“Only a mother would feel for those illegitimate babies,” said Shaiban

By Omima Ahmad, IOL Correspondent

ALGIERS , September 29 (IslamOnline.net) – Government pensions of single mothers in Algeria have sparked bitter debate in society over the unprecedented and exceptional move in the Arab world.

Opponents see a deep sense of injustice to other female divorcees, who get a meager one fifth ($22) of the sum allocated to single mothers. They even see it as a bid targeting the Islamic identity of the Arab country.

The pro, however, praised the decision as humanitarian and a positive step as it encourages those mothers to provide for and take good care of their babies, born out of wedlock, instead of handing them over to orphanages and social institutions.

The government has decided to give a single mother 10,000 dinars a month ($110), arguing it helps those mothers to bring up their innocent babies in an optimal atmosphere.

Injustice

Fatmah Al-Oufi, head of the Algerian Women Society (ASALA), said the decision does great injustice to female divorcees, who could spend a lifetime getting a miserable monthly alimony of $22.

“They had better give money to jobless youths and help them get married,” she told IslamOnline.net.

“Single mothers used to be a taboo issue in Algeria and our rights society couldn’t dare raise this issue. Though we support women’s empowerment and defend their rights, we nevertheless can’t trespass our identity and values.”

Identity

Isha Mosbah, a Member of Parliament, said the decision is part of a series of measures taken by the government to strip the country of its Arab and Islamic identity.

A case in point, she said, is the controversial amendments to the country’s Family Law, which chiefly calls for ending the role of a wali (a woman’s guardian) in concluding marriage contracts and setting a prior judicial consent as a condition for polygamy.

“They are shaking Algerian society to its foundations,” said Mosbah.

She also disagreed that single mothers have become a phenomenon in society, countering claims of systematic gang rape during the long-running civil war in the 1990s.

She said the number of raped women did in no way exceed 1540, while official statistics put at 4,000 the number of children annually born out of wedlock.

Mosbah agreed that the government should rather pay undivided attention to poverty, towering unemployment rates and the deepening housing crisis.

Humanitarian

But Sheikh Abdul Rahman Shaiban, chief of Algeria ’s Muslim Scholars Association, sees some humanitarian and positive aspects in the decision.

“Only a mother would feel for those illegitimate babies,” he told IOL. “Additionally, we can trace back the ancestry of those babies.”

Shaiban stressed, however, that the government should enact stringent laws to deter women from having an adulterous relationship and provide job opportunities for vulnerable girls and women, who could be prostitutes to make a living.

“If this country had really followed Shari’ah, adulterers would have been slashed and thieves had their hands chopped off to kill such social ills.”

Media, he added, should also embark on a public campaign to raise the awareness of the serious consequences of adultery.