Legal seminar for Muslims
ISLAMIC clergy, attorneys, academia and general members of the public attended a seminar on the proposed Muslim Marriages Bill at the Gelvandale Muslim community centre on Saturday.
Organised by the Women’s Legal Centre in Cape Town, the seminar was aimed at rallying support for the bill, which aims to provide statutory recognition of Muslim marriages to redress inequities arising from the non-recognition of these marriages.
The bill follows a high court ruling last year in which a Muslim woman was granted 59% of her ex-husband’s property.
The ruling found that the policy, which previously did not recognise Muslim marriages – which meant that wives could not inherent from their husbands’ estates – was unconstitutional. Currently, parties in Islamic marriages are generally not considered to be married under civil law, leading to confusion over the definition of "spouse”, and legal entitlements in terms of the Divorce Act.
WLC spokesman Hoodah Abrahams-Fayker said although the Muslim community of the Bay was not as well informed in terms of the proposed bill, there were a select few who had strong opinions regarding it.
"Port Elizabeth has been identified as an area of controversy because of the vociferous opposition to the Muslim Marriages Bill.
"Although the majority of the PE community supports the bill, the small minority that oppose it have been very aggressive in their campaign.”
The groups which oppose the bill argue that it does not fully correspond with Sharia law and that the state should not interfere in religious beliefs.
However, Abrahams-Fayker said although there was strong opposition to the bill, the Port Elizabeth community was willing to fight for it.
"It was very encouraging that we received a good attendance for the workshop, which is an indication of the community wanting to be informed of the bill. There was actually a desire expressed to be active participants in the process.”
The proposed bill, and submissions about it, is currently being reviewed by the cabinet.