Extra: Islamic Marriages

It is always good to discuss/cover a range of topics, so as to ensure that one’s mind is continuously stimulated. Therefore here is a little bit of extra information

ISLAMIC MARRIAGES:                             F.Y.I-

Historically, and until the landmark 1999 Supreme Court of Appeal decision in Amod v Multilateral Motor Vehicle Accidents Fund, a marriage contracted according to Islamic law was regarded by South African courts as null and void and as being contrary to public policy, with the result that the marriage and its consequences were not legally recognised in any form.

 The decision in Amod, however, recognised a monogamous Islamic marriage for the purposes of support only, and did not deal with other crucial issues such as polygamy and the status of respective spouses, maintenance obligations, proprietary consequences of Islamic marriages, termination, etc. The result is that gross inequities and hardships arising from the non-recognition of Islamic marriages still prevail.

 For the purposes of the law of succession, monogamous (Daniels vCampbell) and polygamous muslim marriages are recognized for the purpose of labeling the surviving spouse a “spouse” as defined in the Marriage Act.

 The current situation however is that these marriages are NOT officially recognized in our law.