WUNRN
A
fatwa is an Islamic religious ruling, a scholarly opinion on a matter of
Islamic law. http://islam.about.com/od/law/g/fatwa.htm
LEBANON - TOP SUNNI MUSLIM CLERIC
ISSUES FATWA AGAINST CIVIL MARRIAGE
Lebanon's top Sunni Muslim
authority, Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, pictured here on August
27, 2010. Qabbani issued a fatwa against moves to legalise civil marriages in
Lebanon. (AFP)
By AFP - Beirut - 30 January 2013
Lebanon’s top Sunni Muslim authority on Monday issued a fatwa against moves
to legalize civil marriages inside the country, where couples of different
faiths have to travel abroad to tie the knot.
The religious edict came a day after President Michel Sleiman tweeted that he
would remain steadfast in supporting such unions, while Prime Minister Najib
Mikati wrote on his Twitter account that a consensus was required to address
the issue.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani issued the fatwa
branding as an apostate any Muslim politician who approves civil marriage
legislation.
“Any Muslim with legal or executive authority in Lebanon who supports the
legalization of civil marriage is an apostate and outside the religion of
Islam,” he said on the website of Dar al-Fatwa, the official institution for
fatwas.
“There are predators lurking among us, trying to sow the bacteria of civil
marriage in Lebanon, but they should know that the religious scholars will not
hesitate to do their duty” and prevent the passage of such a bill.
Qabbani said offenders would not be eligible to be buried in a Muslim cemetery.
Sleiman, a Christian, tweeted that he would “respond to the evolution and
aspirations of the people and prepare the appropriate laws for the issue of
civil marriage.”
“There are authorities opposed to civil marriage, but this will not sway my
convictions or my quest to put the train on the right track,” he said in
another tweet.
But after meeting Sleiman on Sunday, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, a Sunni,
tweeted in Arabic “the current circumstances do not allow us to address new
controversial topics that create divisions.”
He added in English: “I believe that the civil marriage issue cannot be dealt
with from a top-down approach.”
The campaign for civil marriage in multi-faith Lebanon, which is considered a
liberal Arab country in a conservative region, has gained momentum with a
daring initiative to create new jurisprudence.
Kholoud Sukkarieh and Nidal Darwish announced earlier this month they had wed
as a secular couple by having their religious sects legally struck from their
family registers under an article dating from the 1936 French mandate.
Sleiman has since lobbied for a civil marriage law as a “very important step in
eradicating sectarianism and solidifying national unity.”
Despite a long-running campaign by civil groups, civil marriage has no legal
basis in Lebanon, a country of around four million people who belong to 18
different religious communities, mainly Christian and Muslim.
Former president Elias Hrawi in 1998 proposed a similar law, which gained
approval from the cabinet only to be halted amid widespread opposition from the
country’s religious authorities.
Lebanese authorities recognize civil weddings only if they have been registered
abroad, and thousands of mixed-faith couples have traveled to nearby Cyprus or
Turkey to marry.
Most religious faiths have their own regulations governing marriage, divorce
and inheritance, and mixed Christian-Muslim weddings in Lebanon are often
discouraged unless one of the potential spouses converts.
Christian religious authorities have yet to comment on the issue.