Asghar Ali Engineer Posted online: Thursday, June 17, 2004 at 1018 hours IST Updated: Thursday, June 17, 2004 at 1310 hours IST 1 2Next » Recently, several cases of instant triple divorce have been reported. In Bihar, just because a woman did not vote for the candidate of her husband’s choosing in the Lok Sabha election, he pronounced triple divorce and threw her out. There are several cases of talaq that are as absurd as this one, if not more so. Many others go unreported. Then there is this curious case from Kerala: members of orthodox Sunni groups are threatening to agitate if women are allowed to pray on Friday in the mosque.
What do such developments convey to the world? Do women have secondary status in Islam? Is it a sin to pray in a mosque on Friday? What sort of Islam is this? For many Muslims, orthodox customs have become more important than Qur’anic injunctions. They do not know that Islam was the first religion in the world to empower women and give them equal legal status. Commenting on verse 2:228, Maulana Azad in his Tarjuman al-Qur’an, says that it is a revolutionary declaration of equality of the sexes made 1,300 years ago. But Muslim society, under the influence of a feudal ethos, never realised this revolutionary potential.
But time is running out on such regressive attitudes. Even in conservative Saudi society, there are stirrings of change. Last week, 70 Saudi Arabian scholars and intellectuals participated in a national dialogue in Madina to address the issue of women’s rights. Several women scholars read out papers at the conclave, aimed at creating an environment conducive for Saudi intellectuals to discuss the position of women in Saudi society.
In India, too, Muslim women have become more conscious of their Islamic rights and are demanding changes in personal law in keeping with Qur’anic teachings. Take the issue of talaq, which is regarded as a highly sensitive issue. The Holy Qur’an is very cautious in matters of divorce. Yet, despite clear Qur’anic injunctions to the contrary, we approve of triple divorce in one sitting and destroy marital life in one breath. How can such an act be Islamic? It is the source of the greatest injustice, especially for women.
There are four key words in the Qur’an: adl, ihsan, rahmah and hikmah (justice, benevolence, compassion and wisdom). Triple talaq is against all these principles. It is not just, nor benevolent, nor compassionate, nor an act of wisdom.
Recently, several cases of instant triple divorce have been reported. In Bihar, just because a woman did not vote for the candidate of her husband’s choosing in the Lok Sabha election, he pronounced triple divorce and threw her out. There are several cases of talaq that are as absurd as this one, if not more so. Many others go unreported. Then there is this curious case from Kerala: members of orthodox Sunni groups are threatening to agitate if women are allowed to pray on Friday in the mosque.
