IT'S ABOUT SHARIA'H - The Shoaib-Sania-Ayesha affair tells its own story
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By Anuradha Dutt
Op-Ed
The Pioneer
Friday, April 9, 2010
The Shoaib-Sania-Ayesha affair tells its own story
It turned out to be a storm in a teacup when, after stridently
denying that he had married her some years ago, former Pakistani
cricket captain Shoaib Malik suddenly capitulated and divorced
Hyderabad-based Ayesha Siddiqui. Community elders claimed to have
negotiated the parting of ways, as per Islamic law.
While Indian tennis star Sania Mirza can now seal her union with
Malik, as planned, this should not be treated as the end of the
matter. This is because the acrimonious dispute over the cricketer's
marital status, with the man and his fianc�e denying that he had a
wife, in the face of all evidence to the contrary, focuses attention
on some unsavoury aspects of celebrity culture. The compulsions of
glamour and success eclipsing normal human responses and concerns,
the two sports stars behaved as if they were a law unto themselves
until Malik was forced to buckle down under public pressure.
Worse, as a foreign national, one might have expected him to be more
circumspect on alien soil. But he continued to lie through his teeth
almost till the very end. And Sania, considered to be an icon for
teenage girls, lost much of her lustre through her complicity in his
play-acting. As a prospective power couple, which could win lucrative
endorsement contracts across continents, and remain in the spotlight,
Sania and Shoaib are seen to have thrown all caution to the winds.
The affair also raises questions about the implementation of Muslim
personal law, with respect to marriage, in India and Pakistan. While
Muslim men in India are accorded the right to take four wives freely,
in Pakistan, for the man to marry again, the first or other
wife/wives apparently need to formally grant consent. And in the
matter of divorce, a period of reconciliation, involving the couple,
is mandatory. Here, the man can divorce a wife simply be pronouncing
talaq three times.
The most offensive aspect of the episode is the humiliation suffered
by his first wife, who not only publicly suffered his rejection but
had to explain why he had abandoned her. Apparently, after the nikaah
in June 2002, he began to berate her for being too over-weight and
ungainly. This would be ludicrous if it were not so overtly sexist.
In his own defence, Malik vilified Ayesha for being a terrible
letdown after alluring him with photographs of a presumably slender
female. Ayesha's mother stated on television that her daughter even
went under the knife to have some of the fat removed surgically, at
great peril to her life. It is not a far-fetched claim but a fairly
common situation, with partners' taunts forcing many women in the
West, and now, increasingly, here too among the urban upwardly mobile
section, to resort to plastic surgeons for a boost in self-esteem.
Since females are commodified more than males, they tend to be more
sensitive to taunts about appearance. Thus traumatised, she tried to
make herself more acceptable to Malik though to no avail.
Apparently, a simple apology from the player and pronouncement of
divorce would have been sufficient for Ayesha and her parents to
agree to his marrying Sania. But his refusal to acknowledge the
marriage raised their hackles and goaded them to confront him. They
finally filed a case against the cricketer under Section 506
(criminal intimidation); 420 (cheating); and 498(A) (dowry
harassment). While the cases have now been withdrawn, the public spat
has left an ugly impression, to the discredit to the celebrity duo.
One of the mediators in the dispute stated on television that they
forced a truce in the interests of relations between India and
Pakistan, among other reasons, as the situation seemed to be
spiralling out of control. There is truth in the assertion as tempers
on both sides of the border had begun to flare up over the issue.
Here, women activists had also jumped into the fray on Ayesha's
behalf; a Kolkata imam was reported to have come out against Malik's
denial of his marriage; and Sania was being castigated for her
complicity.
The one worthwhile lesson to be drawn from the affair is that the
Indian understanding of Muslim personal law with respect to marriage
and divorce is much more liberal here than in some Islamic countries.
The laxity in rules may be the reason why Malik and Sania chose to
get married in India, taking advantage of the liberal application of
Muslim law.
More at:
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Jai Maharaj, Jyotishi
Om Shanti
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