Press Release
Amending the Personal Status Law is a Corruption of Society and a Departure from the Provisions of the Righteous Sharia
(Translated)

Sudan’s Minister of Justice, Mohamed Saeed Al-Hilu, addressed in Kosti the medical and legal interests workshop related to gender-based violence, focusing on survivors, caregivers, and judicial authorities. The workshop was organized by the Federal Women's Anti-Violence Unit in partnership with the United Nations Population Fund. The Minister of Justice stated that women represent a crucial pillar of the family and should be given attention, ensuring they enjoy all their legal rights and international agreements. He added that there is a social legacy conflicting with women's rights in customs, traditions, and religion, which should be dismantled and reduced through specialized workshops like this. He emphasized the importance of discussing laws related to violence against women, creating space for them, and pledged his ministry's commitment to adopting recommendations concerning women's rights and their practical implementation. He mentioned that the ministry has formed a committee to amend the Personal Status Law, inviting any comments on the law for consideration during the amendment process. (Sudan News Agency, Thursday, 9 November 2023)

We, in the Women's Section of Hizb ut Tahrir / Wilayah Sudan, in response to these deviant and recurrent policies, clarify that the 'social legacy conflicting with women's rights,' according to the United Nations laws, which 'must be dismantled,' according to the minister's statement, refers to Islamic Shariah. Sudanese women have enjoyed these laws until the days of the kaffir (infidel) military colonization of the country, and no one dared to amend the Personal Status Law. However, in the critical conditions the country is subjected to, marked by wars, ethnic cleansing, and violations, the Minister of Justice seizes the opportunity, along with his international partners, to manipulate the remaining laws derived from Islamic jurisprudence to align with the civilization of the capitalist West.

O Women of Sudan: Do not be deceived by talk of injustice and the reasons for the injustice that many women face, and linking it to changing laws. The reality of injustice against both women and men stems from the implementation of capitalist systems. It is not because the Personal Status Law oppresses women, but rather due to other reasons, including economic pressures, wars, conflicts, societal customs, and corruption in state institutions, including the judiciary, and others.

O People of Sudan: Enacting international laws that contribute to dismantling the family and corrupting women, leading our society to become like disintegrated Western societies with no bonds among its members and no Sharia rulings regulating their relationships and lives until they descend to the level of beasts, may Allah protect us. This is indeed a grave calamity and a great disaster. All of us must stand against it and fight it with strength. Allah, the Almighty, says:

[إِنَّ الَّذِينَ يُحِبُّونَ أَن تَشِيعَ الْفَاحِشَةُ فِي الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَهُمْ عَذَابٌ أَلِيمٌ فِي الدُّنْيَا وَالْآخِرَةِ]

“Indeed, those who like that immorality should be spread [or publicized] among those who have believed will have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter.” [An-Nur:19].

O Muslims: Amending the Personal Status Law and granting women their rights according to Western laws means approval of the shameful CEDAW. This entails unifying inheritance rights, abolishing polygamy, challenging paternal guardianship, abolishing the principle of male guardianship and financial support, and other legislation from the great Islamic laws that safeguard women's legitimate rights, protect their dignity, make them queens, and have everyone at their service. Will you exchange what is lower for what is better?

The minister has been lax in amending the Personal Status Law, to the extent of saying, 'Any comments on the law can be considered for amendment!' This indicates a step towards a civil law unrelated to Sharia provisions, a law that aligns with international agreements, undermines the family, and pushes society towards a bestial Western life in the relationship between women and men. It is not aimed at lifting oppression from women; rather, it is to please the kuffar, enemies of Islam.

This recklessness in changing the provisions of Sharia, the laws of Allah, and emulating the kuffar in their actions, reveals that the current rulers are enemies of the Ummah and its Deen. This requires serious action to remove them and give bay’ah (pledge) to a Khalifah (Caliph) who leads us according to the Book of Allah (swt) which says:

[وَمَا كَانَ لِمُؤْمِنٍ وَلَا مُؤْمِنَةٍ إِذَا قَضَى اللَّهُ وَرَسُولُهُ أَمْرًا أَن يَكُونَ لَهُمُ الْخِيَرَةُ مِنْ أَمْرِهِمْ]

“It is not for a believing man or a believing woman, when Allah and His Messenger have decided a matter, that they should [thereafter] have any choice about their affair.” [Al-Ahzab:36].

Official Spokeswoman of Hizb ut Tahrir
in Wilayah Sudan