WUNRN
15-Jan-09
More
and more Uzbeks are marrying according to the Muslim rite but without going
through the civil registration process. Commentators note that unless a marriage
is officially recognised, wives in particular enjoy few legal protections.
On January 5, the Uzbek internet portal 12.uz reported that President Islam
Karimov had launched a campaign to deter people from going through marriage –
and divorce too – with only a religious blessing and no formal registration.
Local media have articulated official concerns about the growing number of
divorces involving partners with no marriage certificate, after which the wife
is liable to lose all her property.
Some people in Uzbekistan agree with this view, arguing that a wedding
conducted outside the state system can often mean storing up problems for the
future.
“If the marriage ceremony is held in the mosque [only], divorce cannot legally
take place and neither party can make claims to property,” said 19-year-old
Jahongir, who is planning to get married himself.
The young man from Tashkent has already submitted all his documents to the
civil authorities, and believes it will safeguard both him and his wife-to-be.
“In the case of divorce, for instance, each spouse can claim a share of
property, and child custody and support”, he said.
Charos, a 26-year-old also from Tashkent who has a marriage certificate, is
sure the system is the best way of ensuring both partners honour their
obligations. A marriage contracted by religious rite is only as good as the
spouses’ words.
“Men in religious marriages may disregard their responsibilities as husbands,
thinking that they can easily dissolve their marriage by saying 'talaq' to
their wives three times,” she said, referring to the Islamic prescription for
divorce. “However, if a marriage has been registered officially, the divorcing
spouses are given some time to think and change their minds and thus save their
family.”
Others disagree, saying that the “unofficial” kind of marriage can be as
lasting as an official one, if both partners have gone into it with consent and
careful consideration and swear an oath to God.
Amina, an 18-year-old from the Tashkent region, got married according to the
Muslim rite recently, and does not plan to follow this with a civil ceremony.
“In Islam you don’t have to register your marriage officially,” she said.
The vast majority of the 27-million people in Uzbekistan are Muslim.
Legal experts say couples will find it hard without a marriage license in daily
life, since that means they cannot obtain birth certificates for their children
naming them as parents. Nor can they apply for a joint mortgage or business
loan.
In all likelihood, then, the bulk of people who go through the tradition Muslim
wedding ceremony will continue contacting a civil-law marriage as well.
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