Syed Khalique Ahmed
NEW DELHI—The Modi government celebrated August 1 as the Muslim Women’s Rights Day to mark two years of the passage of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill on August 1, 2019. Called in short the Triple Talaq Bill, it criminalizes the instant triple talaq and provides for the man’s arrest pronouncing the divorce. The government has not criminalized divorce in any other religion, be it Hinduism, Christianity, or any other faith. It continues to be a civil matter.
Many women organizations rejected the government’s announcement of the ‘Muslim Women’s Rights Day’ by saying that the Modi government had reduced the entire Muslim community to second-class citizens. They said that the law was passed for a “sinister” purpose by the Modi government, that is, “to show the Muslim men their place in New India.” They said there was nothing to celebrate in the law that chiefly intended to disgrace the Muslim community.
Mrs Rahmathunnisan, national secretary of the women’s wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind, said that “celebrating August 1 as Muslim Women’s Rights Day is nothing but a mockery of the Muslim women’s right enshrined in the Islamic shariah”. Mrs. Rahmathunnisan is right because Islam granted the property right, right to education, right to do business and trade, right to own property and wealth, and freedom to express their opinion fearlessly individually and in public gatherings 1400 years ago when the world was in Dark Ages. Women in all societies, including India and Europe, were considered not more than a chattel or a moveable property of their parents, husbands, and even sons. So, if a woman is treated like a transferrable commodity, she cannot be expected to have any right. And that was exactly the position of women in the pre-Islamic era. It continued to be so in many societies, including the so-called advanced societies of the US and Europe, until the middle of the 19th century.
But as soon as Islam came into existence, it granted human rights to women. It allowed women to acquire knowledge and gave their share in their parental properties (which was given to the Hindu women in India in September 2005 only). Islam also put a stop to their marriage without their consent. Islam gave them the right to seek separation or divorce from her husband in case she feels she cannot live with him for any reason. She is not to be tied to live for her entire life with a man she does not like, thus preventing married women from taking recourse to suicide to seek the end of her relationship with her husband as happens in many non-Muslim societies in India. Islam also allowed widow remarriage. But for Hindu widow’s remarriage, Raja Ram Mohan Roy had to fight a long battle. Islam banned Muslim men from claiming dowry from their wives (though it is prevalent in some Muslim societies, which is nothing but vestiges of the local non-Islamic culture). Instead, Islam empowered women to seek dower, or what is called Mehr, from the husband, and there is no limit on the amount of Mehr to be sought by the wife. And no ‘nikah’ or Islamic marriage will be valid until the husband pays or agrees to pay the dower to his wife. The family or the economic burden is not on the woman in Islam. It is the sole responsibility of the husband to look after his wife and children, unlike in the present-day Indian society where the wife is forced to earn for the family and an earning wife is preferred because the husband places the economic burden of the family on his wife as well. But Islam does not bar a woman from earning money. However, she is the exclusive owner of her earnings and wealth and the property that she inherits from her parents. Husband under Islamic law cannot force his wife to share her wealth with him.
The Islamic laws on women’s rights, divorce, property, etc. have been copied by different societies, including the Hindu society, albeit in pieces through reformation in their religious and social laws. Yet, leaders of these societies do not acknowledge having borrowed from Islamic law. Instead, they dare to accuse Islam of not giving rights to women. Just think of a society without the provision of divorce, a system that came into existence with the advent of Islam. What will happen to women who do not want to live with their husbands and men who cannot live with their wives for certain reasons?
The rights to Muslim women have been given by Islam, not by you, Mr. Modi.
It would not be appropriate to comment on the personal life of any leader. But it would certainly be fair to draw the attention of the PM about what was done to dozens of Muslim women during the 2002 anti-Muslim riots in Gujarat when he was chief minister. Has he forgotten how the criminals cut open the womb of Kausar Bano in Naroda Patia, removed the foetus, and roasted it over the tip of a ‘trishul’. How Kausar Bi, the wife of Sohrabuddin killed in an encounter, was gang raped and murdered allegedly by cops. And her body was burnt in a remote village to destroy the evidence.
And Zakia Jafri, wife of former Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, is still fighting for justice in the brutal murder of her husband.
Lakhs of Muslim women all over India protested for six months in 2019-2020 against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) that aims to snatch the citizenship rights of the Indian Muslims. But the Modi government did not do anything to withdraw the law.
Young Najeeb Ahmed, a student of Jawaharlal Nehru University, is missing since November 25, 2016. The allegations were levelled at members of a student organization. But neither the Delhi police nor the CBI under you has been able to solve the case while Najeeb’s mother is looking for him all around.
Muslim women face the same problem as any other women in India. If triple talaq is not the problem of other women, it is also not the problem of Muslim women. It may be the problem of the political parties who have been using the triple talaq issue for political purposes.
And the problem of Muslim women is education and employment. Whether the Congress or the BJP, the government will be well-advised to ensure better education and job for Muslim women. Why can’t PM Modi give reservations in jobs to Muslim women to improve their lot?
The Rights To Muslim Women Have Been Given By Islam, Not By You, Mr. Modi