Lucknow:January, 18, 2010- The collective and forceful outcry of women members of All India Muslim Personal Law Board at their first meeting held in Lucknow on Sunday,17th January, against the most perverted practice of 'Triple Divorce'( Divorce in one sitting) prevailing amongst some Muslim sects' is a welcome step in positive direction. The development must be considered as heralding a new era and be taken as an eye-opener by those clergy who have always shown a deep sense of obstinacy in sticking to the centuries old malpractices which have assumed the shape of religious sanctity.
There is no shade of doubt that whatever must have been the historical background of this prevailing malaise of ' TALAQ,TALAQ, TALAQ' in one sitting, it has not the remotest relation with Quranic injunctions. On the contrary, they have exposed the Muslim community to ridicule before non-Muslims, and further left the judicial institutions in a dilemma , especially in India, regarding its acceptability in the dispensation of justice as to which form of 'divorce' must enjoin justiciability.
It is a matter of great regret that All India Muslim Personal Law Board - a body representing all Muslim sects- even during its decades long existence has still not come forward with some consensus on the most appropriate form of divorce which may be submitted as an authentic proof before the judiciary.Instead it has remained embroiled in the trivialities like the 'SHAH BANO' controversy and the subsequent ' MUSLIM WOMEN ( PROTECTION OF RIGHTS) ON DIVORCE ACT' which snatched away already existing rights of maintenance under Section 125 of Criminal Procedure Code from Muslim women. Had the verdict in Shah Bano case been followed by a mass movement for the amendment of Zamindari Abolition Act for granting the share to Muslim women in the parental agricultural property , it would have sent a good message to the world regarding Islam and Muslim Law.
Now a time has come when All India Muslim Personal Law Board must take a bold initiative to eliminate the un-Quranic practices like ' triple divorce' and isolate those elements who are opposed to the restoration of Quranic theme in proper perspective. Let it be clarified that it is not the amendment or change of what Quran says but it is the process of eradication of ugly traces which have adultrated its explicit commandments.
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Dr. Mustafa Kamal Sherwani,LL. D.
Chairman,All India Muslim Forum,
Associate Professor, Shia College of Law
Lucknow,U.P. India
& Former Dean,Faculty of Law and Shariah
Zanzibar University , Zanzibar
Republic of Tanzania
E:mail-sherwanimk@ yahoo.com
Phones-+91-99197779 09
+91-522-2733715