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"The story of a young Saudi man, Ahmad, who has become a woman has created a furor in the Kingdom � not only because he changed his sex but also because, as a man, he inherited a large sum of money from his millionaire father. He changed his sex only after inheriting; according to Islamic law, as a woman, he would inherit half of what a man inherits. His relatives have filed a lawsuit, accusing him of deception and asking the court to re-divide the inheritance. Sayidaty, a sister publication of Arab News, investigatedthe case. The subject�s name as a woman has been withheld at her request…"
[via: Arabnews]
It all makes for a complicated and tragic story. Certainly you can sympathize with the suffering that the "guy" went through. And you could understand how he might use money from an inheritance to remedy his situation. On the other hand, the family has a valid point too. They live in a repressive religious society. When an individual asserts his personal right to happiness, it can end up creating grief for everybody. What is the moral thing in such a situation - the happiness of the individual? Or that of the group? It's not an easy call to make.
On the other hand, even religious authorities (as quoted in the article) seem to agree that the person did not do anything wrong in the matter of inheritance. He was a man when he inherited, therefore he deserved - under Islamic law - his full share. What he did afterward could not retroactively change that, no matter how much his family might object to what he did with his inheritance.
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{ 2 } Comments
when I was young, we had a neighbour who had three girld who turn out to be boys when they reached puberty age! Obviously this was shocking and this lady had to move to canada because everyone stopped talking to them, as if they were weird creatures. Sometimes people are born in the wrong sex, just like sometimes people are born with out a hand, or with an extra finger, or with two heads like in the case of twins. This is really not the issue here, the issue is heritage thing… I mean it is very weird to me that this family is not bothered by the sex change as much as they are worried about who should take the money, lets say the situation was in reverse, she was a girl who turned out to be a boy would they give him his money back? i wonder…
Probably they would, Mariam. After all, Arab world is dominated by Males. Unfortunately
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