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I wrote an article on no-nuptial agreements at MuslimMatters.

Marriage is hard, and it’s a lot of work. Sometimes, it’s just too hard.

For a lot of people, the hardest part about marriage is trying to get out of one. For this, there is the family court system, lawyers, forensic accountants, private investigators, social workers, and psychologists, plus, the uncomfortable fact that you will be paying for all of this.

If you have endured divorced once or twice (and are poorer for it), another marriage may start to look irrational. The sad fact is people who get divorced once, are more likely to divorce a second or third time. People fall into the same patterns; they get the same results.

In my recent article in MuslimMatters, I write about a solution to this, an alternative to state-recognized marriage, no-nuptial agreements (also called cohabitation agreements or Marvin agreements.  You can fulfill the sunnah of marriage without a completely crazy system designed to make you poorer without any real benefit.   Maybe this won’t be appealing to everyone, but you should still take a look at it.

I wrote about charities in Muslim Matters recently. Many of them are poorly run and structured to make corruption easy. This description includes charities we support and whose leaders we love and respect. Historically there is one crucial sign things can go seriously wrong, and you don’t need to read a single financial statement. We saw this with the arrest of an American Muslim politician who was arrested by Pennsylvania authorities because of how she ran her charity, called “MECA.”  

I go into how regulation of charities works in the United States, which has a long history of nonprofit corruption, especially with religious organizations. The spectacular failure of the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County (and other examples) can happen again and again in the Muslim community the way things are going. The only real thing stopping this from happening is if you start to give in charity with excellence. Part of this is being an educated donor. Please do check out my article and let me know what you think. 

 

I will be doing a presentation at the Islamic Center of Hawthorne on Islamic Inheritance and Islamic Estate Planning on December 13, 2019.  I will also cover some charitable planning.  If you or any friends or family are in the area, please send them over for the evening program.  I expect the program will be after Isha prayer but please contact the Masjid to be sure.

I am also going to be on the TV program Sada-e Haqon Sunday the 15^that 11 AM.   It will be broadcast live and available on youtube and facebook.  This will also be about Islamic Inheritance.