Caucasian scholars treat bride abduction custom as contrary to Sharia

The bride abduction is in no way consistent with the Sharia, according to which parental consent is mandatory for marriage, the Caucasian experts interviewed by the "Caucasian Knot" have noted.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that in February 2021, a 33-year-old local resident with the help of his friend abducted a 26-year-old woman right from her workplace in an office in the town of Neftekumsk with the aim to marry her. Law enforcers found the abducted woman in the town of Blagodarny on the same day and took her home. According to their version, she was not going to marry the abductor. Niyaz Tairov, who was the initiator of the abduction, is under house arrest. On August 17, the Neftekumsk District Court held a session on this case.

The bride abduction custom is in no way consistent with the Sharia law, said Akhmet Yarlykapov, a senior researcher at the Centre for Studying Caucasus Problems under the Moscow State Institute of Foreign Relations (know as MGIMO).

"The Sharia law cannot sanction bride abduction. Everything must happen by mutual consent: relatives should coordinate and so on. Abduction of girls is all in the sphere of Adats only, and the respective Adat in this particular case, of course, does not agree with the Sharia," Mr Yarlykapov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Professor Alexei Malashenko, a political analyst and an Islamic scholar, has also stated that bride abduction is in no way consistent with the Sharia law.

"Judge for yourself: they have abducted a bride, and then the Imam will somehow bless it all, won't he? Neither the Koran, nor the Sunnah allows abducting girls. You can talk as much as you like about the harsh Sharia laws, whatever you want. [...] But there is no forced marriages there," Mr Malashenko told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Ruslan Kutaev, President of the Assembly of Caucasian Nations, also noted that the bride abduction custom is contrary to the Sharia. "According to Sharia law, there must be parental consent. It should be such a peaceful mutual agreement," he told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on August 18, 2021 at 05:35 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.