Listening to Sheikh Aminu Daurawa on BBC this morning expressing reservations about the new law regulating polygamy in Kano, I felt there is the need for wider consultation on the matter by HRH and the committee drafting the proposal.
Sheikh Daurawa is not a person to be ignored. He heads the Hizbah and commands a lot of public opinion and respect. As head of Hizbah, one can say he is among the most informed leaders on matrimonial problems in Kano. He clears thousands of cases yearly. He has seen it, heard it and treated it. More so, he is the quintessential Islamic scholar.
On the other side, the head of the committee drafting the matrimonial code is of no smaller stature, our dear old friend and learned scholar, Dr. Bashir Aliyu. He has everything needed of knowledge and - allow me to say - piety to head the committee. I listened to the interview he granted the BBC few days ago and surely he is doing just the superb job I expect of him. Alhamdulillah.
The aired portion of the BBC interview of "Malam Bashir" centered on the code and skipped the sensitive topic of the clearance required to allow Malam B take an additional wife. I was not there, but knowing Malam Bashir very well, he is never the kind that will indulge in public controversy. He will, by his diplomatic nature, avoid it as much as he can. So he emphasized the contents and benefits of the code to judges, lawyers, parents, spouses, and stopped there, leaving the controversy to the sponsor of the bill.
And HRH Muhammadu Sanusi II has never shied away from controversy. He emphasized his intention to limit polygamy based on economics, expectedly. The issue has proved divisive, going by the public comments that trailed his revelation. Some (comfortable) elites are supporting the plan of the Emir to ban polygamy among the poor. Others - including the poor - are against the ban based on many reasons, including a view insinuating that the whole thing is a class struggle for a resource (women) with which the rich can lavish himself with many while allowing the deprived poor, whose wealth he looted, to manage with only one.
On whatever side of the debate one may be, having a person of the calibre and mettle of Sheikh Daurawa publicly doubting the efficacy of the law and suggesting the near impossibility of its implementation means that more consultation is needed to convice the ulama. Given how swift and free our ulama are in passing judgements and the fact that Islamic law itself is inherently scholar-based, it will just take a single negative comment from a respectable Sheikh to make the law ineffective. After all, such a law can have only a moral authority as their cannot be, as a distinguished former member of the Kano State House of Assembly holds, anyhow someone constitutionally can prevent a Nigerian from adding another wife once there is consent.
So further consultation among Kano ulama on the draft is needed. Their consensus is essential.
My take: If the issue of banning the poor from taking a second wife may jeopardize the fruition of the entire matrimonial code, I suggest that that portion of the draft be dropped. The public must not be deprived from the fantastic benefits of the code by just one controversial provision. Let HRH make a tactical withdrawal if necessary.
If time allows me, I intend to summarize the contributions made by different commentators here on social media and forward same to the committee. I believe a lot of important issues have been raised that warrant the consideration of the able Dr. Bashir and his committee.
Meanwhile, scholars like Sheikh Daurawa and HRH must reconcile their stands for the Kano matrimonial code to succeed. Otherwise, the law will be dead at arrival.
Kanawa, a daidaita sahu!
Aliyu U. Tilde
24/2/17
24/2/17
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