Emir of Kano, Muhammadu Sanusi has explained that the proposed Kano Islamic Family Law was not meant to stop Muslims from marrying up to four wives as prescribed by Islam.

He said that the law was intended to serve as a guide for Muslims on howto go about their family lives in accordance to the teachings of the religion.

Chairman of the Kano State Islamic Family Law Committee, Bashir Aliyu, who spoke on behalf of Sanusi noted that the proposed law seeks to clarify the issues of marriage, inheritance, orphans, widows and divorce, so as to guide Muslims to the real teachings of Islam.

According to Aliyu, the new law provides that a Muslim may take a second wife only after meeting two necessary conditions namely: that he would be just in treating his wives, and that he has the means of taking care of more than one wife.

Aliyu said: “These are the two conditions provided by the law and that is what Islam says about polygamy.

“When passed into law, the law will help our judges and lawyers in discharging their duties as administrators of justice.

“It will also guide the community on how to resolve some family  matters. And it will equally prevent alien laws and culture from penetrating into our religion.”

Aliyu added however that the law did not prescribe punishment for defaulters, saying that it would be the sole prerogative of the courts to so do.

He said that the family law committee is currently reviewing the draft copy of the proposed law and will soon submit it to the main committee for final draft and passage into law by the Kano State House of Assembly.

He noted that the committee had reviewed the Islamic family laws of many predominantly Islamic countries before arriving at the draft copy of the proposed Kano family law.

The countries include: Morocco, Dubai, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, Kuwait,Bahrain, and United Arab Emirate, Malaysia and Jordan.

He expressed optimism that the law will be beneficial to Kano State citizens given that the committee is made up of judges, Qhadis, lawyers and experts in Islamic Shari’ah law.