Interfaith wedding offers opportunity to question role of Muslim leaders

HAS the MJC (Muslim Judicial Council) lost its moral compass?

In a recent interfaith wedding where both Muslim and Hindu rituals were performed and described by the father of the bride as an embrace of diversity, an excellent opportunity to question the role of religious leaders in society has arisen.

The flurry of activity on social media critical of the juxtaposition of divergent religious rituals is not surprising.

Rightfully, the married couple is at liberty to celebrate their nuptials in a closed reception any way they deem fit for their union.

What makes this event the community’s business is that several Muslim religious scholars of the MJC – current and former – were present.

If what transpired is not debated publicly there will, indeed, be private discourse which has the potential to be divisive. Did the MJC leaders who witnessed the Verdic marriage rituals object or stage a walkout, or can we assume that their continued presence implied they sanctioned those controversial rituals allowed by the father of the bride?

There was the Verdic tradition of the married couple’s circumambulation of the fire while making promises and pledging to each other which is considered an essential component for the marriage to be recognised in the Hindu faith.

In Islam, calling on another god is akin to assigning a partner to the omnipotent God. Muslims are forbidden from calling on any other god except the Almighty.

With such an act a person would lose his/her link to the Muslim faith. If any Hindu god(s) were invoked then the bridal couple would have lost their link to the Muslim faith.

Since the Muslim leaders would have witnessed the invocations to a god represented by fire at the ceremony, the MJC owes a response to the Muslims of South Africa for the conduct of its members.

ADIEL ISMAIL Mount View