Despite the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) backpedalling on its commitment to the consensus on the proposed reforms to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA), the move to amend the legislation is to continue as planned, The Sunday Morning learns.

The MMDA reforms have been in the pipeline for decades and this month finally saw concrete headway being made. 

Muslim Council of Sri Lanka Vice President Hilmy Ahmed said the proposed reforms would see the age of marriage being increased to 18 and women being appointed as quazis. 

He also said that polygamy would be allowed but only under strict conditions. 

Quazi system 

“Any quazi undertaking a marriage outside the reform conditions will be liable to a fine of up to Rs. 150,000 or a similar jail term. Islam does not require any legal proceedings from marriage other than what is called a nikah, so it is very likely that this will be abused. This is why strict conditions are being introduced for anybody who is undertaking to preside over an illegal marriage, with them being liable to prosecution under the current laws,” he said. 

Ahmed added that it had also been proposed that financial support should be ensured in the instance a husband decided to take a second wife. 

“We have even suggested that if the first wife decides to stay in the house where she has lived with the husband, then she’s entitled to the house or the husband must provide alternate housing which is of a similar condition. The first wife must be looked after and her living conditions must be ensured, including support for any children. The Judicial Service Commission (JSC), which has control over the quazis, will be the authoritative body enforcing these conditions. Once these reforms are made the quazi will be held liable.”

He noted that a benefit of retaining the quazi system was that marital issues could be resolved swiftly and without legal costs to either party.

“One of the main reasons we are demanding that the quazi system be retained is because otherwise resolution of marital affairs will require district court’s or the magistrate’s court’s involvement. This will require lawyers and a minimum charge for a lawyer is around Rs. 25,000 and resolution can take up to five to 10 years. However, in a quazi court the matter can sometimes be resolved in less than three months or a maximum of nine months with zero costs to the parties. People appear in person and there are no charges whatsoever.” 

Issues resolved 

On 8 December, a meeting was held in the Parliament Complex between the Muslim parliamentarians and the Minister of Justice as well as members of the committee headed by Attorney-at-Law Shabry Haleemdeen. 

It was communicated to the Justice Minister that consensus had been reached among the MPs and the broader Muslim community over the proposed reforms. 

“Following the meeting of the Muslim MPs and the Minister of Justice along with the Haleemdeen committee members, there is now consensus over the reforms. We have reached an agreement and there is no further controversy within the community because whatever disagreements existed have now been settled and matters have been agreed upon,” Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Leader MP Rauff Hakeem told The Sunday Morning.  

He said that the contentious issues such as the age of marriage, the quazi system, and polygamy had been addressed and resolved. “The age of marriage will be 18, women can be appointed as quazis, and every reform that was suggested by the Saleem Marsoof committee has been agreed upon. Polygamy will be retained but strict conditions have been imposed as it is based on the quranic principles and whatever the Quran mentions will have to be strictly followed. 

“Polygamy is an option to be allowed under very strict conditions in the proposed new law. Not everyone can marry a second wife. He will have to have the requisite qualifications to apply and he must even get the first wife’s consent; all that has to be properly established. No Muslim male will have carte blanche to contract a second marriage.” 

Muslim Civil Society Alliance consensus 

A letter dated 18 November 2022 by the Muslim Civil Society Alliance which had been signed by all Muslim MPs was handed over to the Minister of Justice. It read:

“The position of the Muslim Civil Society Alliance which is a broad-based organisation representing numerous Muslim organisations is as follows;

• The quazi system should not be abolished but reformed as suggested by the committee;

• Polygamous marriages of Muslim males should be permitted subject to the stringent conditions specified in the additional report of the committee.”

Moreover, the letter stated that there was consensus among the Muslim community that women should be permitted to be appointed as quazis and as members of the boards of quazis, the age of marriage should be 18, and the bride should sign the marriage certificate.

The Muslim Civil Society Alliance includes the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, the Muslim Council of Sri Lanka, the National Shoora Council, and the All Ceylon YMMA Conference. The endorsement of these organisations was given for the proposed reforms. 

“The letter was to convey to the Minister that all the disagreements that existed within the community have now been settled and that we have all agreed that the progressive reforms should be included,” MP Hakeem said.

ACJU backtracks 

However, the following week on 15 December, the Strengthen MMDA organisation issued a statement via its Facebook page stating that it had reached out to several organisations in the Muslim Civil Society Alliance including the ACJU and had been informed that none of them had been consulted in drafting the said letter to the Minister. 

In response to this, the ACJU issued a letter to the Strengthen MMDA organisation, denying that it had agreed to the reforms and adopted a complete U-turn in the stance that had been expressed in the letter handed over to the Minister of Justice.

“With reference to the above mentioned letter dated 18 November 2022, we wish to state that the points stated therein were not drafted with due consultation of ACJU and are contrary to the stance of ACJU. It should be noted that we have informed the concerned parties regarding this matter.

“The ‘Report on Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act by Union of Religious Scholars’ dated 22 January 2021, which declares the stance of ACJU, is attached herewith for your reference.

“We wish to reiterate that since inception, the stance of ACJU has been very clearly declared, especially with reference to the appointment of women quazis and the stance of wali which are in accordance with the Shafi’i school of thought.”

When asked how this would affect the MMDA reform process, MP Hakeem expressed criticism of the ACJU. 

“We are not concerned about whether the ACJU has distanced itself from the letter or not. We will stand by what we have signed. That is my position. The ACJU can’t be playing games with this issue for so long. We have, with great difficulty, resolved these issues. These are intra community issues. We signed that document because there was consent.”

He said that the reforms were essential and that the continuous hindrance of the process was unnecessary and frustrating to the community. “They should not be blocking these things over unnecessary dogmatic issues. We are also somewhat annoyed with the continuous blockage of reforms. These are timely reforms that are needed and such organisations have been responsible for dragging this for too long. We have come to a conclusion and everybody has signed, so it is not possible to back out now. I will not change my position.”

He asserted that reforms would go ahead regardless of the stance of the ACJU. Meanwhile, attempts to contact the ACJU for comments failed.