The Pakistan Ulema Council has issued a fatwa declaring so-called “honor killings” un-Islamic and inhuman, after a Pakistani woman was brutally killed earlier this week, Pakistan Newsweek reported.

The “killing of girls in the name of honor or dignity is terrorism and viciousness—which has nothing to do with Islam,” Pakistan Ulema Council, led by Maulana Tahir Ashrafi, said in a fatwa issued on Friday, May 30.

“The government and judiciary have the responsibility to punish in the harshest possible way those guilty of committing this crime.

“These people are not only guilty of committing murders but also spreading mischief on Earth.”

The fatwa followed the brutal killing of a 25-year-old pregnant woman, Farzana Iqbal, who was fatally attacked by over two dozen family members, who battered her with bricks.

Her father reportedly told police, "I killed my daughter as she had insulted all of our family by marrying a man without our consent, and I have no regret over it."

A similar fatwa against honor killing was issued in 2012 by the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada following the honor killing of four women from the Shafia family in Montreal.

Syed Soharwardy, the imam who founded the council, explained that the fatwa serves as "morally binding" for all Muslims, though it has no legal teeth.

"So if anybody is thinking that honour killing is allowed in Islam, or domestic violence is OK or misogyny is OK, we are saying no, you are dead wrong," Soharwardy said.

The Pakistan Ulema Council will release a more detailed edict on honor killings on June 5, during a conference of leaders from all sects.

Last year 869 women died in so-called “honor killings” according to the independent Human Rights Commission of Pakistan.

Conviction rates are very low due to Pakistan’s blood-money laws, which allow kin to forgive perpetrators, usually family members in such cases.

In Islam, there is no place for unjustifiable killing as the case in honor killing.

Even in case of capital punishment, only the government can apply the law through the judicial procedures.

Though portrayed in the Western media as exhorted by Islam, honor killing is a cultural act and has nothing to do with the faith.

https://new.islamstory.com/index.php/en/artical/17843/Pakistan-Ulemas-Reject-Honor-Killings