No more evil customs in Pakistani marriages? (Merged)

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No more “evil Hindu” customs in Pakistani marriages?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3986615.stm

Court upholds wedding feast ban

By Zaffar Abbas
BBC News, Islamabad

The law does not apply to the serving of food in a house
Pakistan’s Supreme Court has upheld a ban on serving food at wedding receptions held in public places.
The court ruled the ban was not against Islamic teachings and should remain in force as it discourages extravagant displays of wealth.

The ban on serving food at wedding functions held in public places was imposed by the government in 1997.

In practice, it is largely ignored as technically it only permits the serving of tea or soft drinks.

Nationwide law

Headed by the Chief Justice, Nazim Hussain Shah, the three-judge court bench also ruled against a recent decision in by the government in the province of Punjab to allow the serving of one course of food during weddings.

The court ruled that a complete ban should remain enforced across the country.

In its detailed verdict, the court said it did not agree with the argument presented by the challenger that the law effectively prohibited the Islamic practice of holding a “walima” or wedding reception.

Through custom, the “walima” has come to include the serving of rich and elaborate food.

The court ruled that the law never prohibited the holding of the “walima”.

It said people were at liberty to celebrate their marriage by having a “walima”, but were barred from ostentatious displays of wealth.

The law does not apply to the serving of food in a house and consumed by members of the family celebrating the marriage or the house guests, the court said.

‘Evil custom’

According to the Supreme Court, the government’s decision was in line with the teachings of Islam, which lays great emphasis on a simple way of life.

The law also takes the pressure off lower income groups who feel obliged to spend large sums of money on wedding celebrations, the court said.

The Supreme Court also described the practice of giving dowry by the bride’s family as an evil and exploitative custom, and said the state should do everything to stop it.

The court bench then went a step further to criticise some of the most popular customs linked to South Asian weddings, including the colourful rituals of mayun and mehndi (where the bride is decorated and prepared for the wedding) and baraat (a procession by the groom’s friends and family to the bride’s house), which are dominated by dance and music.

The bench said these customs and even the giving of large dowries were all of Hindu origin and have nothing to do with the Islamic concept of marriage.

Describing them as social evils, the court said the state should take steps to eradicate them.

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whether they are evil customs of hindu origins, arab origins or those of lesotho, burundi, burkina faso etc, its a good thing to see that there is some enforcement.

The race to do better than the joneses or javeds .. and show sha at shaadis etc posed a huge buren on people, by discouraging this as well as the large dowry demands the govt is doing a good thing.

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The court gave a lot of emphasis on "Islam calls for simple way of life", but ignored that "Islam also says to take good care of your guests". So I am not sure if its a totally black and white issue. However, I am convinced that the "greater public interest" is served with this ban, and hence it should remain in force.

The key is enforcement. Unless the law is enforced across the board in a fair and transparent manner, it loses its value. I know it was implemented strictly during Nawaz Sharif's time, and one of the reasons was that police was not involved in the enforcement, but rather elected representatives were entrusted with the tast of fines and penalties. Musharaf government really never cared about this, so my guess is that right now enforcement is pretty weak. And that creates more problems for those who want to keep it simple.

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nooooooooo

does the ban start now???

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Its been in place for the last few years.

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^ But they removed it in the middle...?

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No, they never officially removed it. The enforcement was slack after Nawaz Sharif's government went away. Plus, lately Punjab government had allowed one dish to be served. Apparently in this new court ruling, they disallowed that one-dish as well, so its back to drinks.

From a practical standpoint, you can serve anything at your home, so what a lot of people do is, they invite all guests to the hotel and serve them soup, softdrink, tea etc. Then selected gues - mostly family and close friends - are invited back home for a full meal. Doubles up the hassle, but c'est la vie.

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Couldn’t “home” be wherever one is, as long as one is with loved ones? :hoonh:

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Great way to kill the catering business and all the people who were employed by them. Yeah, let get the govt involved in everything and when it becomes a nanny state then complain about everything.

If someone wants to show off, let them. It gives business to all those catering companies and shaadi halls, which employee many people, and pump money into the economy.

[quote]
The court ruled the ban was not against Islamic teachings and should remain in force as it discourages extravagant displays of wealth.

[/quote]

Let's also pass a law that all women are going to wear full abaya from now on, men will have full beards, TV will only be for Quran and NEWS and all co-ed schools are banned. Why just stop at banning food serving at weddings? Oh and let's not forget about banning any car that is not a Suzuki Alto, because anything else is an extravagant display of wealth.

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its so retarted..wat makes em think ppl wont do it

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Originally posted by TeenDabbyWala: *
**Great way to kill the catering business and all the people who were employed by them. *

Kyun bhai, aap bundo khan kay rishtaaydaar hain kya?
oh no catering can go on, you can cater at any event except shaadis

If someone wants to show off, let them. It gives business to all those catering companies and shaadi halls, which employee many people, and pump money into the economy.

for those who can afford to show off sure, but when people who can not afford it are forced into it whether it is societal pressures, the need to keep up, or the "izzat" of the other side thatthey throw a lavish feast when it becomes a problem. is this a long term fix, no. The mindset needs to be changed by awareness, but until that starts showing results this is a good step.

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step in rite direction to me hopefully its implicated as well

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Hopefully not till next year ^

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flip side though Fraudz is that that those who cant afford it cant cite this law as a reason for not arranging food. because you can buy the police out (i think 10k was the going rate in good places) for the night, and shadi halls actually quote prices for weddings with the rishwat included. and these arent shady secret shadi halls either, subzazaar, PC and carlton hotel, everyone just added an overhead (on the people) to cater for this law.

so instead of making things easier on low income folks its made it harder. the only thing this has done is increased income for the police.

baat wohi hay..paisey aur ziada lagte hein.. aur sath gunah bhi kamao..

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by TeenDabbyWala: *

Let's also pass a law that all women are going to wear full abaya from now on, men will have full beards, TV will only be for Quran and NEWS and all co-ed schools are banned. Why just stop at banning food serving at weddings? Oh and let's not forget about banning any car that is not a Suzuki Alto, because anything else is an extravagant display of wealth.
[/QUOTE]

Some very good suggestions , I must say. If not enforced they must atleast be encouraged!!!

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The law can be gotten around if you can tempt the police. A police patrol tried to cause problems when they caught us serving food at my brother's nikkah. We sent them away with their stomachs bloated with biryani ;)

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^Oh my goodness! Are they actually enforcing this? :eek:

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it is sad to see poor people eating out from discarded food outside the marriage halls.

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[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by mAd_ScIeNtIsT: *
The law can be gotten around if you can tempt the police. A police patrol tried to cause problems when they caught us serving food at my brother's nikkah. We sent them away with their stomachs bloated with biryani ;)
[/QUOTE]

al raashee wal murtashee....you know the rest

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Yeah. To be honest, we were lucky to get away with it because one of our guests was a minor VIP who’s presence intimidated the police enough that they said if we gave them food then they wouldn’t file a report. (they were afraid of the trouble the VIP might be able to make for them, but didn’t want to appear to back down empty handed so needed something in return).

Most of the guests were pleasantly surprised at so openly being served food and commented on how it was rare these days. Most of the wedding that I’ve been to lately in my family either do not have food being served, or claim not to be weddings.

I remember one of my cousin’s weddings in Karachi at a hotel, where the bride and groom got off the stage and changed into mere formal (not wedding) clothes while the food was served. The sign outside was changed to describe it as a dinner hosted by Mr & Mrs X (the groom’s parents) . After the food went away, the bride and groom changed back and went up on stage again, and the sign went back to being a “Walima” sign.

Unfortunately, that VIP has since retired so when my wedding inshallah comes around there will be no food as he doesn’t have the power to scare police anymore.