All India Muslim Personal law Board (AIMPlB) has defended the practice of `Nikah Halala’ saying the practice “cannot be challenged since it is Quranic”. Batch of petitions challenging the practice are likely to come up for hearing in the supreme court from July 20. The board held its review meeting in New Delhi on Sunday to discuss issues pertaining to the community.
AIMPlB secretary and legal counsel Zafaryab Jilani said that “Nikah Halala cannot be challenged”. “Nikah Halala is a practice where you cannot marry your wife again after divorce unless she marries and consummates the marriage with someone else. It is a must that the wife is divorced again. This is as per the Quran and the board cannot have a different opinion,” said Jilani. He said the board also decided that Shariat courts will be opened across 10 cities in India, with the inauguration of the first scheduled in Surat on July 22. Maharashtra will get a Darul Qaza by September 9 and another by the end of November.
He said that the board had received proposals from various parts of the country to open 10 Sharia courts (Darul Qaza), out of which five have been approved and will be opened soon and other five proposals are under consideration. He said the news about the board is planning to set up such courts in every district was not correct and emphasised that the courts are set up only when a proposal comes to the board. “local people sponsor it and bear the financial burden. Board appoints the Qazi. We establish it when a proposal comes to us,” Jilani said.
“There is no question of Shariat courts being unconstitutional. The apex court has itself ruled that Shariat courts are not parallel to the Indian courts established as per the constitution, and hence there is no question of it being illegal,” said Jilani. The board members also discussed the Ayodhya-Babri Masjid case and decided that their legal counsel, senior advocate Rajeev Dhawan, will argue for the matter to be referred to a larger bench and till then, the arguments on the main appeal would not begin.
Meanwhile Islamic Forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought has criticised the board for setting up the Shariat courts. Faizur Rahman, the secretary general of the organization said the AIMPlB should stop calling the arbitration centers as Sharia courts. He said by announcing its decision to open several Darul Qazas across India, the Board has once again stirred a controversy that would give a fillip to the politics of polarisation. The ostensible aim is to educate “the lawyers, judges and the common man about Sharia law” through the so-called Tafheem-e-Shariat (understanding the Sharia) committees. But this is going to be immensely counterproductive, as the board’s obscurantist perception of the Sharia will only result in spreading misinformation about the true nature of Islam, he added.
