Nov 26, 2010
MUMBAI: A group of Muslim women activists has challenged the Darul Uloom Deoband's recent fatwa that states a divorce "pronounced" by a man over the phone is valid even if his wife failed to hear it due to network problems.
The Islamic seminary's fatwa department stated: "For talaq, it is not necessary that the wife should hear it or witnesses are present on the spot."
At a press meet on Thursday, members of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) lashed out at the "anti-women, regressive fatwas that had rendered the life of many Muslim women miserable". BMMA's Maharashtra convener Khatoon Shaikh asked, "If a marriage requires the consent of the bride, without which a nikah is not valid, how can the same union be terminated unilaterally without the consent of the wife?" Pointing out the Quran's spirit of gender justice, some of the activists read out relevant verses from the holy book that say arbitration is required before talaq is pronounced. "Muslim laws need to be codified. Once it is so done according to the Quranic principles of justice and equality, such fatwas will have no relevance," said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, BMMA's founding member, who has also written to the Deoband seminary. The letter, among other things, questions the source of the fatwas that prohibit women from riding bicycles, talking loudly and working with men without wearing veils. Condemning such fatwas, Javed Anand of Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD) said, "These fatwas are anti-women, anti-human, anti-Islamic and anti-Constitutional. Deoband must stop making mockery of religion."
The BMMA, along with a number of other women's groups such as Mahila Shakti Mandal, Samjhauta Mahila Mandal, Hukook Mahila Sangathan and Ashana Trust, provides legal and emotional support to women in distress.
Source:TimeofIndia
The Islamic seminary's fatwa department stated: "For talaq, it is not necessary that the wife should hear it or witnesses are present on the spot."
At a press meet on Thursday, members of Bhartiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) lashed out at the "anti-women, regressive fatwas that had rendered the life of many Muslim women miserable". BMMA's Maharashtra convener Khatoon Shaikh asked, "If a marriage requires the consent of the bride, without which a nikah is not valid, how can the same union be terminated unilaterally without the consent of the wife?" Pointing out the Quran's spirit of gender justice, some of the activists read out relevant verses from the holy book that say arbitration is required before talaq is pronounced. "Muslim laws need to be codified. Once it is so done according to the Quranic principles of justice and equality, such fatwas will have no relevance," said Noorjehan Safia Niaz, BMMA's founding member, who has also written to the Deoband seminary. The letter, among other things, questions the source of the fatwas that prohibit women from riding bicycles, talking loudly and working with men without wearing veils. Condemning such fatwas, Javed Anand of Muslims for Secular Democracy (MSD) said, "These fatwas are anti-women, anti-human, anti-Islamic and anti-Constitutional. Deoband must stop making mockery of religion."
The BMMA, along with a number of other women's groups such as Mahila Shakti Mandal, Samjhauta Mahila Mandal, Hukook Mahila Sangathan and Ashana Trust, provides legal and emotional support to women in distress.
Source:TimeofIndia
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