The Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi ll, said yesterday the proposed Kano Islamic Family Law is not meant to stop Muslims from marrying up to four wives as prescribed by Islam but to give ‘proper’ Islamic guidance on marriage and other family issues.
Speaking through the Chairman of Islamic Family Law Committee, Dr. Bashir Aliyu, Sanusi stressed that the proposed law covering marriage, inheritance, orphans, widows and divorce was meant to guide Muslims on the ‘real’ teachings of Islam, and that on polygamy, the law provides that a Muslim could marry additional wife only when he could be just in treating his wives and also had the means of taking care of them.
“These are the two conditions provided by the law and that’s what Islam says about polygamy. When passed into law, the law will help our judges and lawyers in discharging their duties as administrators of justice. It will also guide the community on how to resolve some family matters. And it will equally prevent alien laws and culture from penetrating into our religion,” he said.
He said the 40-member family law committee had already drafted the law and was currently reviewing it before submission to the main committee for final draft and subsequent passage into law by the Kano State House of Assembly.
Sanusi said the committee was able to review Islamic family laws of Morocco, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, and United Arab Emirate, Malaysia and Jordan before coming up with the draft of the proposed Kano family law.
