Hyderabad: Shun lavish weddings, elders tell Muslims

Hyderabad: Alarmed over the trend of lavish marriages in the Muslim community, former Director-General of Police Syed Anwarul Huda, IPS (retd), called for boycott of such weddings.

Despite calls by reformers to shun the practice, there is no change. According to some observers, expenditure on weddings has only gone up. Time and again, there have been calls by the community elders to boycott such weddings.

Even though it is a sumptuous ceremony for guests, the hosts, owing to cultural ethos shell out lakhs. A three-day wedding ceremony for a middle-class family costs Rs 10 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, which surely is their savings of years.

The 126th 'Du-Ba-Du Mulaqat' programme was organised by Siasat Millat Fund at KH Function Hall, Asifnagar, where parents searched for perfect matches for their sons and daughters.

At the programme, Huda said: "Relationships are made in heaven. Compliments are due to those parents who make the choice of alliances between their boys and girls based on Islamic rules and regulations. It is necessary that instead of spending extravagant wealth in marriages, parents will keep wealth for the newly married boys and girls, to ensure a successful life."

He congratulated officials of Siasat and Millat Fund for organising such programmes not only in the twin cities, but also in districts and other States.

Syed Farooq Ahmad, a Millat member, said Islam has upped dignity of women. Islam gives respect to women in homes and society. He said parents provide education and training to girls with a lot of hard work and dedication so that they can go to in-laws and live happily.

Dr Nazim Ali said girls should be familiar with household chores and try to perform austere marriages. He exhorted them to keep Sunnahs of Prophet Mohammed in mind when choosing relationships, and not to become slaves to desires.