Islam bestows upon women respect and equality of status. But many orthodox clerics have kept them deprived for ages, opines Madan lall Manchanda
A great singer, an accomplished artiste, and a superb actress, Salma Agha — of BR Chopra’s classic movie Nikaah, which was to be initially called Talaq, Talaq, Talaq — is highly critical of this form of divorce. Being a victim herself and having undergone the agonising experience of raising her daughter as a single parent, Agha can relate to the painful ordeal of the character she portrayed many years ago. Agha is all praise for a secular India where minorities are safe and free. She also has deep admiration for the Beti Bachao Beti Padhao initiative.
Islam bestows upon women great respect, dignity, equality of status, and compassion. But many orthodox and ill-informed clerics have kept women deprived and in bondage for ages.
Zakia Sonam, a co-founder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, an autonomous organisation, pleads for a level playing field for Muslim women in India, who constitute nearly 8 per cent of our country’s population. Based on a study of 4,710 cases, of 525 Muslim women divorced, a majority (349) were victims of triple talaq.
Salma Ansari, wife of India’s Vice-President Hamid Ansari, cautioned Muslim women that merely uttering ‘talaq’ does not make for valid divorce under Islam. She also urged Muslim women to read the holy Quran properly instead of relying on clerics. Women usually read Quran in Arabic and do not read translations. As a result, most are ignorant about the contents and the provisions mentioned in it.
Nowhere in Quran — which is the most authentic source of information regarding Islam — is it stipulated that talaq can be pronounced thrice in one sitting. Hence, it is important that one reads the Quran and Hadiths.
Rasool said women can be easily misguided if they do not read the Quran. Sonam seconds Salma and says the Quran has nothing on triple talaq in one go. More importantly, as ordained in the holy Quran, the cardinal injunction in the triple talaq therein is that after each announcement of talaq, there has to compulsorily be a period of waiting or iddat that provides time to reflect on the alternative to divorce.
Hence, instant triple talaq not only negates the path to the true form of triple talaq but also puts Islam in bad light. This kind of heretical triple talaq is sanctioned neither by the Quran nor by the Prophets precepts. It would be legitimate to remove it from the Indian laws and abide by the one and the only true triple talaq as set out in the holy Quran. Only this said triple talaq should continue to remain as part of the Muslim Personal law.
As a first step, even before the first ‘talaq’ can be uttered, the Quran commends a meeting of well-wishers representing both sides to try and save the marriage. If they do not succeed, then first of the three talaqs may be invoked. Giving the prescribed waiting period, the separated couple can reconcile and resume their marital relationship. However, if friction arises again, comes the second ‘talaq’, following the same sequence as the first. After having gone through over a phase and remarrying the same spouse twice, should further discord arise, the third ‘talaq’ can be uttered. This time, it is irrevocable. After that the parties may hold together or separate with kindness. The Quran goes onto add: “But do not retain them against their will, in order to hurt them, for who does so sins indeed against himself... and remain conscious of God.” Therefore, there is a certain code of compassion to be observed in triple talaq.
The next issue is provision of maintenance: “The divorced woman too shall have a right to maintenance in a goodly manner... this is a duty for all who are conscious of God.” This verse in the Quran was pointed out to the All India Muslim Personal law Board (AIMPlB) by the Chief Justice of India in the 1985 Shah Bano case; also that the Supreme Court is not impressed by the shuffling plea of the Board that exhortation is to be more pious and not the general run of the Muslims is seemingly not apt, and apparently affront to the piety of the Muslim community as a whole.
However, as patriarchy has remained deaf to the holy Quran’s cause for justice, equality and compassion to 90 per cent of the women who are deprived of their due rights, Sadia Dehlvi, a distinguished scholar of Islamic Studies, feels compelled to propose abolition of Personal laws. She justly pleads that Sharia has always been flexible. In support of her contention, she argues that Hazrat Umar — one of the companions of Prophet Mohammad when he became Caliph II — in the wake of famine conditions, waived the punishment for theft as the people were driven to the marginal end and reduced to the dire need to steal in order to survive.
likewise, Imaur Shafi felt compelled to alter his own fatwas which resulted in migration from Iraq to Egypt as migration is otherwise prohibited in Sharia. In a way, even the spread of Islam in the Indian sub-continent owes it to migration. Earlier women were permitted to undertake pilgrimage to Mecca only with a companion as a mahram, but this restriction now no longer holds good, according to a majority of Ulmas.
Amidst the babble of voices raised against triple talaq, a few sane ones urge for social reforms to put an end to the malpractices. Also, a hurriedly convened two-day executive meeting at Darul Uloom, lucknow, resolved that “whosoever gives a triple talaq without any valid Sharia reason will be boycotted by society”. Though it is a welcome step, there are doubts over its implementation. It is true that the AIMPlB is within its constitutional right to bring in social reforms in the best interests of the Muslim community. At the same time, the Government’s concern to put an end to the exploitation of Muslim women is truly noble. Hopefully, the Supreme Court will do justice.
Triple talaq and Nikah Halala are peculiar to Islam. Nevertheless, the AIMPlB has expressed concerns over these practices and has offered reforms. It needs to be recalled that the Sati system, which had the backing of Hindu social reformers, was done away with by the British Government in India. As far as polygamy is concerned, historically it prevailed across communities for several centuries, including among ancient Greeks, Romans, Hindus, Jews, and Zoroastrians. Polygamy was a rampant practice in pre-Islamic society too. It was sought to be regulated and restricted so women are treated better than in pre-Islamic times.
While monogamy, or the system of being married to one person at a time, is the rule of law, a Muslim man is entitled to have four wives. Taking a dig at the clerics, a luminary and erstwhile principal of a college in lahore before Partition, who had then nurtured the revolutionary tendencies of Bhagat Singh, once said: “Theqazi who permits a man to have four wives... what is his fatwa for the number of husbands a women ought to haveIJ”
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