south african muslims oppose the MPL (muslim personal law) Bill

%u201CThen We established you on a Shariah with regard to (your affairs). Therefore follow IT, and do not follow the base desires of those who do not know (what they are doing).%u201D

(Qur%u2019aan)  

Resurrecting the haraam mpl bill 

   Muslims will recall that not so long ago there was intense argument in the community on the so-called Muslim Personal Law Bill (MPL). The vehement objection of the Muslim community to the proposed MPL Bill which was an abhorrent act of mutilation of the Shariah, had compelled the votaries of the Haraam Bill to shelve and abandon the exercise. While they had gone into hibernation, it appears that they had no real intention of abandoning the Haraam Bill. Moves are currently being made to resurrect the Bill and to have it imposed on Muslims in contravention of their Islamic and constitutional rights. 

   In the past, the MPL plot had failed on three occasions. Each time that the satanic MPL head appeared, it was beaten down by the Muslim community. This time, those molvis and sheikhs who are bent on tampering with the Shariah, have adopted another cunning stratagem. They have taken cover behind the skirts of non-Muslim women whom they have put up as a front for their nefarious MPL conspiracy. Their front is the Women%u2019s Legal Centre (WLC) which is a non-Muslim women%u2019s organization.  

   The WLC has brought an application in the Constitutional Court seeking an order to compel the government to introduce an MPL Bill for the enactment of legislation to %u2018recognize%u2019 Muslim marriages and to regulate the consequences of such legal recognition. By %u2018recognition%u2019 is meant legal recognition by the secular non-Muslim government. Our marriages are recognized in the Heavens and are recorded in the Sacred Tablet in Looh-e-Mahfooz. We do not need a %u2018recognition%u2019 at the cost of tampering and mutilating the Shariah of Allah Ta%u2019ala. 

   In the past we have explained in detail in booklets as well as in many issues of The Majlis the evils, harms and dangers of MPL which is a plot to cancel the divine Shariah of the Qur%u2019aan.  The MPL conspiracy originated in the West. It is a plot to bring about change of Islam from within in subtle ways and stratagems, and by camouflaging the kufr with Islamic nomenclature. We shall, Insha%u2019Allah, once again be publishing a series of literature to educate Muslims on this haraam MPL issue. 

   The immediate demand is for the Muslim community to voice strong objection and to protest against the legal action which the WLC has initiated against the government. The non-Muslim Women%u2019s Legal Centre has no right to represent the Muslim community, least of all Muslim Women.  While the plotters against Islam are clamouring for a Muslim Personal Law Bill, their silence  regarding a Jewish Personal Law Bill and a Hindu Personal Law Bill is deafening and sinister. Why did this non-Muslim women%u2019s organization select the Muslim community for its suspicious action? 

   It is the Waajib duty of every Muslim %u2013 man and woman %u2013 as well as of organizations, to write to the WLC to make them aware that we detest their intrusion in our religious affairs. They must be warned to abstain from entanglement in Islamic affairs. Write to them, and highlight the following facts:

(1)  You (i.e. the Women%u2019s Legal Centre) do not represent the Muslim community.

(2)  You have not been mandated by the Muslim community to speak on behalf of its women.

(3) Muslim women are satisfied with the Shariah of the Qur%u2019aan, and they do not need your interference.

(5)  We do not want any Muslim Personal Law legislation. We are opposed to it and reject it.

(6)  Abandon your legal attempt to have imposed on us laws which are in conflict with our Shariah. 

The contact details of the WLC are:  The Women%u2019s Legal Centre, P.O.Box 5356, Cape Town 8000.  Fax  021-421 1386.