By IANS
Kozhikode (Kerala) : A meeting of Muslim religious scholars and Khasis, the local religious heads, from all over Kerala here Wednesday slammed the government’s move to frame rules to make registration of marriage compulsory.
The Supreme Court last month had asked all states and union territories to frame laws in three months to make registration of marriages compulsory. With the enforcement of the new rule, it is feared that marriage certificate issued by Mahallus, local level religious committees, will not have the legal validity it is enjoying now.
The meeting was organised by the Samastha Kerala Jam Iyyathul Ulema, an organisation that oversees about 25,000 madrassas in Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and the Andaman Nicobar Islands.
At present, the marriages in Muslim community in the state are entered in registers kept at the Mahallus.
Ulema vice-president Panakkad Syed Umarali Shihab Thangal, who inaugurated the meeting, said the court direction to register marriages with a government authority would have serious consequences.
“The marriage conducted thus will not be according to Sharia law and this will not be acceptable to Islam,” he said.
The marriage certificates issued by Mahallus are now being used for various things like issuance of passport and other legal needs, he said.
Thangal said the new rule is a threat to Islam, as it will weaken the religion. “The children from marriage conducted in a non-Islamic way can’t be considered Muslims. The Kerala government had already initiated moves to frame laws as per the court direction and this will be opposed at any cost.”
“Marriages at Mahallus are done in accordance to Sharia law. The new law will allow a man and a woman to get married without the Mahallus or Khasis, and this will lead to many undesirable practices,” Jam Iyyathul general secretary Cherussery Sainudeen Musaliyar said.
The religions leaders also came down hard on the education reforms proposed by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M)-led government in Kerala.
“The change in school timings proposed by the government will clash with the timings at madrassas. The move is to begin the classes at schools at 8 a.m. This can’t be allowed,” said Thangal.
“The reform also proposes to allow boys and girls to sit next to each other in classes in coeducation system. This is not acceptable to Muslims. There is a conspiracy to destroy Muslims,” Thangal added.