It blatantly contradicts
the constitution of Afghanistan, which states that men and women are
equal.

Critics have labeled the law as "Talibanistic," but Samar says even many
of the Taliban's actions were not enshrined in law.

She admitted that a law for Shias is necessary but that it should be
what is stated in Sharia or Islamic Law. "One of the very important
pillars in Islam is justice, there is no justice in this law," she said.

Samar also pointed out the absurdities in the law, such as the edict on
makeup.

"If she doesn't (put on make-up), will the husband go complain to the
police that she didn't put (on) the lipstick? Or, 'I like red but she
put on pink.'"

However, Samar didn't blame the clerics alone for creating the new law;
she blamed various parts of the government for allowing it to pass.

"I think they -- all of them -- took the whole issue very superficially.
And none of the state institutions, ministry of justice, parliament,
senate and the office of the president, really didn't look at the law as
serious as they should," she said.

(c) 2008 Cable News Network

--- Xnews/5.04.25