[antimedia] antimedia: Like all human beings....
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Thu Aug 31 22:35:22 EDT 2006
Posted by antimedia:
Like all human beings....
http://www.antimedia.us/posts/1157078120.shtml
....Muslims aren't above [1]being hypocrites when it suits their
purposes. Just like Christians who can make excuses for sinful
behavior, Muslims will do the same thing.
For over a decade, the phenomenon of marriage without commitment,
called misyar marriage, has been spreading throughout the Sunni
Muslim world, particularly in Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf
countries. [1] In such marriages, the woman relinquishes some of
the rights that Islam grants her, such as the right to a home and
to financial support from her husband, and, if he has other wives,
the right to an equal part of his time and attention. In most
cases, these marriages are secret, without the knowledge of the
man's other wives - even though a marriage contract is drawn up in
the presence of witnesses, and although consent is commonly
obtained from the woman's guardian, and the marriage is registered
and documented at the courthouse. Demand is high for misyar
marriages on online matchmaking sites, as well as through services
using text messages and email. [2]
Due to the substantial increase in the number of misyar marriages
in recent years, and in light of the arguments over this issue
among clerics as well as among the public, the Institute of Islamic
Religious Law, which is a part of the Muslim World League in Mecca,
decided to address the matter.
In a fatwa issued on April 10, 2006, the institute permitted
marriages in which "the woman relinquishes a home, financial
support, and her part [in joint life] with her husband, or part of
it, and consents to the man's coming to her home whenever he wants,
day or night."
The fatwa also permitted marriages known as "friend" marriages, in
which "the girl remains at her family's home and she and the man
meet any time they want, either at her home or anywhere else, as
they have no [joint] home and livelihood." [3] Such marriages are
aimed primarily at meeting the needs of young Muslims in the West,
who are influenced by male-female relations around them but who
want their relationships to have religious legitimacy.
Advocates of misyar marriage argue that such marriages meet the
needs primarily of women who have little chance of finding a
husband for ordinary marriage. These include widows, divorcees, and
especially single women who are beyond marriageable age [ awanis].
[4] Those opposed to misyar marriage - including the vast majority
of women - claim that it exploits the difficult social situation of
unmarried women in Arab society, and is designed primarily to sate
men's lust, with no concern whatsoever for women's needs and the
needs of children born of these marriages.
Muslims claim they honor women, yet they subjugate them like slaves
and deny them basic human rights, hypocritically claiming they are
"protecting" them.
In this case, the religious leaders find "legitimate" reasons to
approve of a process that is obviously illegitimate and, under normal
circumstances, would result in the detestable "honor killing".
Catholics have anullments, and Protestants have divorce. Adultery is
winked at and excused because "we grew apart" and "we have needs" and
other vacuous reasonings to excuse behavior that is obviously sinful
according to the standard texts of each religion. Muslims obviously do
the same thing.
References
1. http://www.memri.org/bin/opener_latest.cgi?ID=IA29106
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