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Shari`ah…A Bulwark for Tsunami Widows: Report
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"The only way I have is to go to Shari`ah court," Yuniarti said. (CSMONITOR)
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CAIRO,
August 9, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – Shari`ah has emerged as a bulwark
for Indonesian women widowed by last year’s monstrous tsunami against
greedy relatives over inheritance, proving it matches today’s notions
of women’s empowerment despite being over 14 centuries years old, a US
daily reported Tuesday, August 9.
The
Islamic law is seen now in the devastated Aceh province as a welcome
advocate of women's rights in a country where government courts are seen
as ineffective and open to corruption, The Christian Science Monitor reported.
Yuniarti,
whose husband and three children lost their lives in the killer December
26 waves, has only been comforted by the Islamic inheritance system
after her father- and mother-in-law took away her belongings and
properties.
"The
only way I have is to go to Shari`ah court," Yuniarti told the
paper.
"I
know that I will win the case in Islamic court. My husband's parents are
religious people, I hope they will hear the decision of the Shari`ah
court and accept it."
According
to Shari`ah, a widow has greater right to inherit her husband's
property. She is entitled to 1/8 of his fortune if they have children
and 1/4 if they do not.
Preserving
Rights
Inheritance
wasn't an issue that many women gave much thought to before the tsunami.
But
after the disaster, which killed at least 200,000 in Indonesia and left
600,000 more homeless, many Acehnese families and widows have begun
squabbling over what is left.
"After
the tsunami, it's difficult for women to get the rights to their land,
their property, their money," Hajjah Adiwarni Husin, provincial
head of the Islamic Women's Association in Banda Aceh, told the paper.
"They
have the right under Shari`ah, and they have the right under national
law, but people don't know the law, and they are selfish. Some educated
women may know their rights, but they don't have the courage to speak
up."
Hajjah
Saidah, who is now raising her 8-year-old grandson Mohammad Jaya whose
parents were wiped out in the tsunami, believes that Shari`ah is the
best way to protect the young boy from the greedy relatives of his
father.
By
both national and Islamic laws, Jaya is entitled to receive all the
property of his parents, including the pension of his father.
But
the father’s relatives ended up with the assets and the pension,
giving every month a fraction to the young boy, according to the US
daily.
"The
family said they will give the boy his property when he grows up. If
they give it, thank God. If they don't, well, I don't know what will
happen then. That's what I worry about," she told the paper.
For
this reason she is pressing her case, despite threats from her husband's
family if she does not drop it.
"They
just want me to follow what they say," she says. "But I think
we should follow Shari`ah."
Education
Hanisah
Abdullah, a female scholar, says that the solution is to educate women
and men about what the Qur’an really says about family law and women's
rights.
"We
need to teach a new generation of ulema (scholars), send them to the
villages, and teach people the law," says Hanisah.
"But
the problem is, we don't have the funding."
Ibu
Rosmawardani, a lawyer working with Yayasan Putroe Kandee, a social
organization for women and children, said the tsunami has opened their
eyes to the importance of Shari`ah inheritance system.
"What
people are doing now is not according to our Qur’an or the
Hadith," she says. "They just want to get money."
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