Hyderabad: In a significant step to put an end to the culture of late night marriages among Muslims,especially in the old city of Hyderabad, Telangana State Waqf Board has directed the Qazis not to perform any Nikah ceremony after 9pm.
The decision was taken at a crucial meeting attended by the police officials and representatives of all the major Muslim organisations. The meeting chaired by the state Waqf Board Chairman Mohammad Saleem decided to launch a social awareness campaign from February 1 to discourage late night marriages. The city police will also be part of the campaign.
The meeting was also attended by the City Police Commissioner VV Srinivasa Rao and Deputy Commissioner of Police South Zone Satyanarayana and other senior officials who assured their full cooperation in the campaign.
Mohammad Saleem said he will send a draft of the guidelines governing the marriage and other ceremonies and get the approval from the government so that restrictions could also be imposed on the marriage function halls.
As part of the drive all owners of marriage halls in the city will be asked to disconnect power supply at midnight to force the marriage parties to vacate the hall immediately.
“The Board will issue instructions to the Qazis that they should not perform Nikah after 9pm. If any Qazi violates this rule, the Board will not issue him any marriage booklets or the marriage certificates”, Mohammad Saleem said.
The guidelines will also include restrictions on the number of dishes to be served at in the marriage functions to discourage extravagance and splurging of money and wastage of food. There was a consensus among the participants that only one type of biryani and one sweet dish should be served.
Currently, Hyderabadi marriages are known for their multi-course dinners comprising starters, two or three types of mutton and chicken gravies, two types of biryanis and two or three types of sweet dishes.
“While rich people were splurging thousands of rupees on grand functions, the poorer sections were also being forced to follow their suit by mortgaging their homes and running into debts,” he said.
“We were constrained to come up with the idea of guidelines and restrictions as the late night marriages were causing serious problems, including law and order issues, nuisance, fire works and dangerous dance with swords and other weapons disturbing the peace”, said Mohammad Saleem.
He said if the participants in a marriage procession dance with weapons, then the police should be immediately alerted. The Waqf Board chairman drew the attention of the participants that at present marriage functions were staring around 10pm and continuing till the wee hours.
The other participants of the meeting including Mufti Khaleel Ahmad, the head of Jamia Nizamia, Moulana Jaffer Hussami, Moulana Qabool Pasha Shuttari, Moulana Hamid Mohammad Khan of Jamat-e-Islami, representatives of various other organisations and Qazis of different parts of the city.
However some of the participants saw hiccups in the way of enforcing such guidelines. City Police Commissioner Srinivasa Rao said, “We will be enforce such regulations only after the government issues set of guidelines.
Other officials were also of the view that it will be a challenge for the policemen to enter a marriage hall and force the participants to vacate the place.
Similarly Qazi Mir Mohammad Khader Ali, head of Anjuman-e-Qazath said the Board does not have powers to take action against any Qazi on account of delayed marriages but assured that the Qazis will cooperate in the campaign.
It may be mentioned here that in neighbouring Pakistan a guest control act is in force under which serving more than one dish at a marriage dinner is an offence.
The community elders were of the view that more than an order or act, such social evils can be countered only through education and awareness campaign.
