Man gambles away daughter in India

Indian man gambles daughter away
Posted September 20, 2009 19:00:00

A father in eastern India gave away his teenage daughter to a fellow gambler after he lost a card game, with police launching a hunt to retrieve the girl.

Ismail Sheikh, from a village in West Bengal, used his 18-year-old daughter as a stake after he lost all his money, The Times of India said on Sunday (local time).

"Ismail lost the game again and Mustafa walked away with the girl," said Satyajit Bandhopadhyay, a senior police officer investigating the case.

The girl protested but the victorious Mustafa dragged her out of the village, the report said.

Family members were quoted as saying the father was a compulsive gambler with a drink problem and they had thrown him out the house after losing the teenager.

Gambling is illegal in India but thousands of underground dens operate, attracting poor villagers who hope to make a quick buck.

- AFP

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Naturally, children are seeking guardianship from the parents (and adults as a whole). It is a lot to ask of a child to fend for his or herself, and it is more to ask of a child to fend for his or herself against those who are supposed to exercise the roles of guardians, by birth. The reality of this story is, obviously, quite alarming. What I would tell our youth in Al-Islam (because apparently those men possessed muslim names, and though I am not their judge, nor the judge of muslims, for only Allah can truly judge us), would be to learn the truth of the Kalima of Allah in the Quranul Kareem and the "Truth" of the Kitab (and not the falsehood in it) and all pertinent knowledge of the hadiths and fiqh...so that they may possess discernment. The ability to discern truth from error; good from bad; right from wrong is important. Being leaders or parents is like taking a "trust" or amanat...and again I don't know the truth about the daughter or the father (like what is their natures and characters), but, that apparently gambling is wrong in Al-Islam and that the trust in which the father was entrusted to care for her was quite, evidently, breached. If someone tells you anything in deen, then, ask them what and where is the source of this knowledge (Where does it say that?). And if they cannot provide a valid source, then, perhaps what has been said can be considered invalid until the sources are confirmed as "Truth".