By Shreen Abdul Saroor –
In one of the worst cases of domestic violence in recent times, F.S a young 18 year old Muslim girl is currently battling life threatening injuries after being tied to a chair, poured oil and set on fire by her abusive husband last Friday. She was four months pregnant and lost her baby. She is also the young mother of a 7-month old baby.
F.S is also a victim of forced child marriage, which is legal for Sri Lankan Muslims. She was 16 years old when was taken to the Nallanthaluwa Kodi Palli Mosque in Munthal, Puttalam and forced to marry Mohamed Imran who was 22 years old. Marrying against her will, F.S did not know that Imran was already married twice before and she was his third wife. She never received a marriage certificate as the nikah was not registered by the men officiating the marriage ceremony.
F.S faced serious physical abuse and psychological trauma after the marriage and had reached out to a colleague a month ago asking for information in obtaining a divorce via the Quazi courts, but never came back again. Later it was learnt that she also went to the police who mediated and reconciled F.S and her husband and sent her back to him, despite grave danger of further abuse.
After the attempted murder of his wife, Mohamed Imran took away their 7 month-old baby threatening her that if she reported the incident as being his fault that he would harm the baby as well. F.S. in her moments of waking consciousness was concerned only about her baby. Fortunately the baby is now safe with other family members but Mohamed Imran is on the run from the police.
It is unbearable to see the young lives of Sri Lankan Muslim women being destroyed because of the lack of legal protection of their rights. F.S was both a victim of her husband but also a victim of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) and the Constitution, which does not (yet) protect her rights. What did this child do to deserve this fate? Was it her fault that she was born Muslim in Sri Lanka?
For Muslims, marriage by male guardians without consent of bride, child marriage, forced polygamy, non-registration of marriages is legal and thus both her husband, the legal system and State is responsible for what happened to F.S. Imran Mohamed was like many other husbands – an abusive man who believed he had a privilege and power over his wife. However the gaps in the legal system and the discriminatory loopholes in the MMDA helped him become the perpetrator that he became. Laws are meant to protect rights, not promote abuse.
F.S’s case is also reflective of the deep flaws we have with addressing domestic violence in Sri Lanka. What use are the police if they are sending women back to their abusers and murderers? How many more Sri Lankan women are living with grave dangers within their homes unable to seek support and redress because the system is so hell bent to save marriage instead of save lives? As with MMDA reforms, a review and reform of how the overall justice system is dealing with gender-based violence in Sri Lanka is long overdue.
F.S. is not just another statistic. She is not just another special or ‘rare’ case. She is present day lived reality of women in Sri Lanka. She is a young Muslim woman who was not given a chance by her family, Muslim community and country to thrive and prosper with full protection of her rights, so she could reach her fullest potential. Doctors are unsure of whether or not F.S will recover as her injuries are grave and debilitating. We can only hope for the best for her. Justice however must be served. The IGP must take urgent action to send a special team to get F.S’s affidavit, arrest Mohamed Imran immediately and guarantee the safety of the baby.
Citizens and government of Sri Lanka must do everything in our means to ensure that the future of Sri Lankan Muslim women is not lost as well. The Muslim community has a collective responsibility to stop these discriminations against Muslim women and ensure that F.S is the last victim of child and forced marriage in the community.
Update:
sach / May 19, 2017
I hope they hang that bast@rd
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Silva / May 19, 2017
While forced child marriage might be more common among Muslims i suspect the issue of this kind of domestic violence in Sri Lanka is there in all communities. (i dont know if there is more domestic violence in the muslim community or if it’s fair to approach it that way!)
we should address both Child marriages and domestic violence as a Sri Lankan issue and the muslim community must play their part in addressing and educating the muslim community to combat these issues and prevent them from happening.
remember protect the victims, don’t protect the perpetrators of these crimes and cover them up.
he must be punished to the fullest extent of the law.
the authorities need to do more to protect victims of domestic violence instead of putting them back into the environment that can become dangerous like this sad case.
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Simon De Silva / May 19, 2017
Silva@
I agree with you. Looking back I feel we the buddhists have been born into the religion. Some families thiking that they would collect all merit if they would offer .
their little children becoming SAMANERAs should also be condemened
Why I ve been telling this is, these littles ones too should have their own rights to protect themselves. In order their parents to be gained merit, little ones to be offered by their lives should be banned.
Besides, from what we get to see it today, violent monks have become a new form crime doers being hidden in their robes. The place given to SANGA ROBEs have silently been abused the kind of monks, for their propencities and indulgencies to practise. So we never know those Samaneras can grow up in temple environments being protective not being abused by such violent monks.
No doubt, those now coming in to light as MONKS by every protests being captured by cameras these days, i guess practise various kind of evil acts. Their behaviours in protest marches are even more violent than those of some lay people. So, we can easily guess these disguised monks should also be sex criminals.
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Banda / May 19, 2017
No sane person would compare the situation of a ‘child bride’ to a ‘child monk’. Is Silva a Buddhist? He should know that every child monk (samanera) is a temporary monk. Buddhists tradition says, every time samanera break wows he becomes a layman. And he has to take wows again. Meaning Samanera has an automatic right to disrobe whenever they want. A Samanera monk has to take higher vows at an upasampada at a ceremony to become a permanent monk. Silva should be concerned about Muslim child brides becoming permanent wives and underage mothers. If Silva happen to know any abused child-monk, he should report it immediatly to the police.
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Simon De Silva / May 20, 2017
Is Silva a Buddhist?
Should he be a buddhist to comment on the kind of abuses ? This is all about human rights
He should know that every child monk (samanera) is a temporary monk
are you talking about srilanken samanera (monk hood) or that in Bangkok ?
I really dont think “Buddhists tradition says, every time samanera break wows he becomes a layman.” this is valid for samaneras in present day srilanka
Yes you may be right about us to compare the two examples is no right, but what i meant above is, even as samaneras,, they have been in a danger in considering the growing abusive nature of average monks in the country today.
Not silva i added them above. If I see anyone would have been abused , I dont see mercy to fight for the rights of the samaneras.
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Silva / May 21, 2017
The underage marriage has a huge problem where the individuals involved are probably unable to understand the changes and responsibilities of marriage and are simply not ready to handle them.
They are also not mentally ready for such responsibilities at a young age and those frustrations could come out in the form of violence, depression and other unhealthy habits and pressures and psychological problems.
The Muslim community and all parents of other faiths too have to understand what they are putting their children through when it comes to underage and arranged marriage.
Times have changed and laws have changed where they have had to be changed so yes the Muslim community have to give this underage marriage problem some deep thought.
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Sinhala_Man / May 20, 2017
Dear Silva,
What you say is true. Abuse and exploitation is there in all human societies. We must be quite clear about this: we must not use unfortunate incidents of this sort to berate Muslims, as seems to be happening throughout the world. Instead of turning abusive, we must ensure that action be taken in this particular case.
Shreen Abdul Saroor, thanks for highlighting this incident. Please highlight all instances that you hear of.
ALL religions appear to be playing now on the impossibility of keeping up with too much knowledge. Some of try to, but it may not be with any great success.
How ever let us not imagine that we can dodge responsibility for this incident. We must force (if it is necessary, after trying persuasion) to get ALL religions to understand that there are more valid and more basic laws which human beings must embrace. What is shocking here is that the Laws of our country actually allow this sort of abuse to continue. “Marriages” of this sort have got to disappear.
The Rights of the vulnerable in human societies must be safeguarded! Yes, these young girls should be seen as having basic human rights; they don’t BELONG to their parenst I’m definitely not being Islamphobic when I say that the laws pertaining to the MMDA must be amended – and that fast!
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Amarasiri / May 19, 2017
Dear Shreen Abdul Saroor——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————
//”F.S is also a victim of forced child marriage, which is legal for Sri Lankan Muslims. She was 16 years old when was taken to the Nallanthaluwa Kodi Palli Mosque in Munthal, Puttalam and forced to marry Mohamed Imran who was 22 years old. Marrying against her will, F.S did not know that Imran was already married twice before and she was his third wife. She never received a marriage certificate as the nikah was not registered by the men officiating the marriage ceremony.”//
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Thank you for exposing this crime which as possible because of the MMDA. If not for the MMDA, should would bot have been a victim.————————————————————————————————————————————-
Please expose, expose and expose. these atrocities until the MMDA is reformed.. There is no need for the Muslim girls and women to wait until Ulamas and Quazis end up in Hell-fire on the day of Judgement. It has to happen now.————————————————-
Who else can be prosecuted under the sri Lankan criminal Law?
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Bunjappu / May 19, 2017
This kind of child abuses should be banned regardless of the religious provisions.
Be it in SL or any country the kind of varied inhuman Islamic practices that have been established in their cultures; child marriages to diverse inhuman acts have become part and parcel of their tradition today. Anyways, I really don’t think that every Islam dominated country would follow them. This kind of acts become even more contrast and problematic when such ethnic communities move their livelihood to totally foreign environments and cultures cross each other. During last two years, Germany is reported to have welcomed Syrian refugees making up to 1 million. These asylum seekers now live in Germany and have been becoming part of migrant communities. They the german authorities now have noticed that there are significant numbers of families whose children have entered child marriages respecting their home country law provisions. The domestic crimes triggered through in such families are on a rise and the guest communities such as Turks too have been identified as one another folks group that promote the kind of acts based on Islamic rituals being practiced regardless of where they are. The pot holes in prevailing laws seem making their lives even more difficult. This has been a threat to prevailing law order systems in Germany and has become a big issue to Europe today, since European countries in general don’t have any kind of space in their law and order systems to tolerate such marriages: So the kind of legal issues have been real pains to law and order authorities in Europe.
Now I am a born buddhist, I feel little ones to be offered making them Samanera monks should not be commendable because the little child has every right to decide his future by his own.
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Ceylonese / May 20, 2017
Bunjappu – A 16 year old is not a Child. Justice should be served for the criminal act irrespective of any religion.
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Simon De Silva / May 19, 2017
Should be day dreaming.
There are cultural barriers that the prevailing law and orders cant do enough. That was also the case the beheading of that Ryzanna girl even if masses would have been against her beheading few years ago.
They the fanatic people believe in general that is the punishment given by god. However, they have no brains to see that materializing of such sharia law bound punishments to be carried out by human beings.
Likewise, if any laws would take up these kind of issues, then they some fanatic elements will definitly paint it as an another way of discrimination against their community.
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TheHorsesFoot / May 19, 2017
Marriage to female minors is illegal according to the Quran.
Here is a good link to an article explaining the logic:
http://www.quransmessage.com/articles/ayesha%20age%20FM3.htm
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Ex Saudi Worker / May 19, 2017
Thanks Shreen for exposing this, and I wish you went a little further. The miserable marriage of this young woman, much as it is with many others, is due to the MMDA. As a Muslim she had no choice in marriage as she had become somebody’s property or a ‘commodity’ to be sold off by her father as he pleases. Under the civil law the husband could have been brought to justice for the crime he committed and for not disclosing his previous marriage, but this is not so under Islam. Rules must be there to protect the innocent and not to protect wrongdoers. Under MMDA even a child could be married off and there is no age restriction because Muslims are expected to emulate their prophet who is described as the ‘perfect model of a man’. Without parroting such phrases the Muslims must read their holy book and the Hadeed to understand who this man was; a child molester, thief, bandit, mass murderer, womanizer and the greatest of deceivers to boot! So women have no salvation from this religion, they are destined to suffer and suffer until the erratic MMDA is abolished.
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Ivan Weerawardena / May 19, 2017
Does Sri Lankan Legal System allow Forced child Marriages? If its so I am ashamed to call myself Sri Lankan..
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Amarasiri / May 20, 2017
Ivan Weerawardena————————————————————————-
“Does Sri Lankan Legal System allow Forced child Marriages? If its so I am ashamed to call myself Sri Lankan.”—————————————————————————
Help Reform the MMDA and call yourself a Sri Lankan, in the Land of Native Veddah Aethho.——————————————————————————————————————————————-
” Ask what your country can do for you-ask what you can do for your country” -President John Kennedy.
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Singhalese pundit / May 19, 2017
This is joker and idiot in every sense..is she blend lady while Muslim faces existential threats in SL why this blind lady worried about 18 years old marrying 32 years old.man..
French president married 64 old lady ..it is said that his wife had affair while he was 14 years old school boy and she was a teacher at that time?
Go and tell french first lady that what she did was wrong ?. DONALD TRUMP IS 70 YEARS OLD and his wife is 40 years old.and go and tell him that what he does is wrong?
While Muslim communtiy had 15 incidents for the last month in SL?
Why this idiot want to speaks about this issue …
If she is 18 year and if her parents like that man and let them short of out…if she is unwilling to marry hI’m..
This writer should find her a good husband or help that family to find good one..
What an idiot are you ? Give these poor families alternative. Help them find good husbands and help them find JoBs and help them and support them before you intrude into the family life ?I Hope you got the point ..
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Lahiru / May 19, 2017
U r an absolute restart! Are you condoning what happened to this girl? It is the law in Sri Lanka that supports 16 year olds to be married off.. against their consent – this is legal in any religion if I’m not mistaken. To sort this out you should first correct the law here in SL and then educate people that this is incorrect. Another issue that usually happens is when men have sex with them forcefully… which is still rape. The law and system should be corrected in Sri Lanka and as a lesson he should be hung for his feet which should be in the SL court of law and not a religious law!
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Sam / May 19, 2017
Your an idiot !
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jimsofty / May 19, 2017
Sinhalese pundit is a muslims who,as some Tamils do, feels shameful to say he is muslim. Yet, he approves barberic actions by men over a young woman. Eventhough this woman is ready to give births to children, she is still very young and naive.
The man who did it should be castrated.
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JULAMPITIYE AMARAYA / May 20, 2017
PANDITHA IDIOT,
[shamed to call you a sinhalese H K P T].
[HARAKPATAWU]
Don’t they entitle to show their RIGHTS,
HUMANE RIGHTS OR WHAT EVER THEY ARE CALLED.
“””” If she is 18 year and if her parents like that man”””.
if her parent like that man, why not ask one of the parent to marry him,
because girl does not like the twice married bugger?????
[“may be DR Chamindra Weerawardhana like that’???????????].
ADDING another TWO members for LGBTQ.
And Bastard was married twice before.
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jimsofty / May 20, 2017
Sinhalese pundit is a Muslim.
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Amarasiri / May 21, 2017
“Sinhalese pundit is a Muslim.”
Sinhalese pundit is a Wahhabi, Salafi , Iblisi, or its clone following the Devil, Stan, Iblis as per instructions of the Devil and their Agents, etc., incorrectly classified as “Sinhalese Pundit” or “Muslim”.
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Stanly / May 19, 2017
So in other words domestic abuse and violence is not a problem in other communities and only in Muslim communities where there is as Shreen puts it ‘yet another child marriages’ take place? C’mon give me a break!
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Ayyub Khan / May 19, 2017
No doubt this criminal has to be given capital pinishment.but why does the writer has to add a racial twist to the article by exposing his religious identity as “muslim” concluding that this incident was solely due to MMDA.we have definitely seen many murders committed by over 18 & 21 year old married sinhalese & christian couples in the past & never before has there been a conclusion to the effect it was related to a religion..hence i hope CT takes this racial twist seriously & remove this article as it might add fuel & provoke the extremist elements to exploit the situation to incite hatred & violence against muslims..i hope you act more responsibly
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Saiyaff Farouk / May 19, 2017
“”For Muslims, marriage by male guardians without consent of bride, child marriage, forced polygamy, non-registration of marriages is legal”
If I got it right, that is being said that is legal.
For fudges sake who come up with these innovative ideas?
* marriage by male guardians without consent of bride- Totally illegal. If the bride doesn’t like to marry or marry a person she can deny and she has all the rights to do that.
* child marriage – A child cannot marry. She has to be grown up/be matured to get in to a marriage life
* forced polygamy – Polygamy is not forced. It’d for you if you can get along with it according to the conditions.
* non-registration of marriages- Registering a marriage comes under the law of the country. I don’t know about that. I don’t think so that it is legal
Whoever wants more information about this can actually do their own research. So the religion has not taught or forced anything bad. It might be the people who are implementing it wrong.
Period
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Thanos / May 19, 2017
START QUOTE (“marriage by male guardians without consent of bride, child marriage, forced polygamy, non-registration of marriages is legal”) END QUOTE —– Wait what? Forced polygamy? So let me get this straight. Polygamy is actually LEGAL in SL if you are Muslim?
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Citizen / May 19, 2017
Isolated incidence like this happen in any community and anywhere in the world. This cannot be foolishly be taken as a reflection of a whole community.
Shreen Abdul Saroor – you don’t seam to be a practicing Muslim. You better please shut up and wait without damaging the whole community.
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Dhakshini / May 19, 2017
You see it as “damaging” to the whole community, many more think this is bringing into focus, a horrible act against a child, and that something should be done immediately. I suppose you prefer that the author shut up and not bring attention to this, so that others can keep abusing children. You must be a man wanting a woman to shut up, which explains the tone of your comment.
This happens less in communities where they give little girls in marriage. It is a shame that you seem to dismiss this atrocity far too easily.
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Citizen / May 20, 2017
Dhakshini
I do not justify or condone this isolated single incident. Vidhiya case in Jaffna, nobody grumbled as a tamil community matter. Kondaya case was not highlighted as a Sinhala Budhist Community Issue. It is obvious and glaring to note that some mischief, racist rascals bent on waging a hate campaign against Islam and Muslims only in the social media.
I can assure you that they won’t succeed in this foolish act.
IN THIS CIRCUMSTANCES, I ADVISE YOU Shreen Abdul Saroor TO SHUT UP.
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Haritha / May 20, 2017
It’s true that these incidents happen all over the world, but the problem here is that we have a legal system where this is allowed, thereby ensuring that there is no legal protection for victims. This article isn’t aimed at a community, it’s aimed at al law, a law that’s deeply flawed.
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Nelum / May 19, 2017
Why can’t those who refuse to revise these primitive laws get the message? This is inhumane, and they may not like it if this was their daughter or sister. Why should any child go through this torture, because their elders decided when they should be given in marriage for their own convenience? This issue has gone on for too long, and every time a little girl is forced into this situation, everyone who is stalling and putting this very important matter aside, or is afraid of men whose brains are still in the stone age, should be ashamed of themselves. Muslim girls should follow the same age limitations for marriage, as the rest of girls in the nation.
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justice / May 19, 2017
The horrific crime perpetrated upon this woman is justified by the so called Sharia Law which ensures that women are held inferior to men.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYHGDBC19qo
Muslims in some countries accept these views.
In Sri Lanka which prides itself as a civilised nation, it is a pity that this horrific crime appears to be ignored by law enforcement.
All Muslims should be ashamed that this type of crime against females are still tolerated.
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Realize the reality / May 19, 2017
this is just another case, if u consider the cases of marriage / domestic violence n abuses, statistics proves that the % of cases in Muslim community are much lower than comparing with other ethnic groups considering the ethnic ratio. Also the cold blooded murderers and cruelty are more often reported among various ethnic groups and this has nothing to do with their respective religion or race. Same as ISLAM has nothing to do with any violence.
so kindly avoid unnecessary arguments in that case this case has to be focused as a racial abuse even though the author is namely a Muslim.
and evenly the reported, pending And all the concluded cases of domestic violence and Child Abuse irrespective of religion or race in this country should be brought forward and the MMDA must be challenged against the amendments which these bunch of clowns expect..
So if a girl which get married at 16 is violation of Human Rights or considered as Child Abuse it would make lot of western countries to amend their set of rules.
Yes I too believe that certain amendments should be brought to MMDA but it has to be within the borders of Islamic principles, but criticizing the entire Islamic rules is illogical and would not help to build a constructive evidence on the side of prosecution. Rather pin pointing the exact contradiction with Quran n Sunnah in the present system would raise a question among the rational Muslim community Which would create an impact on the whole scenario…
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Amarasiri / May 19, 2017
Dear justice ———————————————————————————————–
//”All Muslims should be ashamed that this type of crime against females are still tolerated.”//———————————————————————————————————————————
Not all “Muslims “are shamed, even though many are. Those who are not ashamed are generally known as Wahhabis, Salafis, Tauhidis, Deobandis, ISIS, Taliban, Boko Haram etc. , even though they call themselves “Muslims”, but they are in fact Satanis, Iblisis. You can see the divergence when you compare the Wahhabi and their clones actions against the Sufis, Shia ans Ahmedia Muslims. They Follow the Devil, Satan, Inblis, and with the Satan everything is permitted, and as per Islamic theology, they will end up in Hell Fire on the Day of Judgement.——————————————
Right now Saudi Arabia is occupied by Wahhabies and their clones..————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Scholar from al-Azhar: Wahhabism is a Satanic Faith, the Horn of the Devil that Muhammad Predicted——————————————————————————————————-
Yusri Rushdi al-Sayyid Jabr al-Husni, a Sunni Muslim religious scholar from the world’s oldest and most prestigious Islamic school, the Honorable al-Azhar, has stated that Wahhabis who are also known by other names such as Salafis, Najdis, and Horners, are in fact the Horn of the Devil, a term used by the prophet Muhammad in reference to a satanic faith that shall come out of Najd (Saudi Arabia).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufxTUFapy1w
–
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srinath gunaratne / May 19, 2017
Oy Yusuf,
How about someone did this to your daughter?
If the religion is wrong correct it, Bring it back to the 21st century!
Learn Physics, There are no almighties! If we had almighties would the world be this xxxxed up?
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Jareer / May 20, 2017
Foolish people will not understand who is Almighty. Ur intellect is worse
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kumaran / May 19, 2017
Most Muslims regard women as chattals, meant only to work in the house-hold and be there for the “husband” for the night. This is why we ought never send our women to the Middle East, specially Saudi. Also, the Sri Lankan government made-up of outstanding Budhists should address this issue. These have to be stopped and stopped at once, even at the expense of loosing Muslim votes.
As you file criminal charges of attempted murder against this thug, pass legislation banning marriage of girls under 21 years. Marriage should have no Muslim, up-country or Kandyan marriages, Christian marriages, etc. Every marriage should be in accordance with the law, with banns publishes, etc and of course you can have the wedding according to one’s culture and belief.
As a believing Christian, we as a society carry the blame for this crime, not just this thug and the girl’s parents and the “palliya” and the lebbe who married them.
Innocent blood calls for vengeance, and this poor child is innocent as are every child of every religion and culture who get killed and we will all be held accountable.
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Josh / May 20, 2017
What happened to FS is unfortunate and should be condemned by all and her abusive husband should be punished by law. I agree on that.
But, I also want to point out that this incident is not something reflective of the MMDA. Me, myself being a Muslim am fully supportive of updating the MMD act to reflect current day practices and norms and I even advocate for that change but the author of this article trying to connect MMDA to the incident is wrong. Infact, it gives a wrong image of muslims as a whole too.
1. In Islam, the consent of the bride is required to be married off. This is also part of the MMDA where the bride has to sign a consent form before the registration is done.
2. Non-registered muslim marriages are not valid in Sri Lanka as is the case with any religion. You do not have the protection of any marriage related laws (not that there are many in MMDA) if you dont have a registered marriage.
3. Most of the issues with MMDA is not only because the MMDA itself is not strong enough but because the people who execute the law are also not educated properly to execute the laws. This is also a fault of the state for appointing Quazi’s (an marriage judge for muslims appointed by the Judiciary Service Commission of Sri Lanka) who do not have any knowledge on how marriages should happen legally, religiously and traditionally. 99% of the Quazi’s execute laws according to how they think it should be executed and the JSC and other legal authorities also dont take note of this despite several representations been made to them over the year.
4. What happened to FS would have happened to her even if there was a strong MMD act and other securities in place. This would have happened no matter if she is the 3rd wife or even the 1st wife. This is an issue with the people of the country. The man who did this, didnt care about her age or the number of wives he had. Until we have an educated community in which parents treat their daughters like humans and not exchange items, and husbands treat their wives as partners and not slaves or sex dolls, this will happen no matter if they are Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus or Christians. This marriage was done illegally and unregistered. This can happen in any religion and in any way. The police cannot do anything unless there is a formal complaint received.
While we advocate on the reforms needed for the MMDA, lets not also talk about it without knowing what exactly is the issue. Lets not connect criminal activities to out dated practices and use that as an excuse. If laws can stop criminal and illegal activities, then we would be having murders, thefts, abuses, etc happening in the world on a minute by minute basis!
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Sithy / May 20, 2017
@Josh, as a Sri Lankan Muslim I was not aware of some of the lapses in the MMDA until the recent debate on reform. One document that clearly indicates the loop holes in the Sri Lankan MMDA ACT was the release of the views of the ACJU on the reforms, see link here
https://www.colombotelegraph.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/reforms-to-the-Muslim-Marriage-and-Divorce-Act-.pdf
While a Criminal act is not induced by a loose MMDA, a loose MMDA can create the environment or loop hole for criminal acts. From what I understand of the reform advocated – girls, especially children, will be better protected and atrocious crimes like that endured by FS as well as other abuses against Muslim women will have a lesser chance of occurring.
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Jareer / May 20, 2017
We should understand the true problem. Reforming MMDA is required in terms of administer but NOT the law of Quran. It is the divine law, utter foolishness of us who are so called intellectuals to question like this.
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jehan / May 20, 2017
this can happen any where. this author wants to score points with the west by positioning this situation as the norm.
In America statistically 55% of relationships have abuse involved. due to alchole abuse. lets see if anyone can stop alchol.
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Sharifa / May 20, 2017
In Islam, the rights of women are well protected. No guardian even the father can force the girl to get married without her consent..In Islam it says that if the father / guardian forces or gets the girl married without the girls consent the marriage is considered null or invalid…. it is so sad to see scrupulous “uneducated muslim” people change the face of religion for their benefit… so sad for the girl
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jimsofty / May 20, 2017
Sharifa:
check Google images to see how Saudi Arabia is treating women. In there, women are worse than garbage. Men kick women even in the shopping mall.
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Lester / May 20, 2017
“The Muslim community has a collective responsibility to stop these discriminations against Muslim women…”
The Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Judaism, Islam) are just attempts to control the women. If women are subservient, then it is easy for the men to extend their gene pool, e.g. reproduction. That is why at the most basic level, you will see Orthodox Jewish women having 4 or 5 children on average, and the average Muslim woman having 4 or 5 children on average. While in Christianity and Judaism such practices have been relegated to the extreme sects, it is not the case in Islam. In Islam, these sorts of practices are quite mainstream. There is no equality of women whatsoever. I know it for a fact because after many years in the UK, I came across quite a few Pakistani women who were abused. The entire Muslim attitude to women must change; how that is possible is a question in and of itself.
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Razick / May 20, 2017
Last week a 10 year oil girl raped by her Step Father, nobody barked against the Hindu Religion. Whilst we need to understand there is a greater need for MMDA reform, this is not the time to take advantage of this situation. This type of domestic violence can happen in any society and Shreen cannot justify her marriage age as the cause for her plight.
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Uncommon man / May 20, 2017
In this matter of a 10 year being raped, no Hindu person brought the vedas or Bagawad Geetha to justify the rape.They view this as a criminal offence.But in the case of Muslims,they bring in the Quran to justify the wrong doer.Qoran is an archaic edict which only the fanatics accept without scrutiny. The more I read this article the more I agree with BBS.
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Bob / May 20, 2017
Crime – criminal
Crime – Muslim? – criminal
Crime – ?????
??
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Dhakshi / May 20, 2017
Arrest the scumbag who did this to this poor girl, first and foremost. To all concerned parties, including the government, make marriage of little girls illegal in this country, and give them the rights to be safeguarded. If any man marries a child, make it punishable by law. If any man abuses a little girl, put him in jail. The idiots who keep parroting that this happens everywhere, remember in civilized nations, if such crimes are committed on little girls, they have to face a court of law, and punished severely if found guilty, because of laws that protect children. Let ALL Sri Lankan girls have that protection too.
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Simple Muslim / May 20, 2017
Control these self appointed mufis & mullah and bummers of them, they are the cause for all the problems in this country, our forefathers managed without such muftis & mullah’s and we had no problems, we dont need the so called religious heads to determine islamic and wahabi funded laws.
hope the present ammendments are made, we dont need the brutal thinking bedouin life style in the world.
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ahmed / May 20, 2017
relating this incident to age is stupidity , such violence can take place even at the age of 25, what a stupid correlation. search the net such incidents are taking place everywhere irrespective of age limit.
forced marriage is prohibited in Islam whether it is 16 or 56 , so just leave this as an incident irrespective of religion and age. what people need a brain to think. what need here is legal action against abuser whether girl is 16 or 56.
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ahmed / May 20, 2017
Those people who follow the white man’s laws blindly do not understand that they demand to ban a solution not the cause of problem.
In other words when we say we need to keep the medicine and should not ban, they think we demand it for food. Cant differentiate as no sufficient IQ.
Now , what is the solution if two get sex and girl gets pregnant in the so called modern world ?
Option 1 : abortion
Option 2: girl will give birth and the child will be taken care by some organization. Girl and boy will remain as girl and boy.
Good for men isn’t?
Second why some parents give their children to child sex trade in SL and in many third world countries ?
answer is “Poverty”
Why in Yemen parent give young girls in marriage?
answer is same “Poverty”
If Yemen limit it’s law on age for marriage what may happen ? Those parents will give their children also to tourist? ( ofcourse if tourists visit) ,if so which is less harmful?
What is the solution the so called west taken to eradicate poverty?
Dole !
Is the same available in third world ?
No , so no wonder by limiting the age of marriage, all you do is supply children to tourist .
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ahmed / May 20, 2017
Is anything in Islam to overcome poverty ?
Yes , give 2.5% your saving if its exceed certain limit , so there will not be a single father alive to face and force to give his child in marriage at a young age. No father will give his daughter in a younger age in today’s complex world and all want their child to get the best in life such as education to handle the latest problems in the society , but that is not served just by placing a law blindly as fools dream without looking in to a larger view over the social issue.
Most of those who demand to place a law are;
1. Who had premarital sex and think such is good and happy that they didn’t marry at a young age, all what they want is,others also to be like them. it is said prostitutes want all women to be like them and think like them.
2. Those who wants child sex. such know well by placing a law child sex will flourish in sri lanka and third world countries and they can enjoy.
3. Fools who follow white man shit blindly thinking that he got all solution while he suffer with adultery , fornication , rape and child abuse in his own country.
4. Those who never follow Islam and not even give Zakath ( poverty tax)
Now for all the Muslims who want to limit the age of marriage , go and give your Zakath ( poverty tax) first properly , then no father will give a girl at a young age.
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Ad / May 20, 2017
Almighty, almighty, why doesn’t these idiots understand that their almighty is only engaged in procreation? Crime cannot be excused in the name of imaginary almighty.
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K.Pillai / May 20, 2017
Most commenters have missed the point Shreen Abdul Saroor is trying to drive here. Muhamed Imran was 22 years and F.S (the bride) 16 when the marriage took place 2 years back. One may even suggest (cruelly) that at 16, F.S was not a “child” anymore. The difference is Muhamed Imran has gone through two marriages already. This is possible only among Lankan Muslims. At the age when “other” Lankan youths talked cricket Muhamed Imran was being taught (by Muftis?) how to divorce. Is there a 22 year old “other” Lankan who has experienced two previous marriages before the third one? Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) must be repealed. We must lend our support to Shreen Abdul Saroor in her endeavor. Our heart must be with F.S. The brick wall are the Lankan Muslim MPs.
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