The
need of a social code for marriage
This is really a matter of joy
in marriage to eat so many delicious foods. But the person who feels
the echo of each bite of food is none other than the father of bride
who either for social prestige or compelled by the groom is ready to bear all the pain
of this huge extravagance of marriage. Many times the father of bride
is forced to sell his properties, even his home, to meet the
expenses of marriage. In some cases, it has been observed that parents
of the bride opt for huge loan or debt, which they have to pay back
painfully. The welfare and development of the whole family is stopped.
Think for a
moment. Just for eating delicious food for once, how many of us
deliberately destroy the foundation and joy of many families? Is this
what Islam teaches us? Is this our mantra for empowerment of the
community? Is this our contribution to make this Deen of Allah Rabbul
Alameen easy for societies and mankind?
There is no
doubt that the pomp and show of modern times has created the trend
among rich families and romantic adventurism among the girls
about the present day marriages. But how many such rich and girls are
in our society? Just for the whim of such people could we allow the
degradation of the society? Could we allow the rising number of
unmarried girls and restless parents to be haunted down by the evil of
dowry?
What should be
the remedy? The Government has already passed the Dowry Prohibition Act
which is in force since 1961 without any effect on the society. The
Dowry act clearly states that “a person who gives or takes or helps in
the giving or taking of dowry can be sentenced to jail for 5 years and
fined Rs 15,000- or the amount of the value of dowry, whichever is
more”. But from whatever we have seen, there is no improvement in the
situation. The
reason is that no father would like to take such step to put her
daughter's prestige at stake. So what to do?
|
We know that this problem is
more related to the social prestige, than any other thing. In my
opinion there is need of framing of social code for marriage with the
help of the Ulemas and social activist. And the Social code for
marriage must be comprised on the following:
1. No dowry either demanded or given eagerly.
2. The limit of the number of participants in the marriage.
3. There must be same token of food in all marriage in a packet e.g.
one packet contains two dates, one sweet, etc.
4.
There is permission of Walima (post marriage lunch/Dinner) hosted by
groom side.
5. No Nikah by any Ulema in any other form of marriage except the
accepted one.
To make this working there are two models. In model one the people
should be asked to register volunteer ally and form a group .This group
will work for the extension of this model on larger scale. This model
should be start from any village supported by Ulema and request more
and more people to work in their respective village.
While in second model, the entire community should be taken into
consideration by taking help from Imarat-e-Sharia, Mukhia of the
villages and the influential persons of the society, the social
activist etc. To make this model effective there should be anti dowry
convention .This convention should be in Patna .The Ulema of other
district should be requested to participate through the use of print
and electronic media .The convention declared dowry as unIslamic and
Haraam. Request the Ulemas and Maulanas to not read Nikah in such
marriage and pass the social code for marriage for the community in the
light of above mentioned points.
This would be a humble beginning but every humble beginning is the
start of a big revolution.
|
Download pdf
