Terri Schiavo: Another Angle
From java-man.com. You'll recall that the Schiavo case involves a dispute between Terri's husband and Terri's parents. Muslims don't have a clear cut answer to this particular part of the issue:
What happens if there is a conflict between obeying one's husband and obeying one's parents? Scholars have taken two opinions on this matter. One that obedience to the husband always takes precedence over obedience to parents. Others have taken the position that obedience to one's parents takes precedence since Allah has described being undutiful to one's parents as one of the greatest sins after associating partners with Allah.
First of all, it is clear that the obligation of every Muslim toward their parents is very great just as the obligation of a Muslim wife to respect and obey her husband is very great. Parents should be aware that they have entered their daughter into a contract which requires her to obey her husband. Likewise, husbands should be aware of the fact that their wives have a great obligation toward their parents. When these two come into conflict, someone is probably not acting properly.
When the two do come into conflict, it seems clear that the strongest opinion is that the rights of the husband take precedence over the rights of her parents, as in the following hadith from Aisha:
"I asked the Prophet (sas): Who has the greatest right over a woman? He (sas) said: Her husband. I said: And who has the greatest right over a man? He (sas) saiid: His mother." (Al-Haakim - taken from Fiqh As-Sunnah)
As I write this, no court decision has been made in response to Congress' extraordinary work over the weekend:
Armed with a new law rushed through Congress over the weekend, the attorney for Terri Schiavo's parents pleaded with a judge Monday to order the brain-damaged woman's feeding tube re-inserted. But the judge appeared cool to the argument.
U.S. District Judge James Whittemore did not immediately make a ruling after the two-hour hearing, and he gave no indication on when he might act on the request....
Congress passed a law that allowed Schiavo's parents to argue their case before a federal court, bringing the legal battle to Whittemore's Tampa courtroom.
"We are rushed and we are somewhat desperate," the parents' attorney, David Gibbs III, told the judge. "Terri may die as I speak." The attorney said that forcing Schiavo to die by starvation and dehydration would be "a mortal sin" under her Roman Catholic beliefs.
"It is a complete violation to her rights and to her religious liberty, to force her in a position of refusing nutrition," Gibbs said....
George Felos, representing husband Michael Schiavo, told Whittemore that the case has been aired thoroughly in state courts and that forcing the 41-year-old severely brain damaged woman to endure another reinsertion of the tube would violate her civil rights.
"Every possible issue has been raised and re-raised, litigated and re-litigated," Felos said. "It's the elongation of these proceedings that have violated Mrs. Schiavo's due process rights."...
Michael Schiavo contends he is carrying out his wife's wishes not to be kept alive artificially. He said he was outraged that lawmakers and the president were intervening in the bitter right-to-die battle. He has fought for years with his wife's parents over whether she should be permitted to die or kept alive through the feeding tube.
"This is a sad day for Terri. But I'll tell you what: It's also is a sad day for everyone in this country because the United States government is going to come in and trample all over your personal, family matters," he told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday.
The family's lawsuit alleges a series of rights violations, including that Terri Schiavo's religious beliefs were being infringed upon, that the removal of the feeding tube violated her rights and that she was not provided an independent attorney to represent her interests.
President Bush applauded the dramatic legislative maneuver by Congress to get the case before a federal court.
"Democrats and Republicans in Congress came together last night to give Terri Schiavo's parents another opportunity to save their daughter's life," Bush said at an event on Social Security in Arizona. "This is a complex case with serious issues, but in extraordinary circumstances like this, it is wise to always err on the side of life."...
Terri Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly because of a possible potassium imbalance brought on by an eating disorder. She can breathe on her own, but has relied on the feeding tube to keep her alive.
Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery. Her husband says she would not want to be kept alive in that condition, but her parents insist she could recover with treatment.
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