A couple is seen in Bhopal, India February 14, 2005. A Muslim couple in India has been told by local Islamic leaders they must separate after the husband "divorced" his wife in his sleep, the Press Trust of India reported. Sohela Ansari told friends that her husband Aftab had uttered the word "talaq," or divorce, three times in his sleep, according to the report published in newspapers Monday. When local Islamic leaders got to hear, they said Aftab's words constituted a divorce under an Islamic procedure known as "triple talaq." The couple, married for 11 years with three children, were told they had to split. The religious leaders ruled that if the couple wanted to remarry they would have to wait at least 100 days. Sohela would also have to spend a night with another man and be divorced by him in turn. The couple, who live in the eastern state of West Bengal, have refused to obey the order and the issue has been referred to a local family counseling center. India's minority Muslim population is governed by Islamic personal laws on issues such as marriage, divorce and property inheritance . "This is a totally unnecessary controversy and the local 'community leaders' or whosoever has said it are totally ignorant of Islamic law," said Zafarul, an Islamic scholar and editor of The Milli Gazette, a popular Muslim newspaper. "The law clearly says any action under compulsion or in a state of intoxication has no effect. The case of someone uttering something while asleep falls under this category and will have no impact whatsoever," he said.  (Agencies)

据印度报业托拉斯报道，印度一对穆斯林夫妇被当地的伊斯兰教领导人强制离婚，因为丈夫在睡梦中三次说到“离婚”。 这则消息刊登在周一的报纸上。据报道，索赫拉·安萨里曾告诉朋友，她的丈夫阿富塔布在睡梦中三次说到“离婚”两个字。 当地的伊斯兰宗教领导人得知这个消息后表示，阿富塔布的梦话和伊斯兰教“三次离婚”的程序相符合。所以，他们提出这对结婚11年，已有3个孩子的夫妻必须离婚。 宗教领导人声称，如果他们要复婚，必须等待至少100天。索赫拉还必须和另一个男人共度一夜，这个男人提出离婚后，才能与前夫复婚。 这对居住在西孟加拉邦东部的夫妇拒绝服从此命令，并将此事反映到了当地的家庭事务咨询中心。 穆斯林占印度人口的比例较小，他们的结婚、离婚及财产继承等私人事宜都由伊斯兰的《属人法》 管辖。 伊斯兰学者兼著名穆斯林报Milli Gazette的编辑扎发鲁尔说：“这是一件完全无需争辩的事情，当地所谓‘宗教领导人’的言论，或无论是谁说出这种话，都是对伊斯兰法律一窍不通的表现。” 他说，“法律明确说明在强制或神智不清的情况下做出的任何行为都是无效的。人在睡觉时说的梦话也属于这一范畴，因此没有任何效应。” (中国日报网站编译)