E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 page 69 137 According to Sharia, for example, marriage is a contract (aqd nikah) and the woman’s consent is required in order for it to be valid. See, inter alia, surah 2, verses 235 and 228, and surah 3, verse 159. 138 See report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (E/CN.4/1999/58, para. 111). 139 See Women’s Caucus for Gender Justice (note 113 above), pp. 7 ff. 140 See the website www.arabia.com/981119/FR2.html. 141 See general comment 28, para. 24. 142 Muslim jurists are unanimous and base their stance on, inter alia, surah 2, verse 221, surah 60, verse 10, and surah 4, verse 141. 143 See article 29-5 of the Moroccan Family Code (Moudawana). 144 See the recent case involving the ruling of an Egyptian court which issued in the London weekly newspaper Al-Majallah (28 January-3 February 2001) the divorce of a Muslim woman whose husband had converted to the Baha’i faith. See also Sami A. Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh, “La définition internationale des droits de l’homme et l’Islam”, Revue générale de droit international public, 1985, pp. 641 and 653, and the position of the Egyptian courts in this respect, p. 655. 145 The Court of Cassation upheld the decision declaring Professor Abou Zid an apostate and ordered him to separate from his Muslim wife. See reports of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (A/51/542, para. 28, and E/CN.4/1996/95). A stay of execution was granted on that ruling and is apparently still in force. 146 Regarding Nepal, see report of CEDAW (A/54/38/Rev.1, p. 60, para. 153) and preliminary report of the Special Rapporteur on traditional practices … (E/CN.4/Sub.2/1995/6, para. 30). Regarding Bangladesh, see Concluding observations of the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/15/Add.74). Regarding the Congo and India, see E/CN.4/Sub.2/2000/17, paras. 66 and 67. 147 See Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee: Zimbabwe (CCPR/C/79/Add.89). The practice is also believed to exist in some African communities having a Muslim tradition (for example, Cameroon). 148 See, for example, Egypt’s reservation to the Women’s Convention, which refers to the husband’s obligation to pay “bridal money to the wife and maintain her fully”. However, Sharia “restricts the wife’s right to divorce by making it contingent on a judge’s ruling, whereas no such restriction is laid down in the case of the husband”. See also paragraph 61 (c) and note 55 above. 149 See, inter alia, the example of Bangladesh, report of the Special Rapporteur on religious intolerance (A/55/280/Add.2, para. 76). 150 See ST/LEG/SER.E/17 (note 49 above), p. 182.