Muslim Brotherhood says UN text on women`s rights un-Islamic

Cairo: Egypt`s ruling Muslim Brotherhood has slammed a proposed UN document on women`s rights, saying it was un-Islamic and would subvert the entire society. The ongoing session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in New York seeks to ratify a declaration euphemistically entitled `End Violence against Women`, the group said in a statement. That title, however, is misleading and deceptive. The document includes articles that contradict established principles of Islam, undermine Islamic ethics and destroy the family, the basic building block of society, according to the Egyptian Constitution. This declaration, if ratified, would lead to complete disintegration of society, and would certainly be the final step in the intellectual and cultural invasion of Muslim countries, eliminating the moral specificity that helps preserve cohesion of Islamic societies, the statement said. It said that imposing universal standards to fight violence against women are destructive tools meant to undermine the family as an important institution; they would subvert the entire society, and drag it to pre-Islamic ignorance. The Muslim Brotherhood, from which President Mohammed Mursi belongs, asked the leaders of Islamic nations and their UN representatives to reject and condemn this document. The Muslim Brotherhood also called on Al-Azhar (the highest seat of learning for Muslims) to take the lead, condemn this declaration, and state clearly the Islamic viewpoint with regard to all details of this document. "Further, we urge all Islamic groups and associations to take a decisive stand on this document and similar declarations," the statement said. "We call on women`s organisations to commit to their religion and morals of their communities and the foundations of good social life and not be deceived with misleading calls to decadent modernisation and paths of subversive immorality," it said. PTI