By Faisal Fareed, Twocircles.net,
Lucknow: Muslim women activists raised the demand for codification of Muslim personal law on Saturday. The demand gained ground during the convention of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) function held at Kaifi Azmi auditorium in Lucknow.
“The Indian constitution believes in equality for everyone. However for practical purpose Muslim women are denied their rights. The Muslim personal laws governing Muslim women issues are not codified and they are interpreted at the whims and fancies of religious clergies,” said Naish Hasan, the founder member of BMMA. Naish had created ripples two years back when she broke the convention and had her nikah ceremony solemnized by a female qazi in Lucknow.
Naish opined that several interpretations of Muslim personal laws are available and unless they are codified and passed by the parliament, the exploitation of women will continue in the society. She decried the ‘triple talaq’ and ‘halala’ customs as per the Islamic sharia.
According to her, Islamic sharia has been codified in several Muslim countries like Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Philippines, Syria, Tunisia, UAE and Yemen. “Political parties in India never raise the issue of codification of Muslim personal law as they believe this would antagonize the muslim male voters”, said Naish.
Zakia Soman from Ahmedabad stated that steps are being taken to create awareness over the codification of Muslim personal laws. “A draft is being prepared after consultations with the social workers, lawyers and intellectuals,” she said. Javed Anand from Mumbai in his speech advocated for ending the triple talaq and halala system. “They are not Islamic and amount to rape with the women,” said Javed.
On the occasion several women present there claimed, that they had to undergo halala several times (even 8 times) by their husbands. They said that their pleas often fell on deaf ears and none of the Muslim clergy came to their rescue.