What does one say when a prestigious minority educational institution chooses to hold back the bright sparks among Muslim women even as the community rightly complains of the “institutionalised discrimination” as documented by Sachar Committee?  

It is well-known that Indian Muslims lag behind educationally and socially. Some years ago, the Sachar Committee appointed by the then prime minister highlighted in its report that Muslims who are the largest minority in India live in poverty, economic, social and educational backwardness. They also noted that avenues for higher education are not available to Muslim students.
 
They presented a dismal scenario based on the nominal numbers of Muslim students in institutions of higher learning including various universities, IIMs, IITs etc. They also found that only 4 out of 100 Muslims are able to become graduates. They came up with a set of elaborate recommendations to address this situation.
 
But the most significant question is how mindful is the community about the need for education and specially girls’ education. For, no community can educate itself unless the girls and women in the community are able to educate themselves. It is in this context that we need to reflect on the recent news about the scenario pertaining to girls education at AMU (Aligarh Muslim University).
 
The rules for girls in the campus are so sacrosanct that despite the national outcry on the library issue and the High Court Judgement against the practice, the university continues to deny “gender neutral access” to the undergraduate boarders of Women’s College by insisting on its Sunday outing rule.

Noted historian Prof Irfan Habib has spoken out against discrimination of girls at AMU. He was voicing the concerns of several faculty members, students and the whole community when he made these remarks. His concern about girls’ education is shared by many. It also raises the question: if Muslim girls cannot get their entitlements, equal right to education and justice in the historical AMU then where can they go? Not only this, as pointed out by Prof Habib, this kind of discrimination is unique to AMU and Muslim girls or any girls approaching other universities do not face this kind of discrimination.
 
The problem lies in the details. Under-graduate admissions to girls in regular BA, BSc, BCom courses are open only in the Women’s College. The Women’s College has very limited number of seats compared to the seats in the departments where boys only could be admitted. Only “professional” courses and some other courses where logistics require co-education were opened up for girls.
 
Although unbelievable, the girls cannot compete for the general courses other than the ones in the Women’s College. Thus the undergraduate regular courses in the university (except for few) are exclusively for male students. Besides, as the undergraduate girls’ education is confined to the Women’s College, the admission cut-off remains quite high for girls compared to boys.  See the table worked from the Annual Report 2011-12:
 
Annual Report 2011-12
(Aligarh Muslim University)
 

The logic seems to be that if undergraduate women students have their separate College, they do not have entitlements in the university overall. Some logic this! Every train in Indian Railways has a womens’ compartment. But does this mean that women can be barred from seats in all the general compartments?  This is precisely what is happening in AMU. Yes, it is a bit hard to believe!
 
It seems the policy of not allowing undergraduate women students the option to choose courses in the main university is based on the university’s insistence to maintain the structural separation of men’s and women’s campus at the undergraduate level. This separation is part of its century old legacy when purdah requirements for Muslim girls necessitated the institution of women’s learning to be thoroughly secluded.
 
The ‘Abdullah Hall’, the hall of residence for the undergraduate students within which the Women’s College is situated continues to be thoroughly guarded and secluded from the main campus with strict living rules for women boarders. Unbelievably, the women boarders of the Hall are even today not allowed out of the Abdullah Hall campus except on Sundays (with occasional concessions). It was on account of these strict restrictions on the movement of the women boarders that the university had long denied the undergraduate students’ access to the Central Library. Astonishingly, when the matter of discrimination in library access came up it was sought to be justified as due to “roads not safe for women” and “lack of infra-structural facilities” etc.
 
From all accounts the rules for girls in the campus are so sacrosanct that despite the national outcry on the library issue and the High Court Judgement against the practice, the university continues to deny “gender neutral access” to the undergraduate boarders of Women’s College by insisting on its Sunday outing rule. Special arrangements were made to convey girls by bus in the early mornings on Sundays only. Girl students wishing to visit the library on weekdays have to seek special permission from authorities!
 
In recent days when the issue of discrimination in seats for undergraduate women students was raised the administration issued a denial. According to media reports, the vice-chancellor has said, “There is no discrimination. Our percentage of girls is 42 percent. We are building more hostels for girls.”
 
Just as at the time of central library issue, the administration now dishes out the percentage of women students in the university courses which are co-ed. If the women students in these courses have a good percentage, they have reached there through competition and girls everywhere are doing very well. The problem is that the university cannot restrict the undergraduate regular course girls to particular number of seats and keep larger number of seats only for boys. These ways of detracting raises a question mark about the mindsets of those who are in charge of policy at such a premier minority institution.  
 
There have been voices of students and teachers from the campus raising these issues of discrimination, hardships and moral policing of girls under the pretext of disciplining them. These notions are extra-constitutional and cannot stand any scrutiny. 
 
A paper co-authored by Zeba Imam and Shadab Bano, Patriarchy, Community Rights and Institutions for Education: Counter Discourse and Negotiation for Right, raises several fundamental questions over the “normality” of covert forms of discrimination in this historical institute which is seen as a bastion of modern Muslim education. They go on to raise the larger issue as to whether minority institutions need necessarily maintain the gender hierarchies based on patriarchy. Should girls from the minority community continue to be second class even within the community educational spaces?
 
AMU is an autonomous institution fighting to save its autonomy in the face of a political onslaught which threatens to take away its minority status. But should their policies and regulations continue to deny autonomy to the girl students is the larger question. In that sense, though an institution of higher learning, AMU is so similar to the dominant bodies of the orthodox Muslim clergy who have time and again given calls for preservation of male hegemony over Muslim women in the name of minority rights guaranteed under the Constitution! 
 
The writer is among the founders of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan.

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Photo: Courtesy DNA

The self-appointed custodians of Islam are doing the greatest disservice to Islam and Muslims, women especially

In our understanding the values of kindness, compassion and justice are the core values enshrined in the Quran. Clearly, hegemony is not an Islamic value and yet the experiences we have undergone in the course of our work in the last ten years give rise to certain fundamental questions.

Why are so many Muslims, particularly men, so hegemonic in their thinking? Why do most of them seem to think that reading, understanding and interpreting of the Quran is a sole male prerogative? They seem to think that Allah created men and women as unequal. This view of an unjust Allah is not acceptable to us and therein lies the crux of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan’s (BMMA) existence.

Globally, eminent scholars such as the late professor Fatima Mernissi, Dr Amina Wadud, Dr Khalid Masood, Dr Ziba Mir Hosseini and several more have dedicated their lives to reading and interpreting the Quran to highlight that Allah is just and fair. Volumes have been written on the tawhidic framework about Allah as a uniting, harmonizing force. But the fact remains that these scholarly works that bring out the essence of Islam as a religion of peace and justice remain unheeded and are not referred to by large mass of people in Muslim societies.

Unfortunately, the dominant thought processes that control Muslim societies remain patriarchal. The traditions and practices followed are often in direct violation of the Quranic spirit of justice. The stranglehold of patriarchal hegemony in India and in South Asia has got exacerbated by the arrival of Salafi-Wahhabi ideologies that now threaten to become the mainstream in Muslim society. This ideology has led to further strengthening of the hegemony of patriarchal mindsets in our community. Practices such as triple talaq and halala are manifestations of this trend. But at the core of this thinking is a patriarchal mindset of male superiority and domination.

We want to refer here to the dominant common sense prevalent in the Indian Muslim community about men being superior to women. Islam gave equal rights to women over 1400 years ago; but have they been translated into reality? So long as the dominant common sense about male superiority dictates the mindsets and behavior of Muslims these rights will remain on paper.

In what has been a masterstroke the patriarchal forces have succeeded in attributing this subjugation and injustice to Islam through misinterpretations, distortions and lies. They have invented fiction, half-truths and references that equate women with cattle and allow the men to get away with the worst kind of atrocities against them. In the process they not only violate the basic tenets of Islam, they also help demonisation and stereotyping of the whole community.

They treat their wives, sisters, mothers and daughters unjustly and, even if unwittingly, help the Hindutva campaigns. The self-appointed custodians of Islam do greatest disservice to Muslims and to Islam. It is a pity that even some so-called educated Muslims blindly support these custodians thanks to the common sense about male superiority in Islam that they suffer from.

Why has there been no concerted effort so far to challenge these patriarchal custodians? Why is it that the Muslim women themselves had to initiate a challenge to these hegemonic elements? Why are the wise Muslim men not supporting Muslim women’s’ struggle for Quranic rights of justice and equality? Or are they forever going to allow the conservative clerics to keep deciding for all 17 crore of us?

Why has there been no concerted effort so far to challenge these patriarchal custodians? Why is it that the Muslim women themselves had to initiate a challenge to these hegemonic elements? Why are the wise Muslim men not supporting Muslim women’s’ struggle for Quranic rights of justice and equality? Or are they forever going to allow the conservative clerics to keep deciding for all 17 crore of us? Are they not aware that Islam has no place for intermediaries between Allah and believers? And lastly, what legitimacy do they have to question Muslim women who stand up and fight for their Quranic rights?

We will recount here some direct evidence about the dominant Indian Muslim male thinking being hegemonic and in violation of Islamic values of justice and fairness. This is not to say that there are no exceptional and courageous Muslim men; all of us know many of them in our respective spheres. But as a whole, it is the patriarchal conservative thought process that dominates our conduct.

All of us Muslim women had come together in the aftermath of the communal violence of Gujarat in 2002 to unequivocally oppose the communal forces and to demand rehabilitation and justice for the survivors. Our work at the time was focused around fighting discrimination on communal basis and demanding equal citizenship for the largest minority.
As we began to know and learn about each other spread across different parts of the country we could at once identify a lot of common ground and the need for coming together as a national entity. We were all bold and gutsy women who had fought with their own adverse circumstances and were struggling for equal citizenship in our respective locations and local contexts.

After informal interactions spanning over nearly two years we realised that we shared a commonality of purpose and had a shared worldview. We felt that Indian Muslims were poor and backward despite the Constitutional guarantees. We agreed that we were denied our Quranic rights thanks to the nexus between the patriarchal forces in our community and various governments. We decided that we need to change the situation.
 
We were clear that women needed to take up the leadership of the Muslim community in India for so-called male leadership was responsible for the all-round failure. We formed the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan in January 2007. Our name was a very deliberated and considered exercise. We felt that we needed a name that spells out what we stood for. We were as Bharatiya as anyone else and we would not offer apologies for being Muslim and Bharatiya. Nobody can appropriate the word Bharatiya and exclude others.

We put together our worldview in the form of our mission document where we clearly stated that we believe in the values of justice, equality, pluralism and democracy enshrined in the Constitution of India. We also clearly stated that we saw no contradiction between these values and the Quranic values. We set forth to work on attaining our Quranic as well as citizenship rights. We clearly stated our solidarity with all those who are working for justice and equality in the country and the world.

We also stated that we believe in secularism, religious harmony and peaceful co-existence as opposed to communalism and intolerance. We wanted to develop an alternative voice of the Muslim community that was rooted in pluralism and mutual respect between communities. And we were clear that it should be a feminine voice as the regressive male voices had failed to achieve anything for Indian Muslims in sixty years after 1947.

Nobody asks where these scholars are when a triple talaq takes place in their respective cities or mohallas! Nobody talks about the scholars’ moral obligation to act when practices like halala are found rampant in our society! Another common experience is being told by a male member of a largely Muslim audience: your views are ok but why are you not dressed in Islamic way? Pray what is the Islamic way, we ask?

We embarked on a journey towards our mission focusing on the citizenship rights of our excluded community. A campaign on Sachar Committee’s findings and implementation of the recommendations was taken up in the initial years nationally and in various states. As soon as we found some bearings and women started becoming our members in large members we were faced with the reality of legal discrimination against Muslim women.

Across all states women began coming to us saying: I was divorced orally; I was thrown out after triple talaq, where do I go with my children; I received a post card from my husband divorcing me; I was away at my parents’ home for two months and learnt that my husband has married another woman; my husband divorced me and now wants me back; the qazi is asking me to undergo halala (meaning, marry and consummate marriage with another man, divorce him, only then remarry your former husband) etc etc.

The sad reality of male hegemony that rules the roost in our community ostensibly in the name of Islam dawned on us! We could not have asked the women to just go away! We realised that the long-term solution lay in the codification of the Muslim personal law based on the Quranic tenets. And this brought us into direct confrontation with the established patriarchal forces who had always spoken in the name of religion. We are not attempting here to give a summary of our work; anyone interested reader can visit our website. (www.bmmaindia.com).

Every public meeting, every seminar, every program of ours takes us on a familiar pattern of responses from Muslim males. We have women participating in large numbers, giving their testimonies, their inputs on a range of issues such as Muslim personal law, government schemes, communal harmony, different happenings in society etc. Above all, they give us their trust.

But invariably at the end of the program a Muslim male stands up and begins teaching us about Islam as he perceives it. He takes it upon himself, in spite of his apparent ignorance of the issue, to teach us about Islamic tenets. He thinks it is his prerogative since he represents the male species in a room full of women! Often such wise men beat a retreat when ordinary women start retorting with evidence and confidence.

We see another interesting response pattern at different public hearings across the country of women who have been orally divorced. After hearing heart-rending testimonies of their suffering, when there is an open discussion towards the end a male would stand up. He would say in a satiric, authoritative or sometimes angry tone that all this talk about triple talaq is uncalled for since triple talaq is un-Islamic!

Then, some of us would ask: why then does it take place in our society? Why do we not have a law against it? To this he would have no answers. Our women leaders regularly get invited to speak at various fora. It is a common occurrence, especially if the gathering has large numbers of Muslim male participants, to be told that your views are ok but we need to consult scholars. Obviously, in their opinion a scholar is someone with grey hair and maybe a beard!

Nobody asks where these scholars are when a triple talaq takes place in their respective cities or mohallas! Nobody talks about the scholars’ moral obligation to act when practices like halala are found rampant in our society! Another common experience is being told by a male member of a largely Muslim audience: your views are ok but why are you not dressed in Islamic way? Pray what is the Islamic way, we ask, only to receive stock replies. Again we see male hegemony at play trying to hide behind Islamic dress this time!
The problem seems to be that these men are not used to the presence of empowered women in their midst, leave alone their opinions. And they take refuge behind an imagined version of Islam for they have no real arguments.

Sometimes some well-educated persons who are sympathetic to our work end up suggesting: your draft law on Muslim Personal Law is very good; why don’t you send it to some ulema for their approval? This is gross ignorance to say the least and in the ultimate analysis only strengthens the stranglehold of patriarchy.

In recent days when the Supreme Court took suo motu cognisance of our demands for reform in Muslim Personal Law, a well-known Muslim lawyer pleaded with the court to allow the male clerics to be party to the petition. We wonder why a Muslim lawyer of such eminence would think it fit to rope in the clerics for this. After all, is he not aware that the conservative clerics are the impediment to any solution? In fact they are not just part of the problem; they are the problem!

This section has stonewalled any talk of reform in Muslim Personal Law since 1947. In 1986 they raised a hue and cry over a pittance of Rs 125 being provided to 65-year-old Shah Bano as maintenance post divorce on the ground that this would put Islam and Muslims in danger! And yet if large sections of educated Muslims think that the male orthodoxy is the sole custodian of Islam there is something wrong here. This is rank patriarchal hegemony being passed off as Islam.  
 

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The co-founder of the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, Zakia Soman, was overwhelmed by the response of students and teachers, women and men, to her call for radical change in the mind-set of Indian Muslims
 

When I received an invite from the Aligah Muslim University Teachers Association for a keynote address on 8^th March International Women’s Day I was truly overwhelmed. It invoked so many emotions in me; I was both excited and apprehensive at the same time. The significance of a historic academic institution such as AMU is tremendous. But the apprehension in my mind was about how a talk on gender justice in Islam would be received by the community there. I was tentative as to what must be the perception about Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan and the work we have been doing. On reaching Aligarh, being face-to-face with gutsy women faculty members was reassuring.

I am happy to say that the meeting turned out to be one of the most fulfilling and exhilarating interactions I have had. I addressed two meetings; the morning one at the Women’s’ College auditorium at the historic Abdullah Hall and another one at the Teachers’ Club. Following is a brief account of the two interactions.

The first meeting was scheduled for 10.30 a.m. The hall became jam-packed as we started with a welcome by the vice-principal professor Iffat Ara followed by introductory remarks by professor Shadab Bano from the history department. My salute to Shadab, the moving force behind the programme.

I began by saying how Indian Muslims who are the country’s largest minority live in poverty, socio-economic backwardness and religious conservatism. I shared some key findings of the Sachar Committee about low educational status and lack of jobs. I emphasised the need to make elected governments accountable towards its Constitutional obligation towards enabling the inclusion of minorities in the socio-economic processes.

I also elaborated as to how this exclusion gets exacerbated by the threat from right-wing Hindutva forces who dream of a Hindu Rashtra as opposed to our Constitution whereby we are a secular democratic republic where all citizens are equal. But we at the BMMA hold broadly two categories responsible for the all-round exclusion of Muslims. While we seek accountability from the state we must also seek accountability from the so-called community leadership for this failure. And this brings us to the question of the double exclusion of women; as citizens and as women followers of Islam.

The conduct of a Muslim should correspond to the values of kindness, compassion, justice and wisdom which are the core values of Islam. Any conduct contrary to this is not Islamic. Please, let not anyone tell you anything other than this: any behavior, any act, any practice, any idea that does not measure up to your personal sense of justice, kindness and compassion  should be resisted as un-Islamic.

I am no scholar but in my simple understanding the message of social justice and human rights is the core message of Islam which I believe was revolutionary 1400 years ago. Again in my understanding as an ordinary person, this message is taken forward through the values of kindness, compassion, justice and wisdom which are the core values of the religion of Islam.

The conduct of a Muslim should correspond to these values and any conduct contrary to this is not Islamic. Please, let not anyone tell you anything other than this: any behavior, any act, any practice, any idea that does not measure up to your personal sense of justice, kindness and compassion should be resisted and as un-Islamic.

You are all students and some of us here are faculty members. We are all taken up by our pursuits and may or may not have the time and the means to go very deep into all religious issues. But we must read ourselves, we can read good tarjumas (translations) and we must equally read good tafsirs (commentaries) as there is lot of diversity of opinion in the way the Quran has been interpreted.

And we as empowered Muslims have the choice to choose the commentaries that we want to follow. And there is no obligation to follow the exegesis – of which there are very many – written by patriarchal and conservative scholars who have imposed their own orthodox notions over the Quranic teachings. Remember, it must conform to your sense of justice, kindness and compassion and Allah wants you to exercise your wisdom while reading any translation or interpretation.

A brief look at the characterization of women in the Quran as well as a reading of women characters in the life of the Prophet will tell you that men and women are equal in the eyes of Allah. Allah is just and fair and let no man or woman tell you anything otherwise.

Let me recall here aspects from the life of Bibi Khadija, the first wife of Prophet Mohammed. If we look at her in modern terms, I must say she was equivalent to what we call the chairperson of a multi-national company. She employed large number of staff and her business empire covered far off lands up to Syria in the north and Yemen in the South.

She must have been an able governance expert to be presiding over such as an empire. She must be extremely courageous and resolute in her personal life to get married to a much younger person after being widowed. And yet, why is the fact not being highlighted that Bibi Khadija, a woman was the first human being to embrace Muslim after the Prophet. Why is this fact not dominating the narratives about our religion? Is it because the patriarchal minds do not think this aspect important?

Let us also briefly look at the persona of Hazrat Aisha. Again, if we think in today’s terms she combines the qualities of a compassionate social leader, a military strategist, an astute diplomat and a fearless human being. Today the AAP government is being credited for being pro-people because they carried out a referendum to know the minds of citizens of Delhi. Hazrat Aisha held an elaborate referendum, held consultations and negotiations involving all key players spread across a vast geography when there was a threat from the enemy army. She saw to it that views and opinions of every section of society were sought and nobody was excluded. Then how are we women being excluded from society today? Is this exclusion Islamic? Certainly not. We all need to stand up and demand our rightful place as equal human beings and equal Muslims as Allah wants us to.  

Throughout my talk the girls clapped vigorously whenever they agreed with something and wanted others to know it. There were many comments and questions by girls that followed the talk. They asked key questions such as, “Why can’t we have women read and interpret the Quran?” They were agitated about triple talaq. If it is not sanctioned by the Quran why was it permitted in our society? Some girls suggested banning of the barbaric practice of halala.

The question then arises as to how come our religion gave us equal rights 1400 years ago and yet we have not become equal? Subsequent to the departure of the Prophet what kind of vested interests took over and began a systematic distortion of the message needs to be understood. How did inhuman treatment of women become the norm is a question we must ask.

The incidence of un-Quranic practices such as triple talaq and halala continue in our society uncontrolled and unchecked. This is a mockery of all values and principles that we cherish. These violations can stop only if we stand up and empower ourselves as Muslim women. We need to read the Quran and understand the message of Allah directly for ourselves. We need to demand a comprehensive reform in Muslim personal law to curb ill practices of triple talaq and polygamy.

There was a huge applause when I concluded. Throughout my talk the girls clapped vigorously whenever they agreed with something and wanted others to know it. There were many comments and questions by girls that followed the talk. They asked key questions such as, “Why can’t we have women read and interpret the Quran?” They were agitated about triple talaq. If it is not sanctioned by the Quran why was it permitted in our society? Some girls suggested banning of the barbaric practice of halala.

A young faculty member was agitated over why a woman owning a home or a piece of land is a rare occurrence in our society despite Quranic injunctions about women’s share in property. One student opined that more and more of us should train and equip ourselves to fight injustice in society. They wanted to know more about Islamic feminism and how they can join the movement.

The second meeting at the Teachers’ Club was attended by men and women faculty members, research scholars, Aligarh citizens. The media was also present. The meeting was chaired by the president of AMUTA, professor Mujahid Baig who called for equal rights for women in his opening remarks.

I began by saying that since everybody present was well informed I will speak broadly about what ails the Indian Muslims today. I went on to list the issues faced by the community and how the government as well as the leadership had not done much to resolve anything. I asked a direct question to the community leadership about whether they take responsibility for this continuous marginalisation since they are the ones who have been claiming to represent all the 15 crore of us.

I compared the effective handling of the post-Kandhamal communal violence scenario by the leaders of the Christian community as against our own mishandling in Gujarat, Muzaffarnagar and so many other places. I asked whether our leaders truly believed in justice and equality or was it just something to be conveniently invoked while talking to the government as Muslims.

I then went on to the subject of wilful exclusion of women from all spheres of life in our community. I asked what Muslim leaders have done for women’s equality in society. And since they have not done anything, is it not high time we allowed newer people – women and men – to take up the leadership. And I called for a rejection of these so-called leaders.

I dwelt at some length on the Shah Bano case and asked: How can our religion be in danger if a 65-year-old divorced woman is given maintenance which is her Quranic right? I went on to say that nothing has changed since 1986 and talked about how in open violation of the Quranic injunctions ills such as triple talaq, polygamy and halala are still taking place in our society.

I emphasised the need for codification of the Muslim personal law based on the Quranic framework just like so many Muslim countries have already done. I asked: Why do we have to always follow the lowest common denominator of existing Muslim societies? I called for rejecting the Wahhabi brand of religion and instead portrayed a gender-just and humanist face of Islam.

Rather than Saudi Arabia we should follow progressive models such as Tunisia, Indonesia, Morocco etc., I said. I also said that leaving it to so-called scholars would mean continued injustice as the scholars have not spoken out against the violations of Quranic injunctions pertaining to women’s rights in marriage, family and society.

No scholar can claim that only his fraternity is tasked with understanding and interpreting Islam because our religion has no place for middlemen. Plus that would be Brahmanic and unacceptable. I emphasised the need for voices from academic communities to support the reform movement and overall movement for gender justice in today’s lived Islam. I said I was sorry if my words hurt someone’s feelings but this is the truth as prevalent in our Muslim society today.

Yet again, to my very pleasant surprise there was an overwhelming support to what I said judging by the comments and questions that followed. One young academic called for more numbers of women scholars to address the issues of gender justice. Another called for a kind of listing down of needs of women in our society and a plan to address those.
 
One scholar called for special attention to the plight of women during and post communal riots. One participant said that it was high time the hegemony of patriarchal bodies such as personal law board is ended. There was reiteration of the need to read and interpret the Quran in a gender-just framework.

There was a discussion on how women qazis and women scholars could be the way forward.
 
The meeting ended with Dr Ashraf Malik, joint secretary, AMUTA proposing a vote of thanks. While doing this he emphasised the need for extension of equal rights to women in marriage and family.
 
All in all, for me it was a truly fulfilling Women’s Day at Aligarh.
 

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Why the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan is throwing one challenge after another at the ulema's male-oriented version of 'Islam’

Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) recently announced the formation of Darul Uloom Niswaan [DUN], a centre for Islamic learning and theology for women. As part of this initiative, DUN has begun the training of women qazis.
 
The initiative began in Jaipur with a group of 30 Muslim women who embarked on this journey. This training is the first in the series of a year-long process which will include learnings on theology, history of Islam, Constitution of India, principles and values of Islam, schools of jurisprudence etc. Further training modules through the year will focus on many other important topics like gender equality in Islam, family laws in different Muslim countries etc.
 
The need to educate Muslim women to become qazis came from the experience of more than two decades. The most common experience and observation was that the Islamic justice system was biased towards men. All qazis are men and tend to take sides with men and it is the women who suffer the most in case of family disputes or marital discords.
 
The need was also fueled by the fact that a qazi plays an important role in society. They not only solemnise marriages but also validate divorce. BMMA has observed in its last ten years of work across different states that there is widespread practice of triple talaq and halala in spite of there being no Quranic sanction for either.
 
Experience suggests that majority of qazis validate unilateral triple divorce. Some qazis play a dubious role in furthering barbaric practices such as halala. BMMA’s two research reports bear testimony to how Muslim women suffer owing to these un-Islamic practices. We feel that more and more women qazis who are trained about Islamic teachings and gender justice principles is the need of the hour. Besides, there is no bar on women qazis as per the Quran. It was felt that women qazis can provide a solution to these ills which afflict our society.
 
A lot of legal problems faced by Muslim women today can be prevented if the qazi plays his/her role with responsibility. Women qazis trained by DUN will ensure that underage marriages do not take place, a man is not able to take a second wife in the subsistence of the first, the residence proof of the man and his source of income is ascertained before he enters into a marriage contract.
 
Women qazis will ensure that the mehr amount is received by the bride at the time of nikaah and that both the parties are entering into the marriage alliance out of their free will and not by force or fraud. Even a male qazi can take these preventive measures but which are not being taken resulting in a lot of hardship for the women.
 
Male qazis approve of oral divorce and in fact often encourage Muslim men to unilaterally divorce their wives. They also approve of muta marriages where young girls are duped into entering temporary alliances. This malaise which has rendered so many Muslim women homeless and destitute will be curbed if women who are trained in Islamic values of gender equality and gender justice become qazis. 
 
The idea of DUN was born following such experiences.

The Quranic injunctions and the Indian democratic framework together provide an enabling environment to right the historic wrongs done to women and thereby to the whole community by the patriarchal forces who have appointed themselves sole arbiters of religious knowledge and practice
 
While the larger problems of legal discrimination and neglect by the state and Muslim community about the legal problems of Muslim women will take a longer time to resolve, the immediate solution is to train women to take the reins in their hands. BMMA is advocating for the codification of the Muslim Personal Law, but in order to have an immediate remedy to the issues, the idea of a woman qazi is more implementable.

It has its own share of challenges and may be opposed by the patriarchal forces who have appointed themselves custodians of Islam just as they oppose the idea of codification of personal law. But the training of women qazis is an easily achievable goal since training of individuals who are willing to practice as qazis is possible.

It is important to have a fair representation of women in religious and legal matters pertaining to family life, marriage, custody of children, property distribution, divorce etc. Looking at the current scenario where men not only have an upper hand in these matters, they have been party to violations of Quranic injunctions pertaining to marriage and divorce by upholding triple talaq and halala. It is time to evolve remedies for these wrongs.

BMMA in 2013 also launched the first of its kind ‘Aurton ki Shariah Adalat’ (Womens’ shariah court) in Mumbai and DIndigul (Tamil Nadu) with the aim of providing legal aid and guidance to women who get no support from the shariah courts run by Muslim men. Since then, every year close to 500 Muslim women have benefitted from these women-led courts. This indicates a dire need for Muslim women to become justice providers.
 
Again unprecedented in the history of Muslims in India is the formulation of a draft ‘Muslim Family Law’ finalized by BMMA based on the Quranic values of gender justice and the Constitutional values of equality. Lack of codified law for Muslims in India is one of the major reasons for the legal oppression of Muslim women who are orally and unilaterally divorced by their husbands on their own whim and who face consequences of heinous practices like muta, underage marriages and halala.
 
The Quranic injunctions and the Indian democratic framework together provide an enabling environment to right the historic wrongs done to women and thereby to the whole community by the patriarchal forces who have appointed themselves sole arbiters of religious knowledge and practice. Equipped with a draft of a gender just law, strengthened with a structure like ‘Aurton ki Shariah Adalat’ and facilitating the emergence of women qazis, BMMA has attempted to bring about a structural change in the way the community functions as far as legal issues are concerned.

These efforts are part of the larger wave of Islamic feminism emerging in Islamic/Muslim societies where women are leading in the creation of religious knowledge by reclaiming religious spaces so far controlled and manipulated by men, specifically the clergy. BMMA leaders continuously draw inspiration and support from the writings of Islamic scholars across the world who are interpreting the holy text for upholding gender justice and human rights of all.
 
DUN is part of the larger feminist movement in the Islamic world initiated by women activists and scholars who have taken upon themselves the task of presenting to the world a humane, just and peaceful face of Islam which today has been usurped by the conservative and dogmatic religious bodies who do not believe in gender equality and human rights.
 
Muslim women no longer want to be confined as receivers of religious knowledge but also its creators. The need to re-read, re-translate, re-explain and re-interpret the Quran has resulted in a completely different version of Islamic jurisprudence which is not only pro-women but also pro- human rights, liberty, equality and justice for all.
 
It reaffirms our faith that a better and a more humane Muslim world is about to emerge and Muslim women have been, and will continue to lead this change.

Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz are co-founders, BMMA and co-trustees, DUN.
 

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