AA
Thank you Asghar Bhai,
Please keep up your work,
it is not reform, but rather removing the dust gathered on pristine Islam. Today, there are more and more people
appreciating your work, and we just need to work on building that momentum and
have them speak up.
Some of the good
things of Islam seem Khokla, empty, when a few of these ulema talk about women
having equal rights, without meaning it. One prominent Muslim leader
shamelessly uttered, “we were the first ones to give them equal rights” baloney!
We did not give them any rights, God had given them those inalienable rights, and
we the men had usurped it, and thank the Prophet for restoring them.
And yet they remain
silent when an idiot dumps a woman in three bloody words, throwing her whole
world into chaos and Zulm. Those women who were thrown on the street with
children and no source to support them may not admit that the prophet’s
religion as practiced is a zulmat and not the Rahmat we proclaim. Triple Talaq
needs to go, but we have to work at it, let some of these Ulema actually
understand Islam and read Quraan.
The Prophet was Rahmatul
Aalameen; and all we have to do is match our talk with our acts by following the
Quraan.
If Islam can be
translated into one word, it would be Justice. Justice is the mother cure for
all ailments of the society.
In the years of work you have shaped, you must have noticed the improvements from belligerent opposition to somewhat simple opposition, and it is a positive change. I have noticed dramatic changes in the last 10 years in the Muslim forums, including the ones I moderate. When I started talking about Pluralism in Islam - I was vehemently attacked in my own forums and every Muslims forum, thank God, today, their fears are subsiding and they see that the pluralistic values are embedded in Islam and Islam is about Universality. Today, just about every scholar is writing about Pluralism in Islam. Insha Allah, we have to continue the work.
I am blessed to live
in America, and have a lot more freedom available to me, to write freely,
rather than threatened by the fatwa bombs. Someone tried to bring one from
Karachi on me, and I told them to go ahead and make my day, they did not give
me that pleasure.
Islam is a summation
of the beauty of all religions, while all religions are beautiful in
themselves, and we cannot let a few ruin the beauty of Islam. Keep up the good
work.
Jazak Allah Khair
Mike Ghouse
Muslims together
building cohesive societies
ULAMA AND ISLAMIC VALUES
Asghar Ali Engineer
A few days ago we had
organized a discussion on codification of Muslim personal law in a way that
could be acceptable to all the sects of Islam in India. We have done so in
consultation with the ulama Muslim intellectuals, lawyers and women activists.
Also, this codification is strictly with frame-work of Shari’ah that is Qur’an
and sunna. We have had a few consultations before we finalized certain
proposals and we also had kept in view the codification done in many Muslim
countries like Pakistan, Jordan, Egypt and other countries.
Our draft codified law
addresses the question of misuse of polygamy, triple talaq, inheritance,
custody of children etc. The orthodox Ulama who have constituted the Muslim
Personal Law Board since seventies of last century, hardly do anything to stop
misuse of these provisions with the result that a large number of Muslim women
suffer – are arbitrarily divorced ruining their lives for ever and throwing
their children in an uncertain future. Many men taking advantage of provision
for polygamy desert their fist wives and marry another one and in order to take
revenge do not even divorce them as under unregulated Muslim personal law today
khula’ cannot take place without the consent of husband.
Our proposed codification
is chiefly meant to stop such abuses and restore its thrust for justice and
gender equality. Though we have finalized proposals we, by no means, consider
it perfect and so have kept it open for consultation and further perfection.
Continuing with consultation we organized one such consultation at Lucknow
which is a centre of Islamic learning and invited ulama from Nadwat-ul-Ulama
and Farangi Mahal, the two great centres of Islamic learning, besides other
Ulama, intellectuals and women activists.
Though we are aware that it
is by no means easy to get such proposals accepted by orthodox Ulama or Muslim
Personal Law Board (MPLB) we continue to discuss with them and persuade them to
accept these proposals in the interest of Islamic spirit and justice to women.
We also wish to have dialogue with MPLB, preferably its chief Maulana Rabe Hasni.
In this consultation we requested that MPLB should depute some representative
to have at least preliminary discussion with us.
A maulana was deputed and
from Farangi Mahal its chief Maulana Irfan Siddiqui himself came. The
consultation was great disappointment and proved how rigid our Ulama are and
one of the reasons why Islam appears to be so rigid to non-Muslims and
rationalist Muslims is chiefly because of this rigidity. Right at the beginning
the Maulana from Nadwa (I am not naming him) right in the beginning said you
are undertaking very ‘dangerous’ work (khaufnak kam kar rahen hain).
He also alleged that you
are trying to ‘change Qur’an.’ I said let us first go through the proposals and
then you point out why it is ‘dangerous’ and how it amounts to change Qur’an.
We again reiterated that our proposals are strictly within the frame-work of
Qur’an and sunnah, all we are doing is to regulate and pre3vent their misuse
like polygamy, triple divorce etc. We have proposed, for example, that a man
should not be allowed to marry another wife unless he is permitted to do so by
the marriage council (or shari’ah court) presided by a qazi and his first wife
after thorough inquiry which could include need for second wife and his
capacity to do justice.
Both the Qur’anic verses in
on polygamy in Qur’an (4:3 and 4:129) stress justice, not number and justice is
very primary in Islamic value system too and in taking second wife too justice
cannot be ignored. The Maulana then said it is Hindus who marry more than one wife
more often than Muslims. I said so what, we are here discussing the Muslim
Personal Law and not Hindu law or violation of Hindu law. We must understand
the maqasid al-shari’ah (intentions of shari’ah) and should not go by formal
law as formulated by early jurists. In fact early jurists also had kept justice
in mind and even tried to define justice but soon it began to be misused by men
and justice became quite secondary to number (upto four)
Similarly triple divorce in
one sitting is not mentioned in Qur’an and Qur’an has clearly prescribed method
also and requires two witnesses at the time of divorce (65:1-3) and yet among
Hanafi Muslims triple divorce in one sitting has become the only form of
divorce in India. Qur’an also makes provision for arbitration before divorce
(4:35) which is also avoided today. Thus Qur’an becomes secondary when it comes
to men’s domination.
The Maulana said if I prove
the Propjet (PBUH) had allowed triple divorce would you accept it? I said
surely I would. Please quote the source. He could not and then I quoted the
hadith in which the Prophet (PBUH) had strongly denounced triple divorce when
Rukkana divorced his wife thrice in one sitting. The Maulana had no reply but
again he said very few Muslims divorce their wives. One ‘alim even said none of
us present here has divorced his wife. I said we are not going by numbers but
quality and intent of law, not how many Muslims divorce their wives. I know of
several Muslim women whose lives have been ruined because of triple divorce.
The Maulana when rendered
speechless adopted tactics of munazarah
(debate) in which matter is twisted rather than give solid reply. The Maulana
at last left in a huff rather than give any constructive suggestion. I was very
much pained that our religious leaders are so rigid and have lost the true
spirit of Islamic legislation.
