MMDA: 67 Years Old Law, 30 Years Of Muslim Women’s Struggle, 5 Reform Attempts – Will Justice Minister Give Into ACJU Bully?
Shreen Saroor
67 years old law, 30 years of Muslim women’s struggle, 5 reform attempts and 9 years of deliberation of Justice Saleem Marsoof’s Committee on MMDA reform –What is next?
“Fear Allah! Do not do injustice to your own community women and girls” was the slogan of many of the women who stood near the parliament opposing the elected Muslim men discussing the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) reform report with All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU – yet another males only body) on 24thJuly 2018. There would have been about 30 of them, yet it was powerful, because at least a dozen of them were victims of MMDA and they were protesting for the very first time in public and questioning a religious body that has self nominated itself as guardians and has been monopolizing the religious and community spaces without much resistance or questioning of their legitimacy. Actually ACJU’s politicking goes way beyond how some of our communal minded members of parliament have used the religion for their political advancement. The most recent example is the ACJU’s decision of celebrating the Ramadan festival a day later even after the first moon has been sighted by many.
The MMDA reform report was handed over in January this year to the Justice Minister Hon. Thalatha Atukorale by the chairperson after 09 long years of deliberations by the 18-member committee. It took almost 06 months for justice ministry to release this report officially in the justice ministry website while the report was leaked to media a few times. However the committee members are split into two and each group has given a different set of recommendations on the matters that they could not come to agreement.
There is a lot of talk about the disagreements between these two groups and each trying to claim whose report is valid and whose recommendations should be acceptable under Sharia principles and Islamic jurisprudence. In this back drop we see the 24th meeting as part of a plot by the ACJU through a cabinet minister, who from the initial discussion of the reform process has very vehemently argued, wrongly, that MMDA is a divine law thus untouchable. One thing must be stressed here is that on almost 2/3 of the issues raised on this law as requiring revisions the full committee of 18 have agreed. There is unanimity on making conditions to polygamy, seeking women’s consent for marriage, compulsory compensation to women for unilateral Thalaq etc. However there are among others at least 4 key issues on which the committee is split into two and these are core to many women’s groups and affected women’s demand for reform pertaining to the substantive part of this law:
