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Indian Muslim play 'talaq' under fire in Singapore

Indian Muslim play 'talaq' under fire in Singapore

Author:
Publication: Gomantak Times
Date: October 28, 2000

A play depicting martial violence within Indian Muslim society is to be staged privately in Singapore after authorities refused a public performance license for the work.

The play "Talaq" - meaning divorce in Malay - depicts real life accounts of Indian Muslim women in Singapore and explores oppression, martial violence and rape, and the culture of silence forced on them by their families. It has been strongly condemned by a male- only Indian Muslim organisation which maintains that under Islamic law a husband cannot rape his wife, and does not need her permission for sexual relations.

The police Public Entertainment Licensing Unit (PELU) this week barred the Agni Kootthu theatre from staging the play in public. It gave no reason for refusing a permit, but said the views of the Masjilis Ugama Islam Singapura (the Islamic Religious Council of Singapore) and the National Arts Council (NAC) had been taken into consideration.

Agni Kootthu president Somasundram Thenmoli said the play had attracted widespread interest from women of all races and she would now stage private English and Malay language showings this weekend.

People can register for a special invitation to see the work, she said, adding that Pelu officials had told her the private viewing could go ahead as no tickets were being sold.

Haji Ebrahim, the secretary of the male-only South Indian Jamiathul Ulama, said his orgnisation objected to the play because it did not give an accurate depiction of Islamic law.

"In Islamic law, a man cannot rape his wife as long as the marriage continues," he was reported saying in the Straits Ties on Friday. "He need not ask permission from his wife for sexual relations each time he wants to have it," he said.

"Even if she is angry or not in the mood, he has the right to it. In any event, a husband can have sex with his wife without her consent and that will not be rape." However, an Indian Muslim woman, Mumtaz Begum, claimed Ebrahim had misinterpreted the Koran. "In Islam, a husband is not allowed to use force on his wife for sex," she told the Straits Times.
 


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