To be Muslim is to follow syariah law

A few days ago, our newly formed Pakatan Harapan government admitted that it is powerless to nullify child marriages as they are valid under Islamic law.

However, recognising the public outcry over the recent marriage of a 41-year-old man to an 11- year-old girl, the Women, Family and Community Development Ministry has come up with a standard operating procedure to be followed by the Syariah Court.

In other words, instead of putting a stop to child marriages, the government is merely providing a system meant to be used by the Syariah Court as guidelines in dealing with child marriages.

I don't know about you, but this sounds like déjà vu to me.

You see, when Rohani Abdul Karim was leading the ministry before Dr Wan Azizah Wan Ismail, she made a similar statement.

Rohani stated that her ministry and the (then) government did not condone the practice of child marriage, but accepted that it was allowed under the country’s syariah legal system.

Rohani said this when revealing to the parliament back in 2016 that the Malaysian syariah court system received a total of 10,240 applications from Muslims for permission to marry minors between 2005 and 2015, with 827 child marriages in the year 2015 alone.

I guess we can conclude that in matters concerning child marriage, Wan Azizah (left in photo) and the current government is no different than Rohani (right in photo) and the previous government. Both made a lot of hoo-ha but their actions do not measure up to their words.

This goes to demonstrate that beyond the concern highlighted by our politicians, there is neither solid intention nor effort to end child marriage in Malaysia.

Why, you ask?

Well, first of all, to abolish child marriage in a country such as ours that takes pride in calling itself an Islamic nation, we would first need to reject the syariah law which allows anyone who has reached puberty to be legally married – although scientists have said that younger children are reaching puberty earlier due to the food they consume, even if the said individual is as young as eight or nine.

And then, we would have to allow the federal law which states the legal marital age to be at least 18 to trump the syariah law (with no special provision for those below that age).

Doing what is right

Now, what is the probability of this ever happening in Malaysia? Zero.

Will Malaysian Muslims allow a secular law to take precedence over their Islamic law? Over their dead body.

Do you foresee any Muslim leader gutsy enough to champion this effort? Only if they wish to end their own political career.

The fact is, no Muslim politician in Malaysia would say that secular law is above the syariah law. They can’t - or else they would be whacked left right up and down by the Islamic fundamentalists.

The fact is, in our country, anyone who questions the law of Islam (what more those who propose to replace God’s law with a secular law) would be regarded as a "murtad" or no longer a faithful Muslim. And no Muslim leader (or a leader pretending to be a Muslim for that matter) are willing to face that prospect.

Why?

Because these so-called leaders need to secure support from both sides of the spectrum to continue being in politics.

The fact is, deep in our hearts we know that child marriage is wrong. We know that the law pertaining child marriage as covered in the Syariah Court is obsolete and does not work in this time of age. Yet, we choose to accept the law and obey it because we do not want to be shunned by our Muslim community; we want to be accepted as a Muslim by our Muslim brothers and sisters.

The fact is, although it is hard for us to accept the marriage of an 11-year-old to a 41-year-old man, we find peace in knowing that it is not our child, nor is it a child of anyone dear to us who is being sacrificed in the name of an old and obsolete law. And while pretending to defend the command of the Almighty by accepting the terms of child marriage for Muslims, we secretly tuck our own children in bed, while planning a better future for them which includes education and career.

We may not go on war against a non-Islamic nation (because we need their economic support); we may not accept slavery (because we want to be seen as a civilised nation); we may never accept hudud (can you imagine the stoning of our good leaders caught for being adulterous); and we may support a man found guilty of sodomy as our eighth prime minister (instead of executing him according to the Islamic law).

We often take pride in claiming that Islam is all about justice and fairness. But the fact is, in dealing with the issue of child marriage we are facing today, in order to bring justice and fairness, we need to go outside the law.

Sadly, no Muslim leader in Malaysia is ready for that. We are still busy defending our identity as Muslims to fight for what is just and fair.

So yeah, let us continue sitting quietly in the corner with our mouth plastered, eyes blinded and our hands tied.

Oh well, you win some you lose some.

Right?

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FA ABDUL is a passionate storyteller, a growing media trainer, an aspiring playwright, a regular director, a struggling producer, a self-acclaimed photographer, an expert Facebooker, a lazy blogger, a part-time queen and a full-time vainpot. - Mkini