KUALA LUMPUR: The dowry used by members of Global Ikhwan Service and Business Holdings (GISB) during their solemnisation was a wirid (meditation) practiced by Al-Arqam, a religious sect that was banned by the government in 1994.
Federal Territories Mufti Datuk Dr Luqman Abdullah said this when asked to comment on a video of GISB members' solemnisation that went viral on social media.
In the video, the marriage official (jurunikah) and the groom can be heard stating the dowry as '1 Pusingan Aurad Muhammadiah'.
"Aurad Muhammadiah is a 'wirid' that was decided by a fatwa that the Al-Arqam community used to practice, which was banned at both state and national-levels.
"On whether it is still practiced or not, I cannot confirm that," he said when met after the Madani International Seminar titled 'Ummatan Wasata Peneraju Keharmonian, Pembangunan dan Keamanan Global' held at Universiti Malaya today.
Asked on whether the marriage is valid, Luqman said a marriage with a clear dowry is valid.
"It is not a condition for the dowry to be mentioned in the akad. If it is not stated, it will become 'mahar (dowry) misil', which is what is appropriate to be given to the bride."
Meanwhile, on police findings that some of the rescued children had "bin Abdullah" in their registered name, indicating that the children were born without any details on who their parents were, Luqman said the matter needs to be verified through two levels.
"This issue requires a clearer investigation regarding the status of these children. We have to refer this to the National Registration Department (NRD) and the (respective) Islamic Religious Department that handles marriage.
"We have a two-tier process, where the determination of lineage is done by the Marriage Registration Department of the (respective) Islamic Religious Department and syariah court, as we need to establish the validity of the marriage.
"After that, the NRD looks into the status of the children and who they were registered under. There are several parties involved before we reach the final confirmation," he said.
402 children from 20 homes connected to GISB during a raid, which also resulted in the arrest of 171 people.
Yesterday, Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Razarudin Husain said based on investigations some of the rescued children had "bin Abdullah" in their registered name, indicating they were born without any details on who their parents were.
"There may be a possibility that some of their parents were also illegally married (perkahwinan tak sah). This is why we have taken samples from the children and will conduct DNA analysis to verify who their parents are," he said.