Muslim marries ladyboy, asks for refund

SATUN: A Muslim man’s marriage to a 16-year-old ladyboy has collapsed after drawing a storm of criticism from the local community, who claimed the wedding was against the principles of Islam.

Leaflets were even circulated in the family’s village in Paera subdstrict in Satun claiming the “sacrilegious” binding of lovers had caused recent flooding in the province.

Ismael Langji, 18, is now claiming he was tricked into marrying 16-year-old Anurak Janyu or “Nong Dada” and thought “he” was a “she”.

Mr Ismael’s family even took the step of traveling to the office of Satun Provincial Islamic Council to hold a press conference to denounce the marriage.

The family claimed they only allowed Mr Ismael to marry Nong Dada because they didn’t know she was transgender.

If they had known Nong Dada had been born a man, there was no way they would have allowed their son to wed her because it was forbidden in Islam for a man to marry a man, they said.

They had only met Nong Dada a few times and she looked exactly like a woman in every respect, so there was no reason to suspect she wasn’t quite as she seemed.

Explaining Mr Ismael’s attraction to Nong Dada, the family said Mr Ismael was “brain damaged” and “easily influenced by others”.

They claimed they had already held a wedding party, but had yet to hold the more important Islamic marriage ceremony. As such, had not actually violated the principles of the religion. They added that they did not support gay marriage, as many in the area had incorrectly assumed to be the case.

Things got worse when Nong Dada’s father and mother arrived at the Langji family press conference. A loud quarrel broke out, with the Janyu family denying there had been any deception involved.

Mr Ismael had already been sleeping with Nong Dada at their home for at least a month and knew very well that she was a ladyboy. They had welcomed him warmly into their family and treated him as their son-in-law, they said.

However if they had known the union of the two men was against Islamic law, they wouldn’t have allowed the pair to have anything to do with each other, they said.

Mr Ismael, for his part, said he had no idea Nong Dada had been born a man since they had only known each other a little over a month.

As for the bride price, the Langji family had given the Janyus 30,000 baht and a one-bahtweight gold necklace for Nong Dada’s hand in marriage.

The Langji family said they would ask for it back once tensions eased and appropriate negotiations had taken place.