Malaysia's Polygamy Debate

RAWANG, Malaysia – The launch of a club to promote polygamy is reviving the hot debate about the issue in Muslim heavyweight Malaysia, with proponents saying it helps disadvantaged women and deter adultery while opponents condemn it as a violation of women’s rights. "We want to change the way people perceive polygamy, so that it will be seen as something beautiful instead of something disgusting," Hatijah Aam, the founder of the “Polygamy Club”, told The Canadian Press on Monday, September 28.

“What is wrong with sharing a husband? I've been doing so for nearly 30 years."

The club, which has 300 husbands and 700 wives, aims to help single mothers, ex-prostitutes and women beyond the marriage age.

Founders hope to project examples of happy households to counter women's rights activists who say some spouses and children suffer in polygamous marriages.

Why polygamy Is Allowed in Islam Polygamy: Norm or Exception? "Some people treat polygamy as a laughing matter because they do not fully comprehend it," says Hatijah’s husband Ikramullah, a businessman. "But a community that practises it would know that it is not bizarre.”

Kartini Maarof, a lawyer, believes polygamy can serve divorced mothers well.

A decade ago, she arranged to marry her husband to her divorce client, a mother of seven.

"Of course, you miss your husband and there are natural feelings of competition and jealousy at first,” said Kartini.

“But after a while, you try to become friends and you learn that you can share your problems with each other.”

Polygamy is legal for Muslims, who make up more than 65 percent of Malaysia’s 27 million population, though not widespread.

“(Polygamy) is not a culture that is encouraged in our society," said Shahrizat Abdul Jalil, the Muslim female minister in charge of family policy.

Opposition

Sisters in Islam, an advocacy group campaigning against polygamy, took a sweep at the pro-polygamy argument.

"If people choose to be monogamous, there are enough men for every woman," it said in a statement.

Polygamy used to be more common in Muslim-majority Malaysia but has dwindled to an estimated two percent of all Muslim marriages.

Many link this to the fact that women have become freer and careers have opened up for them.

Sharifah, a 42-year-old business executive, is one such example.

She had a personal experience with the issue when her husband of nearly 15 years told her of plans to marry a divorced mother of three.

"I felt like my fairy tale had ended," Sharifah, a mother of two, recalled.

"He was my soul mate...I couldn't believe it was happening. Then I started to scream at him."

The husband gave up the idea of having a second wife after the couple underwent marriage counselling.

"Women have to make a stand. We are getting more progressive. We know our rights," said Sharifah.

"I will not enter into a polygamous marriage. I know I deserve better."

Islam sees polygamy as a realistic answer to some social woes like adulterous affairs and lamentable living conditions of a widow or a divorced woman.

A Muslim man who seeks a second or a third wife should, however, make sure that he would treat them all on an equal footing.

Source: IslamOnline

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Muslims Repulse Jewish Attempt To Storm Aqsa

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM -- Dozens of Palestinians were hurt, two seriously, on Sunday, September 27, when crack Israeli policemen attacked worshipers who had just repulsed an attempt by Jewish extremists to hold Talmudic rituals at al-Haram al-Sharif.

“When the zealots were repulsed rather peacefully, the police became very outraged,” Mahmoud Abu Atta, an eyewitness, told IslamOnline.net.

“As many as 70 policemen attacked us indiscriminately, young and old, with full force, using rubber-coated bullets, truncheons, tear gas and even poisonous gas.”

An elderly man, identified as 73-year-old Muhammed Joulani, was hit with a rubber-coated bullet in the eye and his condition was described as “very serious.”

A young Palestinian, 22, was badly hurt in the head.

Dozens others suffered from tear gas inhalation as well as brutal beating by police which, eyewitnesses said, employed “exaggerated force.”

Eyewitnesses said tension began when dozens of Jewish religious zealots, disguised as tourists, stealthily entered Aqsa esplanade through its western gate, known as Bab el-Majles.

The intruders soon began, under police protection, performing Talmudic rites and making slogans calling for the destruction of the Islamic holy shrine.

Muslim guards as well as ordinary worshipers chased the Jewish zealots out.

“The police chased worshipers inside Aqsa Mosque, where the soldiers fired heavily into the holy place, causing many people to suffocate as a result of gas inhalation,” said Atta.

“I saw the police gang up on young people, beating them mercilessly. The police were not out to maintain law and order. They just wanted to retaliate and punish us for repulsing the fanatical settlers.”

Atta said the worshipers sought desperately to defend themselves against police brutality, using little stones, shoes and chairs.

Efforts by Jewish zealots to storm the Aqsa Mosque esplanade coincide with Yom Kippur holiday or Day of Atonement, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.

It coincides with then opposition leader Ariel Sharon’s provocative visit to al-Aqsa esplanade nine years ago which sparked off the al-Aqsa Intifada.

* Muslim duty

“Hence it is the responsibility of the entire Umma to protect and safeguard this holy place from Zionist plots and evil designs,” Sheikh Sabri told IOL.

Muslim officials in Al-Quds (occupied East Jerusalem) had earlier called on Muslims throughout the city to go to al-Haram al-Sharif to protect it from Jewish fanatics trying to gain a foot-hold.

“We constantly urge Muslims here to maintain a permanent and uninterrupted presence at the Aqsa Mosque,” Dr. Sheikh Ikrma Sabri, the imam of Aqsa Mosque, told IOL.

Hundreds of Jerusalemites and other Muslims from across the Green Line (Israel) arrived at the Mosque to repulse the zealots.

Confrontations broke out near Bab el-Majles when Israeli police prevented hundreds of Muslims, including leaders of the Islamic movement, from entering the Haram compound.

Many were detained and taken away to nearby police lockups.

Police also assaulted Abdul Azim Salhab, Head of the Supreme Muslim Council, as he was trying to enter al-Haram al-Sharif through the northern Gate, known as Bab el Asbat.

They also prevented a number of prominent Muslim religious and civic figures from entering the Aqsa esplanade, including Dr. Sheikh Sabri.

Hatem Abdul Qader, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, was also barred from entering the Haram.

“The preservation of Aqsa Mosque is not the sole responsibility of Muslims in Palestine, because the holy sanctuary belongs to the entire Muslim Umma,” insisted Sheikh Sabri.

“Hence it is the responsibility of the entire Umma to protect and safeguard this holy place from Zionist plots and evil designs.”

Al-Aqsa is the Muslims’ first Qiblah [direction Muslims take during prayers] and it is the third holiest shrine after Al Ka`bah in Makkah and Prophet Muhammad's Mosque in Madinah, Saudi Arabia.

Its significance has been reinforced by the incident of Al Isra'a and Al Mi'raj — the night journey from Makkah to Al-Quds and the ascent to the Heavens by Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings be Upon Him).

The Supreme Muslim Council of Al-Quds earlier issued a call on Muslims around the world urging them to stand firm in the face of Israel’s criminal conspiracies against Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli religious leaders, including Knesset members, are making no secret of their schemes regarding Al-Aqsa.

The Temple Mount Faithful, an extremist fanatical group, is dedicated to the demolition of Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock.

The Temple Mount Institute, another extremist Jewish society, had prepared detailed plans for the rebuilding of the so-called Solomon Temple on the rubble of Al-Aqsa.

It has a large prototype of the temple, special clothes for its rabbis, special places for sacrificial offerings, incense chalice, copper vessels for meal offerings, silver vessel for wine libation and other offering implements.

Source: IslamOnline

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U.S. Muslims Pray For One Nation, One God

WASHINGTON -- On the west lawn of the Capitol in Washington, D.C., facing the steps where President Barack Hussein Obama took his oath nine months ago, thousands of Muslims gathered to showcase their oneness as Muslims, Americans and humans in an event devoid of speakers and political agendas.

"We came here today to remind ourselves of the oneness of Allah, the oneness of humanity, and the oneness we all share," Imam Abdul Malik said in a qutbah (sermon) before leading the huge congregation in the Jummah (Friday) prayers.

"America, this is our country. We are with you. Muslims have been blessed tremendously living in the gates of North America, and it's our time to give back," he stressed.

"We came today to let the world knows what we believe Allah as one, and we seek common ground with all people to live in harmony and peace. … We must recognize that every life is sacred. Every human is sacred."

The Day of Prayer, spearheaded by Dar-ul-Salam mosque in Elizabeth, New Jersey, attracted upwards of 3,000 Muslims in a first-of-its-kind-gathering on the lawn in front of the iconic Capitol building.

The program started with Fajr (down) prayers, included tours of various Washington institutions and ended with the Friday prayers, which included recitation of the Qur’an by two prominent Qaaris, an energetic sermon by Imam Malik, the adan (call to prayer) ringing out, and Jummah prayers.

Syed Husain, a retired employee of the National Institutes of Health, attended the spiritual gathering to be "part of the message".

He believes Imam Malik’s qutbah conveyed the proper Islamic viewpoint in the most powerful way.

"He presented Islam in the clearest way I’ve ever heard: What Islam teaches and what Islam represents, how we believe in all prophets and their prophecies and their missions," he told IslamOnline.net.

"He talked about the oneness of God very clearly."

Malik Ali, who attended the Jummah prayers with his son, says the attitude during the event was very positive.

"There was a great a spirit of brotherhood and sisterhood."

* Turnout

Husain, the retired employee, was disappointed with the lack of publicity about the event and the poor turnout of local Muslims from mosques in the Maryland-Washington, D.C.-Virginia communities.

"I don’t understand it, really. Perhaps they weren’t contacted by the events’ coordinators."

The organizers had expected to draw 50,000 Muslims.

"So many of you are afraid to be here on Capitol Hill," Imam Malik said, addressing himself to Muslims who had been skeptical about the motives of the event and how it was organized by one New Jersey mosque.

"What is there to be afraid of? You have friends here on Capitol Hill. Non-Muslim people helped us to make this event even when there were Muslims who were afraid," he asserted.

"Stop being so scared! Just do the work of Allah, and believe."

His advice came on the heels of the recent arrests of several Muslim men, including a local imam, on terror charges as well as growing verbal attacks from conservative Christian groups in wake of President Obama’s forays into Muslim diplomacy.

Robert Salam, a prominent American-Muslim blogger and online radio host, said the lack of local participation was one of the key reasons he decided not to attend the event.

"I opted for the path of least resistance," he told IOL.

He was also worried about having to explain protests against the event to his children.

"But what solidified it for me was that I wanted to see what area Muslims were doing. I hadn’t heard anything from the local masjids or that the imams of these masjids were going to attend this event."

Though protests by various Christian groups did occur, they were kept to the fringes of the event where Muslims were entering and exiting the prayer area.

But Saadia Husain, who came to the prayer on her lunch break, said the protestors were not nearly as numerous as projected by media reports prior to the event.

"There were some who were yelling disrespectful things about Muslims, but when we stood for prayer, you couldn’t really hear them," she said.

"The day was really beautiful and it felt good to be there. It was fascinating to see all those hijabs in one place. People were popping their heads out of the nearby buildings to watch what was going on."

* Active Muslims

Salaam admits that after seeing how smoothly everything went, he felt a little regret for not attending and bringing his sons along.

"Yes, I still think it could’ve been better organized, but the spirit of the event, the focus on prayer was good," he said.

"At the end of the day we just want to show non-Muslim Americans how we are part of this country’s fabric: The doctors they see, the teachers their kids have, lots of them are Muslim," Salaam noted.

"These Muslims don’t shove the Qur’an in [non-Muslims’] faces. But they do their job and they go home and pray. That’s who Americans need to see."

Malik Ali, who attended the Day of Prayer with his son, says American Muslims, estimated at nearly seven millions, don’t need to be afraid.

"We don’t need to hide our names," he told IOL.

"Muslims in America are not going anywhere. We came over here on slave ships and from different countries, and we’re here to stay," Ali added confidently.

"We just need to stay positive."

Source: IslamOnline

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