A synopsis of different sects of Islam

A synopsis of different sects of Islam

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Muslims ordered to avoid Avoid Ramdev’s yoga camp; it begins with ‘Vande Mataram’

Avoid Ramdev’s yoga camp, it begins with ‘Vande Mataram’: Darool to Muslims

PTI 7 November 2009

MUZAFFARNAGAR: Four days after Ramdev demonstrated ‘pranayam’ and a Hindu priest recited Vedic hymns at a meet of Muslim clerics at Deoband, Islamic seminary Darul Uloom issued a directive asking Muslims to avoid a camp run by the yoga guru as it begins with the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’.

“Singing of Vande Mataram is a prayer and against Islamic law as Muslims cannot offer prayers to anyone except Allah. Muslims should not sing Vande Mataram,” said Mufti Ehsan Kazmi, deputy-in-charge of Darul Uloom’s fatwa department.

He, however, said yoga can be practised as an exercise.

Another cleric Mufti Ehsan also said Muslims should refrain from singing ‘Vande Mataram’ during the yoga camp.

Darul Uloom had issued an edict which opposed any prayer involving ‘Vande Mataram’ and it was supported by top Muslim body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind at its 30th general assembly at Deoband.

More than two lakh clerics and students watched Ramdev’s demonstration.

Incidentally, the 143-year-old influential seminary Darool had in the past issued a fatwa in favour of yoga after some clerics banned Muslims from practising it.

Fort Hood gunman Nidal Malik Hasan said Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans

Fort Hood shooting: Nidal Malik Hasan ’said Muslims should rise up’

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who allegedly killed 11 people before being shot and wounded by police at Fort Hood, had said Muslims should “rise up” and attack Americans in retaliation for the US war in Iraq, a former army colleague said.

By Philip Sherwell in New York
06 Nov 2009

Col Terry Lee, a retired officer who worked with him at the military base in Texas, alleged Maj Hasan had angry confrontations with other officers over his views.

Maj Hasan was reportedly fighting orders to be deployed to Iraq at the end of the month, claiming that he was the victim of harassment and insults because of his Arab background and his faith.

US soldier shoots dead five comrades in Baghdad stress clinicThe major is a psychiatrist who had been treating soldiers returning from Iraq for post-traumatic stress and alcohol and drug abuse problems.

“He was making outlandish comments condemning our foreign policy and claimed Muslims had the right to rise up and attack Americans,” Col Lee told Fox News.

“He said Muslims should stand up and fight the aggressor and that we should not be in the war in the first place.” He said that Maj Hasan said he was “happy” when a US soldier was killed in an attack on a military recruitment centre in Arkansas in June. An American convert to Islam was accused of the shootings.

Col Lee alleged that other officers had told him that Maj Hasan had said “maybe people should strap bombs on themselves and go to Time Square” in New York.

He claimed he was aware that the major had been subject to “name calling” during heated arguments with other officers.

Federal law enforcement officials have said Maj Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials said the postings appeared to have been made by Maj Hasan but they were still trying to confirm that he was the author.

Maj Hasan’s cousin Nader Husan said he was happy working for the military but did dread deployment to Iraq.

Mr Hasan said his cousin was a US-born Muslim who had joined the military after high school. He had served as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, which treats many badly wounded troops.

“He was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed dealing with the people coming back and … trying to help them with their trauma,” he said.

He said his cousin had been transferred to Fort Hood in April months ago and was very reluctant to be deployed to Iraq. “We’ve known over the last five years that was probably his worst nightmare,” he said.

Muslim Army Major on rampage at US Military Base, Kills 12, wounds 31

More on Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan Click here

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the officer in command of Fort Hood, said a shooter opened fire at a processing center for soldiers being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, and was killed by military personnel and police who shot back. Two other men were arrested as suspects.

Cone said 12 people were killed, including the gunman, and 31 others were injured. All but one of the dead were members of the Army; the other was a civilian police officer employed by the Department of Defense at Ft. Hood.

The gun battle was apparently swift. Cone said the shooter used two handguns. It was unclear, the general said, whether he had a chance to reload before he was hit by return fire.   abcnews

Army officer opens fire at Fort Hood, killing 12
By APRIL CASTRO and DEVLIN BARRETT – 31 minutes ago

FORT HOOD, Texas — An Army officer opened fire Thursday with two handguns at the Fort Hood military base in an attack that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman and apprehended two other soldiers in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.

There was no immediate word on a motive. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He said all the casualties took place at the base’s Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s stunning,” Cone said.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. The official said Hasan, believed to be in his late 30s, was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

A defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hasan was a mental health professional — an Army psychologist or psychiatrist. Officials say it was not clear what Hasan’s religion was, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to Islam at some point.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on nearby at the time of the shooting, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter’s regional director in Texas, was representing Carter at the graduation, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter, whose district includes the Army post.

Schanepp was at the ceremony when a soldier who had been shot in the back came running toward him and alerted him of the shooting, Stone said. The soldier told Schanepp not to go in the direction of the shooter, he said.

The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Nine were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple. A hospital spokeswoman says all had been shot and are adults. A Fort Hood spokesman said he could not immediately confirm any identities of the injured.

Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis., says her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition. “We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly,” Pfund told The Associated Press. She couldn’t provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.

“I ask that all of you keep these families and these individuals in your prayers today,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry said.

The shootings on the Texas military base stirred memories of other recent mass shootings in the United States, including 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March, 10 killed during a gunman’s rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

“The bottom line for us is that we are increasing security at our gates because the threat hasn’t yet been defined, and we’re reminding our Marines to be vigilant in their areas of responsibility,” said Capt. Rob Dolan, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.

In Washington, President Barack Obama called the shooting “a horrific outburst of violence.” He said it’s a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

“We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident,” the commander in chief said. “We are going to stay on this.”

Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Home to about 52,000 troops as of earlier this year, the sprawling base is located halfway between Austin and Waco.

About a mile from Fort Hood’s east gate, Cynthia Thomas, director of Under the Hood Cafe, a coffee house and outreach center, was calling soldiers and friends on the post to make sure they’re OK.

“It’s chaotic,” Thomas said, as a SWAT team just drove by. “The phones are jammed. Everybody is calling family members and friends. Soldiers are running around with M-16s.”

Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armored training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.

Associated Press Writers Anne Gearan, Lara Jakes, Suzanne Gamboa and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, D.C., Jay Root in Temple, Linda Stewart Ball, Anabelle Garay and Andre Coe in Dallas contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Jamait-e-Ulema Hind issues fatwa against Vande Mataram

Fatwa issued against ‘Vande Mataram’

Times Now 3 November 2009

Jamait-e-Ulema Hind or the JEU on Tuesday issued a fatwa against singing national song ‘Vande Mataram’.

According to a resolution, Muslims should not sing ‘Vande Mataram’ as its reciting is against the Islam.

The resolution, which was passed at the Deoband national convention meet, says that Muslims should not sing ‘Vande Mataram’ as some verses of the patriotic song are against the tenets of Islam. The JEU leader said that the some of the line in the song is against Islam.

Meanwhile, home minister P Chidambaram addressed a Jamait-e-Ulema Hind conference in Deoband today.

Meanwhile, the Muslim Law Board justified the decision saying that (Muslims) can’t offer prayers to anyone but Allah. Kamal Farooqui, a prominent leader of the Board said, “We love the nation but can’t worship it.”


Dreaded Islamic terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri’s massive plans to spread terror in India: Ghazwa-e-Hind

Ilyas Kashmiri’s Ghazwa-e-Hind plans to spread terror in India
October 16, 2009

Dreaded terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri runs Al Qaeda’s 313 Brigade. A few weeks ago the United States declared that Kashmiri had been killed in a drone attack. However, Kashmiri resurfaced with an interview to Asia Times this week, declaring he had survived the attack.

In the interview Kashmiri said the 26/11 Mumbai attacks were nothing compared to what was really planned. While India has maintained that the attacks were masterminded by the Lashkar-e-Tayiba Kashmiri’s statement has come as a surprise.

Syed Saleem Shahzad, chief of Asia Times’s Pakistan bureau who interviewed Kashmiri, told rediff.com that the 313 Brigade is Al Qaeda’s commando force which trains youth for terrorist operations.

Indian Intelligence Bureau sources suspect Kashmiri is planning terror strikes on the lines of the Mumbai attacks, but much larger in scope.

Kashmiri’s statements indicates that the 313 Brigade was involved in the Mumbai attacks. Indian intelligence sources believe that while the Lashkar undertook a major part of the operation, including identifying the terrorists who participated in the attack, the 313 Brigade was also involved.

Shahzad believes Kashmiri was in the know about the Mumbai attacks. The journalist feels the plan for the Mumbai attacks was originally conceived by a Pakistani security agency.

As a run-up to the Mumbai attacks several low profile attacks were carried out in India. Under the direction of General Ashfaq Kayani — then the Inter Services Intelligence director general; now the Pakistan army chief — low key attacks were initially planned in India. This plan continued when General Nadeem Taj took over as ISI chief after Kayani was promoted to his present position.

A few dozen terrorists were trained at the Mangla dam near Islamabad [ Images ] to be later sent to Gujarat from where they were to travel to Kashmir [ Images ] and give the militancy in that state a terror fillip. Lashkar leader Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhwi, who faces a trial for his role in the 26/11 attacks, was part of this plan.

After Al Qaeda representatives stepped in, they suggested that instead of carrying out a low-profile attack on Kashmir, Mumbai be targeted instead. Lakhwi and his ISI minders disassociated with the original plan of attacking Kashmir and decided to go ahead with the Mumbai attacks.

Ilyas Kashmiri’s 313 Brigade is believed to be one of the organisations that trained the ten men who attacked Mumbai. IB sources say although Kashmiri and his terrorists are currently fighting American and NATO troops in Afghanistan, his primary interest remains India. Kashmiri, a former Pakistan army commando, fought the Indian military in Kashmir before moving on to Pakistan’s western front after 9/11.

Intelligence sources say Kashmiri is building a team to spread terror in India, the Ghazwa-e-Hind.

Shahzad points out that Kashmiri believes India will soon involve itself militarily in Afghanistan. And when that happens the Ghazwa-e-Hind will be launched with a massive terror operation across India. Although Kashmiri has fallen out with the Pakistan security establishment, Shahzad says he continues to be a bigger threat to India than to Pakistan.

Pakistani security agencies, Shahzad adds, believe that without the 313 Brigade’s expertise neither Al Qaeda nor the Pakistani Taliban can successfully operate in Pakistan or in Afghanistan.

Catholic Church in Kerala launches drive against ‘love jihad’ groups specialising in converting girls of other religions into Islam

Church launches drive against ‘love jihad’

Monday, October 12, 2009 , VR Jayaraj | Kochi, www.dailypioneer.com

The Catholic Church in Kerala has launched a campaign to withstand the efforts of ‘love jihadis’, groups allegedly specialising in converting girls of other religions into Islam through coercion after trapping them in love affairs. With this, the police authorities are worried that the situation could even lead to law and order problems if believers begin adopt confrontation strategies in the name of withstanding ‘love jihad’.

The Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Conference (KCBC), the umbrella organisation of all the bishops of the Catholic rites of Kerala, has started awareness campaigns to teach Christian girls and parents about the dangers of the “holy war of love” by certain Islamic groups. The council asks the parents to be on the alert at all times about the responses of their daughters, so that the danger of their falling into the Love Jehad trap could be avoided.

Officials in the Kerala Police Special Branch said they did not think that the problem had become such a menace that we would demand defence help against it or hold campaigns, as this could mislead believers to engage in open confrontations. In this situation, the Home Department has asked the Special Branch to keep a close watch on the alleged operations of ‘love jihadis’ as well as those who claim to be withstanding them.

The KCBC sprang into action against the ‘love jihadis’ as one of the two girls of a Pathanamthitta who were forcibly converted into Islam through the trap of love by two Muslim youths actually was a Christian. Also, there were reports of even Christian housewives with children being converted into Islam through rites held at Ponnani in the Muslim-majority Malappuram district.

In an article appearing in the latest issue of Jagratha, the publication of KCBC’s Commission for social harmony and vigilance, its secretary Fr Johny Kochuparambil writes that love jihad is a new war front opened by international Islamist extremists who want to use any available strategy to make Muslims the majority in the world. “For this, love jihadis accepted the strategy of spreading the pollen of hypocritical love on the campuses,” Fr Kochuparampbil says.

The KCBC advises parents to be vigilant always about their interactions not only in the house but outside the house and on their campuses also. It also puts forward certain practical instructions about controlling the use of mobile phone and Internet by the girls, social and parental observation on places like ice cream parlours, movie halls, parks, beaches, etc, monitoring the girls’ behaviour on a daily basis, etc.

The KCBC says there should have been a well-planned programme behind the 4,500-odd conversions of girls into Islam through love marriages in Kerala since 2005. The council says that ‘love jihadis’ had started to implement their love-conversion programme in Mangalore, Karnataka.

It says that several girls from Christian-concentrated areas of Kerala had become victims of the ‘love jihad’ in this manner. As all these girls were over 18, the parents were unable to question their decision legally, the article points out. It says that most of the girls converted into Islam could have ended up in Muslim orphanages and in the dens of extremists who used them for fulfillment of their carnal desires.

Information about the campaign for planned conversion into Islam through love had come out in the open after the case of two girls, MBA students at a Pathanamthitta college, came up in the Kerala High Court. The case was that Sirajuddeen and Shahehshah, activists of Campus Front, the students’ wing of NDF, had forced the girls to convert into Islam in the name of marriage. The girls claimed that the duo had tried to convert them into Islam after kidnapping them.

The Kerala High Court also directed the Union Home Department to investigate whether such outfits were operating nationally.

20 million illegal Bangladesh migrants form 2 per cent of India’s population

Two crore illegal Bangla migrants, 600 deported last year: states report
Amitabh Sinha 
 Oct 04, 2009

New Delhi: Estimates sent by the state governments have given an official number to
what has been known informally for a very long time – that illegal
migrants from Bangladesh now comprise at least two per cent of India’s
population.

According to “very conservative estimates” of the state governments, the
total number of Bangladeshi citizens residing in India without proper
documents or permits would be in excess of 2 crore, government sources
have told The Sunday Express.

The state governments had been asked to send estimates of the number of
Bangladeshi migrants living in their states and also the number of such
people who had been deported back to their country. Most states have now
responded.

According to these figures, not more than 600 Bangladeshi migrants had
been deported to their country in the last one year and the possibility
of many of them finding their way back isn’t being ruled out.

Migrants from Bangladesh now live in every part of the country. Besides
West Bengal, Bihar, Assam and other North-Eastern states – the known
places where these illegal migrants have been able to settle down -
Maharashtra, Delhi, Haryana, western Uttar Pradesh, and Karnataka are
new regions having large concentrations of Bangladeshi citizens. Sources
said these were also areas witnessing rapid urbanization and
development, and therefore, offering job opportunities to these
migrants.

Though it had asked for the data from the states, the Centre was still
undecided on what use to put this data to.

“This was mostly an academic exercise, not aimed at any particular
objective. The figures that have come out are only estimates, but they
are reliable estimates,” a senior government official said. He said as
of now there was no clarity on how to deal with this migrant population.

“That is something that the political leadership will have to take a
call on, probably after obtaining a consensus on the issue. Migration
from Bangladesh has huge social and economic aspects apart from having
security implications. There is no easy way to tackle this issue,” he
said.

Misyar marriage – legalized prostitution in Islam

Marriage Lite —Rafia Zakaria

The existence of “misyar” marriages and the fact that they are being advertised on websites similar to western ones proposing sexual dalliances exposes the hollowness of the idea that prohibition eliminates the desire for promiscuity

The Guardian report published last Sunday regarding the prevalence of “misyar” marriage in Saudi Arabia has generated much hubbub in the Muslim world. There are few religiously-sanctioned occasions for discussing issues concerning sexuality but it seems that in addressing this above topic the Saudis and their Wahhabi fans around the world have found one.

In simple terms, a misyar marriage is the Wahhabi (we will use the term Sunni from here on) counterpart of the Shi’a “mutaa” marriage. The “misyar” or “traveller’s” nikah is carried out through normal Sunni Muslim contractual procedures and involves a knowing waiver of certain rights predominantly by the wife.

Under misyar, the husband and wife retain their homes and arrange for visits for a certain number of nights. In terms of waiving rights, the husband gives up his right to unabated sexual access (otherwise assumed in Saudi law) and housekeeping (since the wife does not live with him).

The wife, predictably, gives up much more, including her right to equal attentions of the husband (in case of polygamy), her right to maintenance or “nafaqah” and housing. In the event of children born to the union, custody goes to the father or his family after age seven.

Misyar is routinely presented as a pragmatic solution to sate the sexual appetites of men in a society where sexual promiscuity is strictly prohibited and prosecuted through hadd punishments. The argument in favour of misyar normally proceeds thus: misyar marriage allows those who are unable to provide a home or support a wife full-time an opportunity for female companionship, broadly interpreted.

The female beneficiaries of this “marriage lite” are supposedly the hapless spinsters, divorcees and other marginalised women who otherwise have no hope of male attention or companionship. Through this arrangement, they too can have a shot at marriage, though without most of the rights. Misyar thus, while socially unpalatable to Saudi jurisprudence in its capacity to showcase the centrality of male sexual appetites, is presented as the low-budget alternative to regular marriage meant, assumedly, only for virginal brides and rich men.

Misyar then is marriage for discarded women and unstable men, neither of which would have a shot at regular marriage in Saudi and perhaps also other parts of the Muslim world. Instead of agonising over the gender iniquities of a system that treats widows and divorcees as unworthy of marriages where their rights and human dignity are respected, a “lower” form of marriage has been invented to allow them a chance at having some male companionship. The sociological aspects of the fact that the women continue to be marginalised and treated as unworthy are left unquestioned.

Further arguments for misyar marriages focus on their legal defensibility. Shaikh Yusuf Al Qaradawi, quoted in the Guardian report, instructs Muslims to look at the marriage as a “legal relationship between a man and a woman”. The Sheikh requests that misyar marriage be evaluated on the grounds that it is a contract between a man and a woman that is sanctioned by religion in that the limited liabilities and duties of both parties are adequately stated by both and hence known and apparent to both.

This argument is based on the legal premise that when conditions of a contract are explicit and consented to by both parties and within the parameters set by theology the ensuing contract is rendered legitimate and binding.

Yet the irony of this argument is that it denies the social facts that have led to the creation and permission for such a contract. The legal argument thus makes no mention of the completely unequal bargaining power of the two parties and the fact that the women have in actuality little power to insist on any condition being stipulated in the contract.

The fact that a woman acquiesces to a marriage that avowedly and explicitly provides her fewer rights than those she would be entitled to otherwise is a testament to her inferior bargaining power both as a contracting party and as a citizen within a patriarchal society. To argue thus that the contract should be evaluated entirely as a legal entity between two parties consensually coming to an agreement is to deliberately ignore the very social facts that led to the creation of the legal instrument in the first place.

Some attention is due also to the moral aspects of misyar marriage. Strictly prohibitive societies like Saudi Arabia operate on the premise that if the state regulates all aspects of life, then the most repugnant moral failings will simply be eliminated. In other words, with the imposition of strict penalties against sexual promiscuity, short-term dalliances will be eliminated and society will be safely ensconced in marital bliss.

The existence of misyar marriages and the fact that they are being advertised on websites similar to western ones proposing sexual dalliances exposes the hollowness of the idea that prohibition eliminates the desire for promiscuity. In the case of Saudis, misyar marriages demonstrate that sexual promiscuity or the desire for “no strings attached” dalliances has been far from eliminated. Instead, legal loopholes, under the sanction of faith, have been found to justify un-sated desires.

Finally, there are the tangible human costs of such legal loopholes that justify male libidos and further subjugate women into destructive choices. In the year 2008, Saudi Arabia had nearly 200,000 widows most of whom received no support at all from their blood relatives. The requirement that they produce “mahrams” to provide them with permission to work and travel often forced them into misyar marriages for the sole purpose of obtaining livelihoods or obtaining permission to travel.

Relegated to the edge of social acceptance due to the personal tragedies afflicting them, these women are victimised first by the widespread social denial of their inferiority and second by a legal fiction that uses their misery as a means for providing sexual gratification through a version of marriage by eliminating what few rights they were otherwise provided.

Rafia Zakaria is an attorney living in the United States where she teaches courses on Constitutional Law and Political Philosophy. She can be contacted at rafia.zakaria@gmail.com
Misyar Marriage — a Marvel or Misery?
Somayya Jabarti, Arab News

JEDDAH, 5 June 2005 — To some, it’s an unthinkable act; for others, it’s better than loneliness, but in what is otherwise a conservative culture, misyar marriage goes against the grain.

Misyar marriage is a legal alternative marital arrangement more Saudi men and women are using to offset prohibitive marriage costs and the stigma unmarried women face.

In a misyar marriage the woman waives some of the rights she would enjoy in a normal marriage. Most misyar brides don’t change their residences but pursue marriage on a visitation basis. Some marriage officials say seven of 10 marriage contracts they conduct are misyar, and in some cases are asked to recommend prospective misyar partners.

Most of the women opting for misyar either are divorced, widowed or beyond the customary marriage age. The majority of men who take part in such marital arrangements are already married.

“All the misyar marriage contracts I conduct are between men and women remarrying,” said Abu Fawaz, who’s been a marriage official for four years. “For a misyar marriage all you need is witnesses, her dowry and the acceptance of both parties. Usually the woman either has her own place or lives with her family. Most of the time the woman’s family knows while the man’s family is in the dark about it, be it his first wife or any other family members.”

Arab News surveyed 30 Saudi men and women aged 20-40 regarding misyar marriage. Over 60 percent of the men surveyed would consider misyar marriage for themselves with the majority of the respondents in their 20s. Those who would not consider it for themselves would not allow it for kin, be it sisters, brothers, sons or daughters. However, among the men who would consider it themselves, only two would find such a marriage acceptable for a female relative.

“If I allowed myself to marry another man’s sister or daughter ‘misyarically’ then it would only be fair to accept the same for my own female kin,” said Mohammad H. “It’s a double standard for men to accept it for themselves and other men but not the females. After all, if we all took up the same policy then who would we marry — each other?”

The reasons men gave for favoring misyar most often related to cost, with some asking “why not?” “I get to maintain all my rights, but I don’t have to take care of her financially and don’t even have to provide a house for her,” said 25-year-old Rayan Abdullah, an unmarried medical student at the city university. “It’s a great solution — isn’t it? It costs less than having a girlfriend — doesn’t it?” Or is it a male convenience in a male-dominated culture?

“What are the things most of us married men complain about?” asked Ghazi Ahmad, a 38-year-old husband and father of three children. “Don’t all of us constantly complain about the financial burdens, the lack of personal freedom — the routine patterns? Then this is the best marriage ever as far as I’m concerned. Married but not married — perfect.”

The opinions of women respondents about misyar marriage were a sharp contrast to the males’. More than 86 percent of the women 20-40 would not even consider such a marriage for themselves. Only four women — all in the over-40 category — would consider such marriages for themselves or relatives.

Most of the women respondents called it “legal prostitution” or objected to the lack of women’s rights in misyar marriages.

“I’m set in my ways,” said a 42-year-old bank manager who chose to call herself Muna Saad. “I live with my mother and couldn’t tolerate the idea of leaving her to live alone, and I’m comfortable financially. At the same time, I’d love to get married,” Muna said. “I also think it would be amusing for the roles to be reversed and sort of ‘own’ the man for a change and having him owe me rather than the other way around.”

Despite optimistic expectations, such marriages are not always blissful. Former and current misyar spouses said it can become a nightmare if pregnancy results from the union or if there are already children from former marriages. With most misyar marriages rooted in secrecy, the husband is only a ghostly figure occasionally seen. Once a child is conceived, the luxury of secrecy disappears.

“My second misyar marriage was doing fine despite my hawk of a first wife,” said Abu Abdul Rahman. “But that was only until my second wife got pregnant, and then the real nightmare began. She wanted to announce our relationship publicly because it put her in bad situations societally — you can’t be single and pregnant. I had to tell my family and my wife, and all hell broke loose. Now both marriages are on the rocks.”

There can be other unforeseen consequences of secrecy. “I’d been married misyarically for almost a year when members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice paid me a terrible visit accusing me of prostitution,” said a 35-year old divorcee and mother of two who chose to call herself Warda.

“They wanted to drag me to the police station even though I kept shoving the marriage contract in their faces. I had to call my brother — with whom I wasn’t on speaking terms. It was terrible. I hated myself and hated all men — my children were 6- and 7-years-old.”

A social worker who frequents the courts denounced misyar marriage. “The courts are overflowing with problems from regular marriages regarding financial obligations that husbands ignore, custody problems and alimony,” she said.

“There is a horrible, growing problem in enforcing the law upon neglectful husbands and fathers. How can anyone legalize a procedure such as misyar marriage that will make room for more irresponsibility?” the social worker asked.

“Unfortunately, misyar marriage has made it easier for irresponsible, immature individuals to enter a relationship that is supposed to be based on credibility, reliability and respect,” said Abu Zaid, an elderly marriage official. “This isn’t the case. It’s treated as a temporary solution for lust. That’s not what marriage is all about. In regular polygamy all wives have exactly the same rights over the husband, be it financial, be it regarding time spent together or being public. Women think that misyar marriage is for their benefit when in fact on a long-term basis, they pay the price and not just from their pockets but from their emotions, as well.”

Many parents and children of misyar wives stated that they felt the woman as being sold short in such a marriage. Parents mostly said that the only reason they accepted the situation was in recognition of their daughters as adult women with their own needs and their right to respond to such needs. “I begged my divorced daughter not to marry a suitor who proposed a misyar marriage,” said Abu Fahda. “At the end, I gave in because I didn’t want to be the reason for her having an unlawful relationship with a man. I’m an adult, and I know she has her needs, but I’d be lying if I said that I have any respect for this stranger who comes to my house for intimacy with my daughter. I even have trouble looking her in the face,” he said. “My neighbor’s niece was married misyarically for a while, and then when the husband was done with her he just left her — just like that.”

Abu Fahda’s grandchildren share his sentiments — especially sadness. “I don’t know who this man is — this man who comes to our house and spends time with my mother,” said the 6-year-old boy. “He’s not my father, and he can’t be her husband because fathers and husbands live with their families.”

For sociologists, misyar marriage is a head-scratcher. “What are we telling others about our self-worth, and what are we telling our children about the significance and meaning of family?” asked Dr. Nahid L. “Marriage is about in-depth relationships — not just copulation. Why are more women willing to forgo what is theirs just to be ‘called’ or falsely feel married?”

When marriage was created it was to ensure that no one gets anything for free. “Each, husband and wife, has duties and rights — and even in regular marriages women are already taken for granted. Marriage isn’t just about sex. Misyar marriage is only going to make things worse as far as I’m concerned.”

Some say society msut consider other alternatives. “If they want to really solve the issue of unmarried women instead of making it easier for men to marry repeatedly and cheaply, they should make it easier for Saudi women to marry non-Saudis,” said a school teacher.

“Years ago in college, I overheard one of my son’s friends talking about marriage and girls, and he asked ‘why buy the cow when the milk is free?’ They were talking about loose girls and there not being any need for marriage with them around,” said a university professor. “With misyar marriage, haven’t we just legalized the ‘why-buy-the-milk-when-the-cow-is-free’ syndrome? And we’re supposed to be civilized?”

Muslim thief caught stealing silver idol of goddess Durga from Mumbai temple

Idol thief flags a ride to prison
Vijay V Singh, TNN 23 September 2009

MUMBAI: Call it divine intervention. A man, who stole a silver idol of goddess Durga worth lakhs of rupees from a temple in Mumbai’s Jogeshwari  (East), hired an autorickshaw as his getaway vehicle. Only the auto driver was a local, who had prayed at the same idol’s feet a hundred times. The driver drove the vehicle straight to a posse of policemen.

Qudir Shaikh carried out the theft at the Ambe-Mata temple in Gandhi Nagar on Friday evening. He removed his footwear outside the temple and went in like a devotee and then waited for some time till he was the only person inside (besides the half-blind 90-year-old temple priest). Shaikh then quietly picked up the 5-kg silver idol, covered it partially inside his clothes and slipped out.

But the idol proved too heavy to be lugged around and Shaikh was forced to hire an autorickshaw, whose driver proved to be his nemesis. Qadir told autorickshaw driver Harish Gupta that he would give him Rs 50 if he just took him out of the area quickly. Something about his passenger and his strange request, however, raised Gupta’s suspicion.

Meghwadi police station senior inspector Shivajirao Kolekar said: ‘‘The driver then saw Shaikh carrying an idol that looked familiar.’’ Gupta followed Shaikh’s directions, but did not stop till he saw some policemen on duty. The cops immediately arrested Shaikh and recovered the stolen idol from him. When the policemen reached Meghwadi police station along with Shaikh, they found several people of Hanuman Nagar were already there to file a complaint about the missing idol. They were upset as they were busy preparing for Durga Puja and said the theft could not have come at a worse time.

Additional commissioner (west) Amitabh Gupta praised Gupta for his swift action.