By Shafee Ahmed Ko
Greatly respected Islamic seminary Darul Uloom
Deoband has come out with yet one more “fatwa”
ruling in a divorce valid if an inebriated husband pronounces “talaq” in “Sharia” laws. Although he
repents gaining his folly, the Seminary says he cannot re-establish marital
rights since such divorce has become consummate. On the other hand few of the elite
moderate thinkers in Islam are crisscrossed with such edict from Deoband
Seminary, and they feel such statute is unfounded in Holy Quran and Ahadees,
exegesis Prophet Muhammad.
The Indian media both print and electronic went
overboard indulging in hype with tell tale stories of “fatwas” from Darul Uloom Deoband as running always in rampant.
In a close analysis, a brochure penned by Moulana
Mufti Mohammad Mustafa Miftahi,Qazi-e-Shariat,Choru,
Page 9: ISSUE NO.6 reads as follows:
“At the
time of pronouncement of divorce the presence of, listening or acceptance of
the wife or her relative is not necessary. If the husband alone pronounces
“talaq” in a lonely place, then also the separation is effected. In the same
way, if the wife is present, whether she listened or not, whether she kept
quiet or refused to accept, the divorce in all these conditions comes into
operation.”
Page 10: ISSUE NO.11
“If a
man divorces his wife under the influence of intoxicants like toddy or liquor,
the divorce is valid and takes effect”
In the wake of conflicting edifices originating one
from the Deoband, on the other side the moderate thinkers in Islam such as
A.Faizur Rahman from Chennai (South India) a strong critique against the proponents
of dissolving marriage with an instant divorce, with triple pronouncement in
single sitting, has come out in an
article written in a renowned daily “The Hindu” (April 4) that the “fatwa” was “Bad in law and theology as
it was not based on the Koran and authentic pronouncement of the Prophet. He
further went a step ahead to say, “Muslim institutions must understand that
Koranic ontology revolves around the principles of justice, fairness and equity,
and therefore any law that contravenes or abridges the rights arising out of
these standards of ethics automatically becomes unacceptable. But the continued
refusal of the Muslim patriarchy to see reason makes it imperative to analyse
the procedure of talaq in the Koran
to expose the illegitimacy of some of their fatwas.The
Koran has dealt with the issue of talaq
at length in chapters 2,4,65 namely Al-Baqara, Al-Nisa, and Al-Talaq”
Almost from four decades, the moderate thinkers in
Islam, Asghar Ali Engineer, late Ko.Rafeeque Ahmed, an advocate from Ambur,
V.M.Khaleelur Rahman, and many more have been vociferously writing and, sponsoring
against the instantaneous divorce to fracture healthy marriages.
Towns such as Ambur and Vaniyambadi,in the State of Tamil Nadu, India have the self established
Sharia courts to decide the divorce matters with self styled judges and jurists,
again these scholars are mostly the breeds of Deobanad Madarasas(School of
thoughts) besides the Kangaroo courts prevailing either in the locale (Mohalla)
“Jamaat” or the mosque “Muthavallis” (care takers). Such care
takers known as “Muthavallis” are
mostly from affluent sort, with scant knowledge of Holy Koran, as well Ahadees.
On the other hand the pragmatic system of government
courts has an appellant court so that an aggrieved person goes for an appeal
lest the lower courts have ended in a flawed judgement. But the aforementioned
Sharia courts are self styled and no appellant Sharia courts are to in the near
vicinity, and the verdicts pronounced by these “Moulanas” become an inevitable sentence.
Recently the Muslim Law
Academy-Tamil Nadu,Chennai Zone conducted a seminar in view that Islamic law in
India be codified within the frame work of Koran,Sunna,Ijma and Qiyas.Eminent
scholars such as Asghar Ali Engineer, a
sitting Judge, Honourable Justice G.M.Akbar Ali, M.Abdul Rahman, a Member of
Parliament participated in a large gathering.The writer of this
article has reported on this seminar in a popular Muslim webmagazine,”Twocircles.net”
under the head, “Seminar on codification of Islamic Law held in
Chennai”:
An
interesting but regrettable fact that is invariably seen as elsewhere in the mosques, every Friday
the congregational sermon, the large hearers
are witnessed but they all remain as captive audience, mostly graduates “Moulanas” of Deoband Seminaries being
captivated mostly by them but such discourses are mostly forgotten until next Jumma prayer falls in. More fairly
to say an obsessed mass is witnessed every Friday, keeping it a weekly (weakly) as a
ritual.
There
is cry and call now from the moderate thinkers in Islam that a concerted and
cooperative effort should counterbalance the evils of wrong decisions taken
against Holy Koran and Ahadees. They
feel the need of hour is to launch the best
possible way to teach the Holy Koran and Ahadees from the tender age of
children from the suitable teachers who have the proper perspectives of Islam,Ahadees and Sharia, and
and should be man of practice.It is their general feeling that Holy Koran has to be followed in
letter and spirit, instead keeping it as a relic.
