[gennnniiikk]

http://allafrica.com/stories/201206220890.html

Bamako — Strict Sharia, or Islamic religious laws, imposed by the Islamist rebels controlling vast swathes of northern Mali are driving thousands of students out of schools. Dress codes have been imposed, boys and girls are forced to learn separately, and subjects deemed to promote "infidelity" have been struck off the curriculum.

correct decision.

Outraged parents are transferring their children and some students are opting to miss examinations rather than learn under these conditions.

"We simply took our two children from the school," said Mariam Touré, who lives in Timbuktu, one of the northern towns seized by the Islamists and other insurgents. "We will send them to Bamako [the capital of Mali, in the south] to continue learning."

"I decided not to sit my second-term examinations under those conditions and my parents agreed with me. They transferred me to Sikasso [a town southeast of Bamako], where I'm now pursuing my studies," said Almoustapha Cissé.

perhaps some outreach would do them good. the liberals do not have a case beyond that i am afraid.

Boubacar Sissoko, a schoolmaster in Timbuktu - a UNESCO World Heritage site - said the Islamists "terrorize the children" with the new laws. "

terrorism is a subjective word.

They have introduced their own programme and new subjects like Islamic education, or collective prayers that they themselves conduct," he said.

what is the problem with this? you see how secularism is extremely intolerant. ironic.

The arrival of the Islamists in the north in March and the unrest that followed have left only 107 students out of 429 at the school.

as i said, perhaps outreach would have helped and beyond that...no excuse for liberals.

The combination of conflict, harsh drought, food insecurity, and now the imposition of Sharia law, has internally displaced 146,900 people, and more than 150,000 others to neighbouring Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Guinea, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

notice how the writer has equated:
- drought
- food insecurity
to shariah law.
and then make sit looks like all three reasons combine to drive people away.
it is like saying sectarian violence, unemployment and the presence of mosques in every neighbourhood is driving people away to other cities. what utter rubbish.

Although schools have taken the brunt of the draconian Islamic laws, residents can also no longer watch television, men cannot shave their beard or use tobacco. On 20 June, a Timbuktu couple was flogged 100 times in public for having a child out of wedlock, sparking condemnation by shocked and angry residents.

draconian is an adjective yes? what use does an adjective have when you cannot prove the usage? arent news articles supposed to be without bias and slant?
as for TV. you have just the word of the reporter for it. did they shut down the tv stations? did they do it to spend the money their for welfare of community? (after all we have seen mujahideen providing welfare for community first thing...as in yemen).
or did they simply go to every home and ask them not to watch tv?
or did they take away all the TVs?
or did they let them have it but said we will punish you if caught?
multiple meanings, one blanket statement. poor.

tobacco: yeah that is very good for your body? does Islam remotely allow anything that is unhealthy? again just because liberals do it all over the world is no proof of anything.

shaving beard is haram according to majority of fuqaha. you do not want to accept it. then dont. its our government. but yes an outreach to the actual people living there would be good. you see, some may not understand fiqh.

same goes for lashes. completely according to islamic laws. liberal response is typical. i do not understand it or do not want to accept it hence it must be wrong. flawed logic.

"We are living in another world," said Attaher Maiga, a Timbuktu resident, pointing out that the Koran does not forbid football, tobacco or shaving one's beard.

ah.classic. the Qur'an is now the sole legislator of Islamic law. poor reasoning again.
look how they say he 'pointed out' as though it was the most obvious thing in the world unknown to the mujahideen and the plethora of muslim scholars throughout the ages through which the Qur'an reached us in the first place in its present form.

But the Islamists defend their laws.

"Sharia has to be applied whether the people like it or not, we will enforce it. We are not asking anybody's opinion. We are not democrats. We are servants of Allah who demands Sharia," Sanda Ould Boumama, Ansar Dine's spokesman in Timbuktu, told IRIN.

an excellent answer. may i suggest some outreach as well?

Girls are forced to wear djellabas, or full-body robes. "On 7 May, Ansar Dine and its ally, Al Qaeda in Maghreb, reopened schools in Timbuktu and Gao, a town to the east, but students began a new system [of learning] unknown to them before the occupation of the region," Timbuktu Education Director, Abou Bacri Cissé, told IRIN.

"Not only did they impose a new education system, separating girls and boys in classrooms, they also separate the students in groups - boys learning in the morning, and girls in the afternoon," he said.

a good idea you know. separate the times.

In classrooms in Gao, "Boys sit in front and girls at the back, like in mosques," Beydi Koné, a journalist in the town, told IRIN.

i wish this was done in my university. esp with the way girls dress up. excellent decision again.

Amahane Touré, a teacher in Gao, said only 21 pupils remain in her eighth and ninth grade French class, among them three girls. Previously there were 69 pupils, including 19 girls.

already refuted this.

"We are searched every day before going to classes for fear that we are teaching the subjects banned under their Sharia. They forbid us from teaching certain subjects like biology, philosophy, civic education, under the pretext that they promote infidelity," she said.

perhaps this can be resolved amicably. both parties need to relent on some views. biology isnt haram. teaching children evolution is correct definitely IS haram. similarly in civis if there are unislamic things one needs to remove it not ban the subject altogether. or even alter the texts.

"I understand the plight of the parents who fled with their children, but as teachers we have the duty to teach those who remain, even if the conditions are tough, especially due to Sharia imposed by Ansar Dine," Touré said.

again your problem is with shariah. ever tried something called 'understanding other people's concerns'?...islamic is flexible and liberlaism isnt. that says a lot.

In the weeks after the military coup, heavily-armed MNLA rebels and Islamists gained an unprecedented hold over northern Mali. The MNLA declared independence soon afterwards, but the move was rejected by its Islamist allies as well as the international community, and caused divisions among the armed groups in the region.

muslims need to stop worrying about the international community. liberals always quote north korea. shameless cowards.

The Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) is trying to resolve the crisis, which has also worsened the suffering of millions of Malians affected by a severe drought across the Sahel region. The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimates that more than 3.5 million Malians are hungry.

resolve the drought. feed the hungry. work with the government. don't interfere with things you do not wish to understand and tolerate.

"Special sessions and make-up classes have been set up for the students displaced from the north," said Mahamane Baby, an advisor at the education ministry "This is to help them to overcome the stress and not lag behind.

classic. keep harping your own tune with fingers firmly placed in their ears.

May Allah give these people and us hidayat. ameen.

a great share bro. abu fatimah. made me so happy.