Qazis in Andhra Pradesh are extremely cautious about performing marriages between local girls and foreign nationals with the result that very few such marriages take place.
Readers may remember they were severely criticized for solemnising marriages of young Hyderabadi Muslim girls with aged Arab nationals a few years ago, and they now make it a point to cross-check the antecedents of the groom with the police, particularly if he is of Pakistani origin, reports Deccan Chronicle.
With a police complaint lodged against Shoaib Malik at the Banjara Hills police station by Mr M.A. Siddiqui, the father of Ayesha or Maha Siddiqui, who claims that the Pakistani cricketer is married to her, qazis will think twice before solemnising his marriage to Sania Mirza.
They suggest that Maliks patch up with the Siddiquis and ensure the case is withdrawn before April 15, the date set for the Shoaib-Sania marriage. This would satisfy legal, religious and moral obligations.
Mohammad Abdul Mahmood Quraishi, Chief Qazi Of Yaqutpura, Hyderabad, says: “We generally do not encourage such marriages for geo-political reasons”
“We are very cautious when it comes to the marriage of local girls with Pakistani boys even though such weddings generally take place between relatives. We insist on police verification and thoroughly do our own inquiry whether the boy has registered with the city police”, the qzi says.
Though neither the state government nor the State Waqf Board has framed any rules about marriages of local girls and foreign boys, they have issued oral guidelines in the wake of the highly publicised case of a minor girl, Ameena, being married off to an aged Arab national in 1991, and the spurt in such marriages in the early 2000s.
According to Hyderabad's Islamic scholar Moulana Hafiz Syed Shujath Hussain, for an Indian to marry a foreign national according to Islamic rites requires a No Objection Certificate.
Qazis now want a no objection certificate from the government of the foreign national. They also insist that the groom deposit his passport well in advance so that it can be verified.
“All Arab countries issue NOCs to their nationals after thorough verification. Marriages are performed in the state based on these NOCs.
But we do not know whether the government of Pakistan too issues NOCs to its prospective grooms. NOC or no NOC, our qazis generally do not entertain Pakistani boys for marriage with locals,” said Islamic scholar Moulana Hafiz Syed Shujath Hussain.
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