BREAKING NEWS!!

VICTORY FOR MUSLIM WOMEN IN SA

Muslim couples can now register their marriages with a valid Nikah certificate with the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) and the marriage will be registered on the National Population Register and the couples will receive a South African Muslim marriage certificate.

SHARIAH MUSLIM MARRIAGE EXPLAINED

South African Muslim Marriage Certificates can now be issued for Muslim Marriage Couples

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Both wife and husband to be present and consent to be married to each other under the Muslim marriage
• Copies of ID documents/ID cards/ Affidavit
• Two representatives need to be present, one from each family, with certified copies of their IDs and a sworn declaration/affidavit from the SAPS from each one confirming full details of the marriage celebration and their attendance. The couple must state the Dowry agreement in their affidavit. A Sharia law marriage certificate, commonly known as a (Nikah certificate), must be submitted for marriage registration.
• If one of the spouses is deceased, the surviving spouse must submit a sworn affidavit, as well as a sworn affidavit by a family member who witnessed the marriage (preferably from the deceased family).
• The issue of a marriage certificate costs R 20.00 after registration, which can take 3-5 working days. 
• If one of the spouses is deceased, the applicant needs to apply for an unabridged marriage certificate with a fee of R75.00 payable

CLICK HERE TO > LEARN MORE ABOUT HOME AFFAIRS REQUIREMENTS <

THE ORIGINAL CERTIFICATE notifying Home Affairs of changes
to the Registration of Marriages Bill

The exclusion of Muslim marriages from the country’s legal system also deprived many Muslim women of their rights during marriage and divorce, such as property rights and maintenance. However, with the recent proposed amendments, the country is taking significant steps towards undoing this injustice and protecting the rights of Muslim couples and their families. The amendments pushed by AL JAMA-AH to the Divorce Act remove discrimination and hardship for children born in a nikah marriage and wives facing talaq.

The Al Jama-Ah political party introduced two private member bills in late 2022, pushing for further changes to divorce and marriage laws. Mogamad Ganief Hendricks, the leader of the party, noted that without such changes, countless Muslim marriages and families would continue to suffer.

Amongst other crucial areas of amendments, clause one of the amendments is an insertion of a new definition of Muslim marriage recognised by the Constitutional Court Judgment to be part of South Africa’s common law. Clause 2 amends section 6 of the Divorce Act by providing safeguarding mechanisms for minors or dependents of a Muslim Marriage. Clause three of the bill amends section 7 of the Divorce Act by empowering a court to grant a divorce decree on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage to make an order regarding the redistribution of assets. Further, clause four amends section 9 of the Divorce Act to empower a court when granting a divorce, a decree on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage to give an order that patrimonial benefits of a Muslim marriage be forfeited in stipulated terms

Al Jama-ah received a mandate from its voters in the 2019 national elections to submit private members’ Bills to get the Legislature to recognize Shariah personal law and a correct definition of a Shariah marriage. The efforts of the party’s single member of Parliament and party leader have borne fruits, and Al Jamaah has emerged as one of the foremost voices in protecting the legal rights of Muslim marriages in a predominantly Christian society.

OUR AMENDMENTS ON DIVORCE BILL APPROVED BY CABINET

AL JAMA-AH’s four amendments to the Divorce Act 1997 have been approved by Cabinet last week. In 2022 the Party submitted two private members bills to Parliament calling for the recognition of Muslim Marriages and for amendments to the Divorce Act which will afford Muslims legal discourse in matters of dispute. The new Draft Marriages Bill will now be open for public comment.

“In June 2022, the Constitutional Court had found that the Divorce Act in its current form to be inconsistent with the Constitution as it excludes Muslim Marriages. The court found that a section of the Divorce Act is unconstitutional in that it unfairly discriminates against child of married parents and those of unmarried parents,” said Minister in The Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni.

Of the five clauses proposed to amend unconstitutional sections of the Divorce Act, the four clauses proposed by Al Jama-ah are:

• Clauses 1 – insertion of a new definition of Muslim marriage recognised by the

Constitutional Court Judgement to be part of South Africa’s common law.

• Clause 2 – amends section 6 of the Divorce Act by providing safeguarding mechanisms for minors or dependants of a Muslim
• Clause 3 – amends section 7 of the Divorce Act by empowering a court to grant a divorce decree on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage to make an order with regard to the redistribution of
• Clause 4 – amends section 9 of the Divorce Act to empower a court when granting a divorce a decree on the dissolution of a Muslim marriage to give an order that patrimonial benefits of a Muslim marriage be forecited in stipulated

The amendments include Al Jama-ah’s proposed definition of a Muslim marriage under Section 1 of the Divorce Amendment bill: “A marriage concluded in accordance with Islamic Law, that is, Shariah, which regulates all public and private behaviour as derived from traditional customs (Al-Urf), the two primary sources, namely, the Quran and Sunnah (Prophetic model) and that uses juristic tools such as ijma (the consensus) of Muslim Jurists and the individual jurist’s qiyas (analogical deductions) to issue legal edicts.”

The proposed amendments will allow Muslim women to access the divorce court which will give them the same benefits and protection as minor and dependent children in civil marriages. Due to the non-recognition of Muslim marriages, many Muslim families have suffered because of the harm South African legal system has caused as regards Muslim marriages; in these, Muslim wives and their children were often left destitute, homeless, and penniless when the spouse (that is, the husband) dies or agrees to a divorce.

Discrimination

Muslim women have for many years face hardships due to the non-recognition of Muslim marriages. The discriminatory clauses not only denied Muslim women their rights as espoused in Islam, but also from the rights women of other faiths enjoy under the current South African civil law and the Constitution of 1996. In many cases women were left helpless as the existing law does not enforce the husband to fulfil his obligations to the wife and children according to Islam. Islam has granted women fundamental rights but due to the patriarchal social system women are being denied their rights.

The current civil law leaves women in cases of divorce impoverished despite their financial contributions to the marriage; they are easily alienated from the benefits of the Intestate Succession Act 81 of 1987 and the Maintenance of Surviving Spouses Act 27 of 1990.

“The non-recognition of Muslim marriages thus permits the persistent alienation of Muslim women from their rights provided for in Islam which impedes on their personhood and dignities,” says adv Fayruz Nagia.

The discrimination against Muslim women and the hardships they endure, were for the first time raised in by a Member of Parliament, Al Jama-ah’s leader Hon Ganief Hendricks. “This was Al Jama-ah’s 2019 Election Manifesto mandate from the Muslim community to pursue for the recognition of Nikah marriages so Muslim women can access the Divorce Court for their rights in terms of Shariah for their share of the estates at time of Talaq or death of a spouse,” says Hendricks.

This new bill will assist the office of the family advocate to assist with the investigation, welfare, and best interest of minor children; the help will be extended to the children born from a Muslim marriage as well as parents will no longer suffer under the inconsistencies and prejudice of the previous Act.

Rights in Shariah

Shariah puts great emphasis on Freedom, Justice, and Rights; however, these have been misunderstood by many despotic regimes in the Muslim world. They imposed certain aspects of Islamic Law and yet ignored many other aspects which made Muslims to only belief that which was propagated by despotic regimes. One cannot speak about Islamic Law or Shariah without referring to the three major issues which are emphasised in Islam, which is freedom, justice, and rights.

“Freedom meaning, not only Muslims but whoever is resident in the place where Islam is ruling, must be free. Freedom of conviction is a prerequisite for being Muslim. The concept of freedom is one of the imperatives in Shariah,” says Shaykh Ramadan Ahmed.

On the question of Justice, he says: “all the citizens of a state must be equal before the law and there is nobody who is above the law, no matter what position they occupy in society. Whatever is Right by nature, the state should fulfil its obligations towards its citizens. These are three major elements without which you can never talk about Islam in the context of the state,” he says.