Sunday, November 2, 2008

Muslim Labels

I read in the paper recently about a bishop in England who proposed Muslim Marriage Laws in the country. I do not know what has happened to this proposal. Nothing has been heard since then. I have a feeling the bishop hesitates in pushing the proposal futher for fear of reprisal from the public. You see Islam is a dirty word to some people in the West.

Muslim Marriage Laws are dealt in length in both the Koran and the Tradition of Prophet Muhammad. In the Koran the laws cover a wide range of topics such as rights and responsibilities of husband and wife, divorce, reconciliation, alimony and how to split properties in the event of separation or death of spouse. The Tradition of the prophet go into yet further details even the most intimate ones, like fore play before love making as well as the prohibition against anal intercourse in heterosexual relationship.

Though a Muslim I accept parts of the Bible that are not in conflict with the Koran and I think the Christians too should reciprocate by accepting Muslim Marriage Laws that are not in conflict with the Bible. We should not be too brand conscious. Some Christians think Islam is an inferior brand of religion compared to Christianity, an established brand.

I think a Hindu marriage custom would be more palatable to the West because it does not have the word Islam in it. On a similar note if Obama were to have name like Barrak Fujimori Obama instead of Barrack Husein Obama, then he would not have problem with some American voters. You see American can accept a Japanese American for president but never a black Muslim American!

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