Fatwa No : 96170
Shariah Ruling on the Administrative Regulations of the Kutchi Khatri Community.

Shariah Ruling on the Administrative Regulations of the Kutchi Khatri Community.

My name is Ashraf Umar Farooq Lakhani, and I belong to the Muslim Kachhi Khatri community. I need religious guidance on an important issue.
In our Muslim Kachhi Khatri community, if a man marries someone from another community, the names of his children are not recorded in the community records or family card as a form of punishment. The condition for membership in the community is that only a child whose grandparents (both paternal and maternal) are all members of the Muslim Kachhi Khatri community is considered part of the community. If even one grandparent belongs to another community, that child is not granted community membership.
The reasons given for this restriction are:
- If the woman is Sindhi, Pathan, Punjabi, Balochi, etc., the purity of the Kachhi Khatri community will be lost.
- Other communities follow more practices related to dowry.
- Marrying a woman from another community may change the customs and traditions of the community, which could create issues in the marriages of the children.
Moreover, some members of the community say that the community is like an institution, and every institution has certain rules and regulations. Just like when you go to work in an organization, you have to follow its rules, similarly, the community also has its own rules, which have nothing to do with Sharia. These are collective decisions (rules) of the community about which members’ children can be registered in the community and which cannot. It should be noted that the community does not stop anyone from marrying outside the community, but it says that in such cases, as a form of punishment, the children of that person will not be registered in the community. Furthermore, practically, the community does not fully recognize such children as part of it, and the majority of people mock these children in Kachhi language as 'Dangri Lisar (Pyas Lahan),' meaning their social status is ridiculed as 'they are not one of us.' As a result, these children face difficulties in relationships and other community matters, and even the community members avoid arranging marriages with them, fearing that their children in the future will also not be recognized as part of the community. In other words, these children are completely socially boycotted. The questions are:
1. As Muslims, can a community make its own laws, and is it permissible to impose restrictions on members through such laws?
2. Does the group have the authority to prevent children from membership solely on the basis of marriage into another community?
3. A member is not punished for marrying in another community, but as a form of punishment, their children are not included in the group’s membership. Isn’t this against Islamic justice, giving the punishment to the children (by blocking membership) instead of the member (who, in the group’s eyes, is the offender)?
4. Would such conditions be considered contrary to Islamic teachings and the equality in Islam?
5. It’s possible that some member of the group’s cabinet or someone from the group previously took a fatwa from your institution based on incomplete details, but please give a fatwa according to my detailed questions so that the Muslim community can have proper Shariah guidance. Kindly provide written guidance in the light of the Quran and Hadith.

الجوابُ حامِدا ًو مُصلیِّا ً

It should be clear that discouraging marriage into other communities in order to eliminate the traditional dowry practices and other un-Islamic customs of the Muslim Kachhi Khatri community, even if it appears to be a well-intentioned step, is still not appropriate if the laws made are not in accordance with the spirit of Sharia. Therefore, the community administrators should refrain from; treating the children of those who marry outside the community as not part of the community or family; from not registering such children in family records which deprives them of community privileges and support; from mocking or looking down on them; and from creating obstacles in their relationships. Thus, it is essential and necessary for the community administrators to abolish such laws or amend and modify them appropriately so that they align with the spirit of Sharia. At the same time, in order to maintain community order and keep an important act of worship like marriage free from un-Islamic customs, principles can be established according to Sharia, with guidance and advice from scholars, in a way that allows the achievement of these good and legitimate objectives without violating the rights of children. While the fatwa attached to the question is not from Dar al-Ifta of Jamia Binoria Alamia's site, it is actually attributed to Jamia al-Uloom al-Islamia in Binori Town.

مأخَذُ الفَتوی

في القرآن الكريم:
﴿إِنَّمَا ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ إِخۡوَةٞ فَأَصۡلِحُواْ بَيۡنَ أَخَوَيۡكُمۡۚ وَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ لَعَلَّكُمۡ تُرۡحَمُونَ﴾ [الحجرات: 10]
«سنن الترمذي» :
عن أبي هريرة قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: «إذا خطب إليكم من ترضون دينه وخلقه فزوجوه، إلا تفعلوا تكن فتنة في الأرض، وفساد عريض»(3/ 386)
«صحيح البخاري»:
«ثم قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم: (الولد للفراش، وللعاهر الحجر).» (6/ 2627)
«الهداية في شرح بداية المبتدي»:
«الكفاءة في النكاح معتبرة " قال عليه الصلاة والسلام " ألا لا يزوج النساء إلا الأولياء ولا يزوجن إلا من الأكفاء " ولأن انتظام المصالح بين المتكافئين عادة لأن الشريفة تأبى أن تكون مستفرشة للخسيس فلا بد من اعتبارها بخلاف جانبها لأن الزوج مستفرش فلا تغيظه دناءة الفراش "»(1/ 195)