Muslim Men Take on the Ulema, Sign Petition to End 'Triple Talaq'

NEW DELHI: In a striking move towards demanding the abolishment of triple-talaq (instant divorce) and nikaah halala, over 225 Muslim men from all over India issued a statement expressing their full support to the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) and other Muslim organizations and individuals associated with the cause.

Among the signatories are several award winners and prominent personalities from the film industry and theatre including Resul Pookutty, Saeed Mirza, Javed Siddiqi, Kamaal Hasan, Anjum Rajabali, Shafaat Khan, Talat Jaani, and Feroz Abbas Khan.

Muslim women rights organization, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), had launched the campaign to end the practice of triple talaq, in a bid to safeguard the rights of Muslim women across the country. It also petitioned the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Muslim Personal Law.

Saira Banu, one of the many victims of the tyranny of triple talaq, recently made headlines for choosing to challenge the bizarre whimsy of this formula, according to which the utterance of talaq, talaq, talaq thrice at a go can terminate one’s marriage. After receiving a letter from her husband last year, with the words “Talaq, Talaq, Talaq” inscribed on it, she embarked on a historic quest to delegitimize the validity of this archaic law. In March this year, she petitioned the Supreme Court to declare triple talaq, polygamy and halala (the custom that mandates that if a woman wants to go back to her husband following divorce, she must first consummate her marriage with another man) illegal.

While the triple talaq method of instant divorce is today banned in more than 21 Muslim majority countries, including Pakistan, it continues to be justified by the ulema in India as legally valid, even though theologically repugnant.

Triple Talaq, the practice of misusing the Sharia law to often leave women destitute through the pronouncement of talaq (divorce) thrice in a sitting, has received an unprecedented ‘No’ from Muslim Men. Women activists have been working since decades in India to push through reforms in the Muslim Personal Law to abolish this practice, but with marginal success.

Muslim Men For Gender Justice have strongly condemned the practice of triple talaq, declared it anti-constitutional and taken on the ulema and their double speech in this unusually brave and unprecedented statement. They point out, “While the triple talaq method of instant divorce is today banned in more than 21 Muslim majority countries, including Pakistan, it continues to be justified by the ulema in India as legally valid, even though theologically repugnant.”

This move thus, assumes new importance as it cuts into the patriarchal hold of men over the women. Hundreds of incidents have been recorded by women groups of Muslim girls being divorced in one sitting by men without any notice; of receiving the divorce decree through the mail; of being divorced over the telephone. In the economically deprived sections this leads to destitution, with the women often with children, have no money or jobs to fall back on. The Shahbano case that led to disastrous polarisation of polity as it went on to be exploited by both Muslim and Hindu fundamentalists was of a destitute Muslim woman, divorced suddenly, and left destitute with no recourse but to approach the courts for help. She was basically seeking the Rs 500 that was guaranteed at the time to destitute women.

The signatories represent 36 different cities across several states: Ajmer, Allahabad, Bengaluru, Baramati, Calicut, Champaran, Chennai, Coimbatore, Ghaziabad, Hyderabad, Indore, Jaipur, Jalgaon, Kishanganj, Kolkatta, Latur, Lucknow, Madurai, Mangalore, Mumbai, Muzaffarnagar, Mysuru, Nipani, Noida, New Delhi, Panvel, Patna, Pondicherry, Pune, Rampur, Ranchi, Sangli, Satara, Sholapur, Vadodara, Varanasi. A few arealso from Abu Dhabi, Oman, Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA.

The statement reads:

We, the undersigned, believe that gender equality and justice are human rights issues which must be as much a matter of concern for men as for women. If anything, it is more so men’s obligation to cry a halt to patriarchy, particularly when it is sought to be perpetuated in the name of God.

We therefore fully support the campaign launched by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) and other Muslim organisations and individuals for the abolition, and declaration as illegal, of triple talaq (instant divorce) and nikaah- halala as being practiced in India. We salute BMMA for its initiative in collecting 50,000 signatures from across the country in support of their demand, as also the Muslim women victims of instant divorce who are seeking justice from the Supreme Court of India.

While the triple talaq method of instant divorce is today banned in more than 21 Muslim majority countries, including Pakistan, it continues to be justified by the ulema in India as legally valid, even though theologically repugnant.

We categorically reject the false claim of the ulema that what goes in the name of Muslim Personal Law in India is a “God-given” law. As BMMA has rightly pointed out, there is no mention of the inhuman, unjust and anti-women instant talaq practice in the Quran. In fact, the Quran clearly stipulates an obligatory three- month period during which attempts must be made at reconciliation and mediation before severing of the marital bond.

Equally, triple talaq violates the Constitutional principles of gender parity and non-discrimination. Thus this obnoxious instant divorce practice is both un- Quranic and un-Constitutional.

The ulema who proudly proclaim that Islam is the first religion to have given rights to women are duty bound to ensure justice to women. We bemoan the fact that instead of doing so they continue to justify the Muslim male’s privilege of unilateral and instant divorce, often on a mere whim or fit of anger.

As for nikaah-halala, the way this Quranic position is misconstrued and misused in India is a shameful practice which is extremely degrading for women. Even if a husband utters the dread words ‘talaq, talaq, talaq’ in a fit of anger but regrets the same immediately thereafter, according to the ulema there is only one way for the couple to resume their relationship. Another man must marry the divorced woman, consummate the marriage and then divorce her so that she may remarry her former husband.

BMMA has even documented some cases where qazis not only justify and legitimise nikaah-halala, but even offer their own “services” as temporary husbands. What could be more disgraceful than this?

The least we expect from the ulema who have proved themselves unwilling and incapable of ending the shameful, anti-women practices of instant divorce and nikaah-halala is to stop perpetuating patriarchy in the name of religion.

The word ulema is supposed to mean a body of Muslim scholars who are recognised as having specialist knowledge of Islamic sacred law and theology. We demand that the ulema in India live up to that definition. They must stop making a mockery of their honorific and demonising Islam in the process.