Muslim Scholars Slam Charbel over Civil Marriage Approval
The Committee of Muslim Scholars lashed out on Friday at Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel after he signed last month the civil marriage certificate of Kholoud Succariyeh and Nidal Darwish.
The scholars considered in a statement inking the certificate a “clear violation of the constitution, the laws of personal affairs and all the laws that are linked to the matter.”
The committee called on the minister to cancel his decision as it “threatens the Muslim family and contradicts the law.”
The statement also called on Muslim Spiritual leaders to confront the decision, describing it as “dangerous.”
It also called on scholars to file an appeal before the competent judiciary and to inform the public during Friday's sermon to warn the people of the threats imposed by such a decision.
In April, Charbel signed the civil marriage certificate of Succariyeh and Darwish, which is the first civil marriage registered in the records of the Directorate General for Personal Affairs in Lebanon.
Following the spread of the news, President Michel Suleiman congratulated the couple via Twitter over the official registration of their civil marriage.
The Lebanese Supreme Council in the Ministry of Justice took an unanimous decision in February to consider legal all civil marriages conducted in Lebanon by people that do not have any religious affiliation.
Succariyeh and Darwish announced in January they had wed as a secular couple by having their religious sects legally struck from their family registers under an article dating from the 1936 French mandate.
Suleiman has since lobbied for a civil marriage law as a "very important step in eradicating sectarianism and solidifying national unity."
Meanwhile, caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati and Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammed Rashid Qabbani rejected it.
Qabbani issued a fatwa against moves to legalize civil marriages inside the country, where couples of different faiths have to travel abroad to tie the knot.
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