YEP, THAT’S RIGHT ALL YOU GOD-FEARING MUSLIM MEN! DON’T THINK YOU CAN AFFORD TO TAKE CARE OF ANOTHER WIFE? WHY LET THAT RULE STOP YOU? DON’T WORRY ABOUT IT – WE’VE GOT YOU COVERED. YOU CAN TAKE YOUR EXISTING WIFE’S PROPERTY TO SUPPORT THE NEW ONE!
Anyone else just sick of the way every Talha, Dawud and Hussein wants to make sure it’s easy for Muslim men to marry more than one woman (after all, it’s your DUTY!) but NOBODY seems to care about upholding the rights of the Muslimah?
It’s utterly appalling, disgusting, nauseating, revolting, sickening, insulting, horrifying — I could go on (and on). And that women lawmakers have been ordered to “toe the line”…!
Rights? What rights? Rights — haha, I laugh at the concept. [/sarcasm]
How these men can go home and face their daughters, sisters, mothers, and wives is beyond me. And by God I don’t want to be in their shoes when it comes time to Answer for this…
I agree with b. It’s a sad thing…
As-Salaamu ‘alaikum,
I don’t understand what authority they use to allow a man to take his wife’s property. I was always under the impression that a man could not put his hand on his wife’s property; it was his duty to support his wives whether he has one or four. I wonder who they are trying to please with this – such laws are usually a means of demonstrating one’s religious commitment for political reasons.
Salaam, Yusuf;
I don’t know who they could be possibly trying to please with this — I’ve never seen any interpretation of Islam that allowed a man to put a hand on his wife’s property, and that includes the more “repressive” interpretations out there. Would even the T@lib@n have gone this far?
The article is without context, perhaps, but it still seems to me that even if you had context, the end result would be the same — the ones who benefit most are misogynic men who abuse Islam, instead of following the ideals that are central to Islam…and if that’s the political group that’s being pandered to, Muslim Malaysian women have a long, hard row to hoe.
Walaikum asalaam,
That’s what I don’t get either, Yusuf. I agree with b. As far as I know, there is NO school of thought that allows the husband to have any control over his wife’s property. They want to make it easier for polygyny? – fine. I’m ok with that. But I just can’t understand where the govt came up with this legislation allowing the husband to take her property. I’ve done a quick google search for further info but couldn’t find anything in detail about the legislation.
I think having more than one wife is crazy.
How could you possible dedicate your heart to one person… your affection… your attention… your committment?
But, if she lets you take her property… go for it!
The way the BBC article is worded though, it makes it seem the husband can take his wife’s property without her consent which is a big no no. What this is effectively doing is taking away the woman’s God-given right to own property and distribute it as she sees fit. Sure… if she is happy to give her stuff away there is no hassle.
I would see it as a natural deduction that a man can use his wifes property to support other wives. (don’t jump on me yet) Since the article points out that the wife will be dependent upon a man to do with her property as she wants, i.e a wakil set up like here in Saudi she wouldn’t be seen as a full owner of the property. This set up says, a woman can not have full control over property, she can not buy sell or dispose of her property, buisness, or income that is totally controlled by her. The controller is the husband who would have the legal rights over her property, if he wanted he could give the go ahead to seel her property and pocket the funds.
Its a totally messed up way of thinking, but when you go from point a to point b with a system that doesn’t think of women as fully capable functioning adults you’ll end up with garbage like this.
* do note I don’t agree with the very foundation of this thinking. Let alone agree with in anyway that a man can Islamically rip off his wife and get more wives as a result. So sad Malaysia is doing this, I love Malaysia, but this is uggghhh