Until the book reveals on your conscience!

As per the report published in Urdu daily “Inquilab” dated June 6, 2017. Jamaat-e-Islami Jalgaon district President Abdul Samee, Youth wing Secretary Mohammad Sohail and Women wing President Nasreen Mehmood Khan etc. held a press conference in patrakar bhavan (press building), Jalgaon. During the press conference they clarified about the Muslim personal law that the British government has passed the “ShariatApplication Act” in 1937 followed by the demand from the Muslims. Marriage, divorce, annulment of marriage, Zihar (the oath of continence) right to custody, guardianship, inheritance, will, gift and so will be dealt according to the Sharia (Islamic law) notwithstanding any customs or usage to the contrary if both the parties are Muslims. And Sharia law will be above and beyond the rituals and customs. As per the chapter 3 (fundamental rights) of Indian Constitution Liberty of belief, freedom of conscience and religion has been identified as a fundamental right. This section guarantees the protection of Muslim Personal Law.

tire zamīr pe jab tak na ho nuzūl-e-kitāb

girah-kushā hai na 'rāzī' na sāhib-e-kashshāf

Until the book (Quran) reveals (Opens your) on your conscience (mind)

Niether Razi (Alchemist and Philosopher) nor sāhib-e-kashshāf(Author of Kashshaf, commentary on the Qur'an) will be the knot opener (make you understand).

All these section guarantees the protection of the Muslim Personal Law is completely agreed and accepted. But the question is what are the Sharia laws and the principles of Sharia law? There was so much noise due to the prevailing method of triple talaq in the current months, (The verdict ultimately got reserved by the five-member constitutional bench headed by Chief Justice J S Khehar on May 17, 2017.) This fire has started from cities and reached till villages and ignited the rational, wise and enlightened section of the society. (Which correspondent wrote as conscious individuals bounded in the grip of some misunderstandings.)

This fact cannot be denied that women have surpassed the menin the field of education and development and men are left far behind them but women still suffer the oppression that once was the hallmark of days of ignorance. They are deprived of their lawful rights and instead of their abilities getting recognized they are ridiculed and left to weep silently in their homes. If sensible people advocate women’s rights then society declares them fool.

The teachings of Islam are solid, strong and transcends human imagination but our scholars have set out 20 segments of divorce (Talaq) by establishing “Talaq-bil-kinaya” etc. and created such a confusion that it is difficult to differentiate between Mamsusa(Marriage consummated), Gair-Mamsusa(Marriage not consummated) and Mukhtala'a (a woman who pays compensation to her husband in order to divorce her). And it reached to a point that this fuss is heard by everybody and it yielded no result except everyone listened and enjoyed this.

As per the Qur’an any talaq (divorce) after which divorcee has to assume the Iddat (waiting period) is Imsaki i.e. revocable. And in case Gair-Mamsusa or Mukhtala'a Qur’an says for them there is no question of iddat (waiting period) arises. All other divorces like Talaaq-e-Bain (irrevocable divorce) and Talaq-e-Mughallazah (Irrevocable Divorce) etc. written by Islamic Jurist in their books have no proof of mention in the Qur’an.

Qur'an has set the divorce limitation to two. Still they try to prove triple talaq from a hadith ایلعب بکتاب اللہ (Playing with the book of Allah) while triple talaq is not mentioned in the Quran! Traditionists themselves states that continuously during Prophetic and Siddiqui’s era and also during Farooque’s initial 2 years in a row triple talaq used to be revocable. Umar Farooquehas imposed pre Islamic (Paganism (triple talaq as a punishment after 2 years.

This was Umar Farooque’s Ijtihad (critical thinking and independent reasoning) which cling to our jurists mind as a ghost and customs got supremacy over Islamic Sharia. This is against the “Shariat Application Act” and tantamount to snatch the freedom of conscience of Muslim women reserved as fundamental right under the chapter 3 of constitution of India. In place of Muslim Personal Law, Non Islamic law has been imposed and presented as a protection guarantee for Muslim Personal Law.

Maulana Syed Shahabuddin Salfi Firdausi

(Founder and Chairman of Athar Blood Bank & Masjid-ul-Salam, Solapur)