More than meets the eye

I HAVE much respect for Mr Ismail M Moola both as a community leader and a seasoned letter writer of note but I beg to differ with him. While I agree that interracial marriage is a personal choice, there’s more to it than meets the eye.

Tradition rules that when a woman marries, she follows her husband‘s religion and culture.

This is shown symbolically in a Hindu wedding where the bride’s tail end of the sari (Mundhani])is tied to the bridegroom’s outfit as she follows him round the canopy ( poundal).

Pakistani cricketer Imraam Khan’s first wife, Jemima Goldsmith, converted to Islam and followed her husband to Pakistan when he became a politician. Even in civil unions the man is deemed to be the head of the household and the bride invariably adopts her husband’s surname.

But not so with Rabia Clarke when she married the grandson of the great Nelson Mandela, Mandla Mandela. Though Mandla comes from a rich cultural and political background, he forsook his Xhosa traditions and converted to Islam when he married his fourth wife, Rabia.

Booed and called a traitor when he turned up, not with his new bride but with his third wife for the State of the Nation Address, he defended his Muslim marriage by saying it was his “religious choice”. But could a Muslim be the traditional chief of the Mvezo?

Islam condemns apostasy and in some parts of the Muslim world ruled by Sharia Law it is punishable by death. A Sudanese court sentenced a pregnant woman to death for renouncing Islam and marrying a Christian. Only after worldwide revulsion and condemnation did the court relent and free the woman and her newborn child.

But Islam is not alone in its rigid adherence to its scriptures and traditions.

Both Christianity and Islam are domineering religions and are known for their intolerance over the ages. They will welcome others into their fold but will not allow their followers to convert to another faith. I have yet to hear of a Christian or Muslim in the Indian community becoming a Hindu.

In countries north of the Sahara most of the Blacks have been converted to Islam. Here in Durban, black people working in Muslim businesses usually have Muslim names – Mohammed, Ismail, Farouk and Ally just as Indians adopt English names after they become Christians.

Will Mandla become Yousaf or Ebrahim? How will his grandfather feel about his great name being adulterated?

The issue is not interracial marriage but Mandla’s traditional beliefs being overwhelmed by Islam, much like a female praying mantis devouring the male after mating.

So how personal was Mandla’s choice, Mr Moola? THYAGARAJ MARKANDAN

Silverglen