MOHAMMED RASOOLDEEN
COLOMBO : Islamic religious Scholars who are members of the Muslim law reform committee expressed their displeasure on the cabinet decision in regard to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act,MM&D Act that the community was not given an opportunity to make its suggestions on certain important issues of the community.
The aggrieved group comprising, Sheikh M Arkam Nooramith Sheikh Muiz Bukhary.and Sheikh A.B.M Ashraff pointed out that there have been limitations in the area in which the community’s advice was sought as it was informed by the Minister of Justice at the outset that the following issues have been dealt with by the cabinet prior to the appointment of the committee and that the terms of reference do not extend to giving views on the following: Minimum age of marriage to be made 18,Consent and signature of the bride for the marriage to be obtained,The eligibility of women to be appointed as Quazis, Abolishment of the Quazi system; and The prohibition of polygamous marriages of Muslim males
“ However, the undersigned members of this committee as religious scholars and as responsible citizens of this country, wish to present proposals with regard to some of the matters decided by the Cabinet,” Sheikh Arkam Noorahmith told Colombo Times, pointing out that the three were members of the Muslim Law Reform Advisory Committee but they could not touch on their subjects since they were asked not to do.
“ We clearly understand that this decision has been taken due to abuse, severe irregularities and malpractices taking place within the Quazi system. Therefore we propose to enhance and strengthen the Quazi system, starting off with the appointment of responsible and qualified Quazis having a sound knowledge of Muslim Law, who shall fulfil the responsibilities of the office of a Quazi in a satisfactory manner.”
“ If the Cabinet deems that the provision of the Quazi court system for one community will violate the principle of equality of law for all citizens, we propose that all Personal Laws of all communities and family-related work be amalgamated and absorbed under a specialized body of courts known as ‘The Family Courts’ which is a system that has been observed as being implemented very successfully in other countries as well.
This Court shall include necessary provisions for Personal Laws of all communities and shall have an inquisitorial system whilst preserving the dignity, honour and privacy of the parties contrast to other types of cases which are traditionally dealt with in an adversarial manner. In addition, we would be able to provide a suite of family specific services, such as mediation and conciliation processes for each community to be implemented prior to a couple filing a divorce case, enhanced counselling processes and the identifying of relevant training programmes that develop family-specific skills in judges, lawyers and other family practitioners.”
“ The minimum age of marriage has been determined as 18 years and we agree with this decision. But we wish to highlight that the Law states that engaging in consensual sexual activities with one above the age of 16 years as being legal. We propose that as the minimum age for marriage is being raised to 18 years, that consensual sexual activities below the age of 18 be declared illegal and a punishable offence.”
“We wish to highlight that the MM&D Act is based on the Quran, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) and Islamic Jurisprudence. Based on these sources polygamous marriages are deemed permissible. Hence, we hereby propose that polygamous marriages be permitted but under a set of strict conditions, which shall eliminate any form of abuse of this provision.
If the Cabinet deems that such permissibility to one community shall violate the principle of equality of law for all citizens, we propose that the General Marriage Law also provisions for polygamous marriages under strict conditions,” the Sheikh concluded.
