Law panel seeks amendment to Hindu Marriage Act
Muslims angry over German football song's reference to Prophet Mohammed
Taliban 'brainwashed' Pakistan teen suicide bombers By Lehaz Ali
25 religious outfits, including LeT, banned in Pakistan Islamabad
Pak Christians express anger over killings
Pakistan: How the ISI works
The Muslim image seen from UK By: Dr. Terry Lacey
MOGADISHU: Somali extremists deny link to alleged terror plot
Malaysia: promoting Sharia is not extremism
Zardari gives cheque to youngest IT professional
HYDERABAD, India: Governor opens two-day seminar on the Holy Quran
Quota for notified Muslims in Puducherry Rajesh B. Nair
Compiled by New Age Islam News Bureau
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bigamy-true-islamic-law,-says/d/1612
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Bigamy against true Islamic law, says law panel
Dhananjay Mahapatra, 7 August 2009 TNN
New Delhi: Taking on a potentially explosive issue, the Law Commission has said that bigamy conflicts with ‘‘true Islamic law in letter and spirit’’ and added that the popular perception that Muslim law in India allowed men to take four wives was faulty.
‘‘We fully agree that traditional understanding of Muslim law on bigamy is gravely faulty and conflicts with true Islamic law in letter and spirit,’’ the commission said in its 227th report to the government, reflecting the unanimous view of chairman Justice A R Lakshmanan and members Tahir Mahmood and B A Agrawal.
The panel stopped short of suggesting a change in Muslim law as it feared this could stir ‘‘unhealthy controversy’’ as religious leaders were not prepared for legislative reform.
Case Studies
Bigamy is completely outlawed in Turkey and Tunisia
Subjected to administrative or judicial control in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh
In India, several HCs have held that bigamy amounts to cruelty. In another case, the SC criticized the practice and said there was no difference between a second wife and a concubine ‘Bigamy abolished in most Muslim countries’
New Delhi: The Law Commission on Thursday stopped short of suggesting a change in Muslim law as it feared this could stir ‘‘unhealthy controversy’’.
‘‘It is generally believed that under Muslim law, a husband has an unfettered right to marry again even where his earlier marriage is continuing. On a closer examination of the relevant provisions of the Quran and other sources of Islamic law, this does not seem to be true,’’ it said.
To buttress its argument, the commission said bigamy had been abolished or restricted by law in most Muslim countries. ‘‘Turkey and Tunisia have completely outlawed it while in Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh, it has been subjected to administrative or judicial control,’’ it said.
In the Indian context, the commission said, ‘‘Bigamy is not very common among Muslims and cases of men having more than one wife at a time are few and far between. Muslim society of India in general looks at polygamy with great disfavour and a bigamist is looked down upon in and outside his family.’’
Despite this, the commission said, change wasn’t forthcoming. ‘‘Unfortunately, religious leaders are not prepared for any legislative reform in this respect and religious sensitivities have never allowed the state to introduce any reform in this regard,’’ it said.
The report was submitted to law minister Veerappa Moily on Wednesday by Justice Lakshmanan. dhananjay.mahapatra@timesgroup.com
Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/news/india/Bigamy-against-true-Islamic-law-says-law-panel/articleshow/4865067.cms
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Law panel seeks amendment to Hindu Marriage Act
New Delhi, PNS: Marriage is no joke, and the Law Commission feels it's time to teach this lesson the hard way to husbands who escape the charge of bigamy by changing their religion.
In a significant recommendation, the Law Commission on Wednesday suggested that the Law Ministry consider amending the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 so that persons who choose to remarry by converting to Islam may do so only after their marriage under the Act is first annulled.
The recent instance of Chandra Mohan alias Chand Mohammad who married Fiza by converting to Islam had triggered the thought in the Commission which initiated the recommendation on its own.
Speaking to The Pioneer, Chairman of the Law Commission Justice AR Lakshmanan said, “We have recommended insertion of a new provision, Section 17A, in the Hindu Marriage Act 1955 to dissolve the marriage of a person under the Act if he converts and remarries.”
Full Report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/193944/Law-panel-seeks-amendment-to-Hindu-Marriage-
Act.html
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Muslims angry over German football song's reference to Prophet Mohammed
A German football team's anthem has been criticised by Muslims for suggesting that the Prophet Mohammed was not an adept at the Beautiful Game.
Aug 05, 2009
Fans of FC Schalke 04, which represents western Germany's Ruhr Valley in the country's top league, the Budesliga, support their team with a round of "Blue and White, how I love you".
The third verse contains the line:
Mohammed war ein Prophet, der vom Fussballspielen nichts versteht/ Doch aus all der schoenen Farbenpracht hat er sich das Blau und Weisse ausgedacht.
(Muhammad was a prophet who understood nothing about football/ But of all the lovely colours he chose [Schalke's] blue and white.)
But since a reference to the ode to team's colours was carried in Turkish media, the team has received hundreds of complaints from Muslims.
A spokesman said the club had hired an expert on Islam to look into the question.
Aiman Mazyek, the head of Germany's Central Council of Muslims, said his group would not call for a ban on the song, but acknowledged that the line could anger some. He noted that the area represented by the team had a large Turkish population.
German has a Muslim population of over four million
Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/germany/5979254/Muslims-angry-over-German-football-songs-reference-to-Prophet-Mohammed.html
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Taliban 'brainwashed' Pakistan teen suicide bombers
By Lehaz Ali
KHWAZAKHELA, Pakistan — Seemingly never-ending tales of terror abound in Swat, where the military has fought against the Taliban for years and where parents speak of being forced to surrender young boys to the militants who train them to become suicide bombers.
The scars may take years to heal for Hamad Ahmad, one of many Pakistani boys purportedly brainwashed by the Taliban and determined to enact maximum carnage as a suicide bomber.
His mind trained on violence and his heart full of God, Ahmad says he wants to carry a pistol and strap explosives to his body in the name of Islamic law -- not hold books and wear school uniform.
"I am ready to carry out a suicide attack against any target with approval of my ameer (chief)," said 15-year-old Hamad, who claimed he received 40 days of training from the Taliban after being snatched last year.
Full Report at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5h9L_y4M4c87tPcs-6TxEzYY9TNeQ
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25 religious outfits, including LeT, banned in Pakistan Islamabad
Aug 6, 2009
PTI | Islamabad: The Pakistan Government has banned 25 religious and other organisations, including the Jamaat-ud-Dawah, Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashker-e-Tayyeba, the Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.
The Ministry presented a list of the banned organisations in the National Assembly or lower house of parliament. It also said the Sunni Tehrik had been put on a watch list.
Among the organisations included in the list of outlawed groups are JuD, LeT, JeM, Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, Tehrik-e-Nifaz-e-Shariah Muahammadi, Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, Al-Akhtar Trust, Al-Rasheed Trust, Tehreek-e-Islami, Islamic Students Movement, Khair-un-Nisa International Trust, Islami Tehreek-e-Pakistan, Lashkar-e-Islam, Balochistan Liberation Army, Jamiat-un-Nisar, Khadam Islam and Millat-e-Islamia Pakistan.
Full Report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/193878/25-religious-outfits-including-LeT-banned-in-Paki
stan.html
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Pak Christians express anger over killings
Babar Dogar | Lahore: Hundreds of Pakistani Christians staged a protest on Wednesday over the killing of eight of their community members by a Muslim mob, with some demonstrators smashing the windows of public buses.
Television footage showed dozens of protesters in the eastern city of Lahore climbing onto the vehicles and breaking their windows.
Ijaz Sindhu, chairman of the organizing group, the Pakistan Christian Labour Party, said some young people attacked four buses but caused no injuries to fleeing passengers.
Police officer Rana Ayaz Salim said about 1,000 people took part in Wednesday’s demonstration.
Full Report at: http://www.dailypioneer.com/193871/Pak-Christians-express-anger-over-killings.html
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Pakistan: How the ISI works
Founded in 1948 by a British army officer, Major General William Cawthorne, the ISI ballooned in the 1980s when the CIA entrusted it with billions of dollars of assistance for mujahideen rebels fighting Soviet forces in Afghanistan. It is thought to have 10,000 employees, three-quarters of whom are serving army officers on secondments from other units. The remainder is a mix of civilians and retired officers.
Internally the ISI is divided into lettered sections, the most notorious of which is the S wing, which manages the relationship with Islamist militant groups. The C wing liaises with foreign intelligence services, and includes a CIA-funded counter-terrorism centre. Quite often, western spies complain, the C wing says one thing while the S does another.
Theoretically the ISI reports to Pakistan's Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani. In reality it answers to the army chief, General Ashfaq Kayani. It is much more powerful than Pakistan's other spy outfits, Military Intelligence (MI) and the civilian Intelligence Bureau (IB).
Full Report at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/aug/05/pakistan-inter-services-intelligence-d
irectorate
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The Muslim image seen from UK
Dr. Terry Lacey
With British army dead in Afghanistan already greater than in Iraq, 52 percent of British voters want troops out now from a war where there can be no military victory. But the fate of Afghanistan will be decided in Pakistan.
The UK press recently reported bombs in Indonesia, Iraq and Pakistan. Hundreds are reported dead in clashes with an Islamist cult in Nigeria. When the Sunday Times does a report on the increasing use of sharia law in the UK it prints a negative picture of a sharia flogging, although the article is fairly positive.
The clampdown on the Iranian protesters was emphasized in the UK press but often without balanced reports that 62 percent of Iranians voted for President Ahmadinejad, with no clear evidence of substantive electoral malpractice.
Iranian democracy despite its compromise with theocracy remains substantially more democratic than most Arab or South Asian countries.
With the UK and Europe in recession, rising unemployment, falling incomes, the housing crisis and increased support for right wing and racist political parties, there are fundamental problems facing Muslim communities in the West.
Full Report at: http://www.yementimes.com/article.shtml?i=1283&p=opinion&a=3---
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Somali extremists deny link to alleged terror plot
MOGADISHU, Somalia — A powerful insurgent group in Somalia on Thursday denied having any links to an alleged plot to shoot up an Australian military base.
A spokesman for al-Shabab, Sheik Ali Mohamed Rage, said "we have nothing to do with them."
Last week, police detained five Australian citizens with Somali and Lebanese origins in raids on 19 houses in the southern city of Melbourne.
Police say the men were linked to al-Shabab and were trying to find a senior cleric who would approve the operation so they could become martyrs.
Somalia has been without an effective central government for nearly two decades, sparking fears that the lawless country could provide a haven for terror.
Full Report at: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7OaI4_kjeHA-o4UhlmP7vlWmrrwD99TFMD00
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21 Islamic NGOs want Jeff Ooi to apologise, resign
By Opalyn Mok
GEORGE TOWN (Aug 5, 2009): A coalition of 21 Islamic NGOs has demanded Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi apologise and resign from his post as chief of staff to the chief minister for labelling Jemaah Islah Malaysia (JIM) as extremist.
The coalition, called Forum Penyelarasan Umat (Forum), also demanded that Ooi retract his statement.
"He has insulted Islam by labelling JIM as extremist when the organisation is promoting syariah which is not the same as religious extremism," Forum spokesman Hafiz Nordin told a press conference today after handing over a memorandum to Lim Guan Eng through Deputy Chief Minister I Mansor Othman.
He accused Ooi of being anti-Islam and demanded that he resign as chief of staff and said if he refused, he should be sacked.
The group of Forum members had gathered at Komtar at about 10am with the intention of going to Lim's office to personally hand over their memorandum.
Full Report at: http://www.thesundaily.com/article.cfm?id=36576
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Zardari gives cheque to youngest IT professional
August 5, 2009
ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari Wednesday invited Babar Iqbal the world youngest IT Professional to the Presidency and gave away a cheque of Rs.5 million for his achievement in grabbing four world records in the fields of computer and information technology.
Deputy Speaker National Assembly Faisal Karim Kundi was also present on the occasion.
Babar Iqbal of Pakistan referred as 'cyber kid' is the youngest Microsoft Certified Professional, Certified Internet Web Professional, Certified Wireless Network Administrator, and the Microsoft Certified Technical Specialist in the world.
Currently, he works as Technical Coordinator Microsoft Imagine Cup Gulf.
The President said that the nation has high hopes from young generation, who are capable of bringing laurels to the country in all fields of excellence.
The President appreciated Babar Iqbal for his professional expertise attained at such a young age, adding the country's youth had ample potential to flourish provided they were given opportunities.
Full Report at: http://www.thearynews.com/english/newsdetail.asp?nid=31659
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Quran shows the way to peace: Tiwari
HYDERABAD: A two-day seminar on the Holy Quran was inaugurated by the Governor Narain Dutt Tiwari on Wednesday. The seminar is being held at the AKM Oriental Degree and PG College in Kachiguda.
In his address, the Governor said that though all religions are tolerant and preach love and understanding, some elements exist in every religion which twists the meaning out of context and resort to reprehensible acts. This ought to be condemned by all.
The Governor also talked about the uniqueness of the Quran and said that it contained all the elements for leading a harmonious life. “The Quran is a book that people from all religions can benefit from,” he said.
US Consulate General Cornelis M Keur, who was the guest of honour, said that Judaism, Christianity and Islam shared the same roots. “Hyderabad is a great centre for a tolerant Islamic religion,” he said. “I am happy to be here to inaugurate this seminar on understanding the Quran,” he said.
Dr Mohammed Fazlullah Shareef, Convener of the conference, said that the Quran is a book of guidance which contained scientific and literary aspects. “The deliberations will offer new vistas and uncover hidden aspects of the holy book,” he said.
Source: http://www.expressbuzz.com
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Quota for notified Muslims in Pondicherry
Rajesh B. Nair - Aug 6, 2009
PUDUCHERRY: Laying emphasis on the uplift of the socially and economically deprived sections of society, the territorial administration’s annual budget for 2009-10 promises to provide 2.5 per cent separate reservation for notified Muslims and one per cent reservation to five categories of people coming under the Most Backward Classes category.
Presenting a budget of Rs.4,133 crore on Wednesday, Chief Minister V. Vaithilingam informed the Assembly that a separate department for welfare of minorities and a minority commission would be constituted. The government proposed to distribute colour television sets to those below poverty line.
Mr. Vaithilingam said the government had decided to remove income ceiling altogether for the Scheduled Castes to avail benefits for all educational schemes. Further, in respect of all other development schemes implemented by the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department it was decided to enhance the income ceiling limit to Rs.2 lakh from the existing limit. An amount of Rs. 254.38 crore had been allocated in the annual budget for the Adi Dravidar Welfare Department.
Full Report at: http://www.hindu.com/2009/08/06/stories/2009080661000600.htm
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-world-news/bigamy-true-islamic-law,-says/d/1612