by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions
By Frank F. Islam,
On August 22, the Supreme Court ruled that triple talaq — the practice which allows a man to divorce his wife instantly by saying the word talaq thrice — is unconstitutional. Predictably, the ruling was denounced by a number of Muslim leaders and organisations. Some interpreted it as an attack on their religion and way of life. Others saw a conspiracy angle in the importance given to an issue.
This perspective is desperate and distorted. This perspective is not only wrong but also wrong-headed, misplaced and misguided.
I applaud this judgement because I strongly believe that Muslim instant divorce is illegal and incorrect in many ways. Instant divorce is deplorable, disgraceful and shameful. In addition, it is demeaning, demonising, disheartening and demoralising to Indian Muslim women.
Most importantly, as one of the judges pointed out, triple talaq is against the basic tenets of the Quran. Recognising this, many Islamic countries, including two of India’s large Muslim neighbours — Pakistan and Bangladesh — have abolished the practice.
In addition, it is unconscionable to think that a man should be allowed to banish a woman to whom he is married — who is also the mother of his child or children, in many cases — by uttering a word three times, with no consequences. Triple talaq is also inherently discriminatory in that only a man has that “right” — a Muslim woman cannot end the marriage in a similar way.
Over the years, some Muslim organisations have rationalised triple talaq by arguing that divorce rates within their community are quite low compared to other religious groups. It affects less than a third of a per cent of Muslim women, they argue. This is neither a sound legal nor moral argument. Even if one concedes that instant divorce affects only a minuscule population, injustice should never have legal sanction, regardless of how many people are affected.
The triple talaq ruling, the result of a decades-long campaign by women’s rights groups, was a historic verdict. With the stroke of a pen, the judges made illegal a practice that over the decades has ruined the lives of countless Indian Muslim women.
In the absence of a comprehensive study among Indian Muslim women, it is not known how many of them have been divorced in this manner. A 2013 survey of Muslim women in 10 Indian states by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, an advocacy group that fights for the rights of Indian Muslims, found that triple talaq was the most common mode of divorce among those surveyed.
Of the 4,710 women sampled in the survey, 525 were divorcees. Of them, 404 were victims of triple talaq. More than 80 per cent of them did not receive any compensation at the time of divorce.
Two of the five judges that delivered the triple talaq judgment differed on the constitutionality of practice. The bench was in unanimous agreement, however, in asking the government to enact within six months legislation to govern Muslim marriages and divorces.
India’s justice system has numerous drawbacks. It often takes decades for courts to deliver justice. In this instance, the Supreme Court should be applauded for delivering a correct judgment in a timely manner.
The ball is now in the government’s court. It is up to people’s representatives to come up with policies that will change the lives of Muslim women for the better.
Equitable legislation on Muslim marriages and divorces should be just the starting point. The central and state governments must craft policies that empower women belonging to all castes, creeds and religions. Such policies should focus on educating women, developing their skills and making them part of the work force. Empowerment of this type will allow them to pursue and create their own destiny. It will lead to financial independence. In addition, it will promote the security and stability of women and will build their self-esteem and confidence.
India’s Muslim community should embrace the Supreme Court verdict. They should join together to say: End triple talaq. End triple talaq. End triple talaq. They should leverage the verdict as an opportunity to advocate for and bring about much-needed reforms related to women’s rights.
(Frank Islam is an entrepreneur, civic leader and thought Leader based in the Washington DC area. The views expressed are personal. He can be contacted at ffislam@verizon.net)
—IANS
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
By Pervez Bari,
Bhopal, Sep 13 : Thousands of Muslim women in the jam-packed historic Iqbal Maidan in Bhopal on Monday raised their hands to express solidarity with the Islamic Shariah. They declared in unison that they are safe under the Islamic Shariah and would not tolerate any outside interference whatsoever.
This was the scene when Muslim women in several thousands came out of their home and made a beeline to attend the “Ijlaas-e-Aam Barai Khwateen” (Women convention) under the aegis of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, (AIMPLB). It was first such convention of Muslim women after the Supreme Court judgement on Triple Talaq on August 22, 2017.
Iqbal Maidan was over-flowing with burqa-clad women who in rapt attention and in most disciplined manner listened to a host of speakers who emphasised the importance of Islamic Shariah and leading life as per its instructions in letter and spirit in all their day-to-day matters.
The speakers announced that they would seek the signatures of about three crore Muslim women on a memorandum against the Supreme Court judgment, which would then be sent to the Chief Justice of India. They termed Triple Talaq as a “right” that should not be taken away from them simply because some “uneducated women” had moved the apex court against it.
It may be mentioned here that the rally was held in the backdrop of the recent Supreme Court judgement which had annulled instant Triple Talaq known as Talaq-e-Biddat. This programme was organised after AIMPLB’s Executive Committee meeting was held here on Sunday. The Board has decided to hold such Islamic Shariah rallies to create awareness in Muslim men and women all over the country to shun Talaq-e-Biddat and other anomalies which have crept in.
A resolution was passed and signed by thousands of Muslim women present on the occasion. The resolution said: “We respect the Supreme Court judgement but would like to state that we believe in Islamic Shariat and instant Triple Talaq is part of it. Any restraint on this Triple Talaq will be infringement on our rights to practice Muslim personal law which the Constitution of India has given us. The signed resolutions were handed over to AIMPLB president Maulana Mohammad Rabey Hasani Nadwi and Secretary Maulana Mohammad Wali Rahmani. The duo will submit this resolution to the President, Prime Minister, Chief Justice of India, Union Law Minister ad Law Commission of India.
Islam empowered women 1400 yrs. ago
Dr. Asma Zehra, the convenor of AIMPLB’s Women Wing, who was the key speaker on the occasion, emphasised that Islam had empowered Muslim women 1400 years back. The issue of Triple Talaq is being used by the media to paint a picture as if the Muslim women are in deep distress and misery. But we all want to say that ‘Hum Pareshan Nahi Hain…’. We don’t want any changes in Shariat. If we have any social problems, we will solve them ourselves. We do not need the help of any government or courts”, she reiterated.
Attacking the NDA government at the Centre, AIMPLB executive committee member Asma Zehra wondered why the central government was trying to interfere only with the law governing Muslims when “women face atrocities and domestic violence in all religions”.
She said that the real empowerment is education. We can’t be empowered unless we are educated. But nowadays a new concept of empowerment is being peddled by the media. She appealed to Muslim women to follow Shariat in letter and spirit. “If we will live within the confines of Shariat, we will get success in life,” she exhorted.
Dr. Zehra said that these days Muslims are being targeted in media. Issues like marriage, divorce, polygamy, large number of children etc are highlighted in print and electronic media to defame Muslims. She claimed that 97 percent of the Muslim marriages are successful and Muslim women are secured and protected due to Muslim personal law.
Muslim women’s rights well protected under 1986 Act of Constitution
Dr. Zehra further maintained that Muslim women’s rights are well protected under 1986 Act of the Indian Constitution. There is also Section 1939 for marriage law. There is no need to make amendment in this law. Muslim women are secured through this act. Muslim women oppose amendment in Muslim Personal Law or enforcement of Uniform Civil Code as they are very much protected by Muslim Personal Law and there is no need for amendment, she added.
Later talking to media persons on the issue of Triple Talaq she revealed: “We run a toll free helpline for women in seven languages from 10 am to 5 pm. We get about 80 calls daily and up till now; we have received 40,000 calls from women complaining of disputes with husbands and in-laws. Our counsellors counsel them. We have passed a resolution at the executive committee of the Board saying that we will try to solve the problem of Triple Talaq cases and help women get their rights.”
Dr. Zehra also added, “The women wing of AIMPLB is also running a campaign to create awareness among Muslim women regarding their roles and responsibilities.”
Maulana Khalil-ur-Rahman Sajjad Nomani, a member of the Executive Committee of AIMPLB, addressing the assemblage on the occasion said that no one has the right and power to change the Shariat. “We respect the decision of the Supreme Court but we disagree with some parts of it. The court also says Triple Talaq is un-Islamic but not unconstitutional. In the coming days we will also demand a referendum to find out what Muslim women actually want? he asserted.
On the attitude of Central government on Triple Talaq, Maulana Nomani said: “It is the government of RSS. And they want to bring in Uniform Civil Code. They have even said that they will get the Muslim Personal Law Board disbanded”.
Dr. Soofiya Fatima Husaini, convenor of the AIMPLB’s Madhya Pradesh Unit Women Wing, who compeered the programme with aplomb while putting forth her views said: “We feel empowered due to Shariah and Triple Talaq is the best way to end relationship between husband and wife if they are at loggerheads continuously. “We can ourselves bring about any required change by educating people about Triple Talaq, but we will not allow anybody to change our law,” she affirmed.
Mamduha Majid ofDelhi said: “Not just women, men also need to be educated. Simply wearing a topi (skull cap) and having a beard does not make a person an expert in Islamic law. There are a lot of misconceptions and illiteracy that have impacted women’s rights. All this needs to be addressed and AIMPLB is working towards it.”
More than 5000 Muslim women, ranging from teenagers to the elderly, attended the convention. They included women from other parts of the state also. Many had skipped their classes to attend the meeting and others had chosen not to do their household chores. The venue was so crowded that some of the women had to sit on the floor and though the meet was scheduled to start at 11 am but women had started trickling in since 9. Two LED screens were installed for the benefit of those who could not find place inside.
Others who spoke on the occasion included Maulana Mohammad Rabey Hasani Nadwi, AIMPLB executive member Maulana Khalil-ur-Rahman Sajjad Nomani, Bhopal Shahar Qazi Maulana Syed Mushtaq Ali Nadwi, AIMPLB executive member Arif Masood, Ms Sabiha Sahiba etc.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | News
A view of the AIMPLB meeting in progress
By Pervez Bari,
Bhopal, Sep 12 : The All India Muslim Personal Law Board, (AIMPLB), has passed a resolution to constitute a committee to examine the Supreme Court judgement on instant Triple Talaq to see the inconsistencies, if any, with the Islamic Shariat. The Committee shall also advise the method and process for undertaking large scale community reform programme within the Islamic Sharia (Islah-e-Mashrah).
The above decision was taken by the AIMPLB in its Executive Committee’s marathon meeting here on Sunday. The Board again accused the government of attempting an attack on Muslim personal laws, and welcomed the court order for not going in that direction. The meeting did not discuss filing a review petition against the Supreme Court order holding instant triple talaq (Talaq-e-Biddat) illegal.
It may be recalled here that on August 22, a five-judge Bench of the Supreme Court, by a 3-2 majority verdict, had held the practice of instant triple talaq illegal. Several Muslim organisations, including the Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind, among the oldest in the country, had objected to this, saying that instant triple talaq should continue and be recognised as a legitimate divorce among Muslims even if that meant courting punishment as per the law of the land.
Addressing a joint Press Conference Executive Committee Members said the AIMPLB has further resolved to initiate different programmes at different levels to educate Muslim women and men on Shariah and in this process it shall take assistance from different organisations. The Board also resolved to take appropriate steps to ensure help to divorced ladies. It shall urge upon the government to grant financial assistance to Waqf Boards for this purpose.
Kamal Farooqui, member of the Executive Committee, on behalf of the Board made a categorical statement that the Muslim Community cannot and shall not tolerate such attack on personal law of the community. He said in the light of the Government India had laid bare its intention in the form of Attorney General’s submission in the Supreme Court that all forms of dissolution of marriage without intervention of the court should be declared as unconstitutional.
“We record our displeasure and consider it as attack on personal law of Muslims. This stand of the present government is contrary to the protection guaranteed by the Constitution of India”, Farooqui emphasised.
Dr. Asma Zehra, the convenor of AIMPLB’s Women Wing, addressing Press Conference at Bhopal
Replying to a question Dr. Asma Zehra, the convenor of AIMPLB’s Women Wing, Board’s position, as per Shariah applicable the four Sunni School of thought has been that the Talaq-e-Biddat is sinful but valid. Prior to the judgement the Board had already submitted to the Supreme Court that the AIMPLB had passed a resolution on 16-04-2017 stating that those who indulge in Talaq-e-Biddat should be socially boycotted.
Dr. Zehra pointed out Sunday’s resolution said Islamic/Sharia law is based upon Quran, Hadith, Ijma and Qiyas and that the sanctity of belief and practices in personal/matrimonial relationship in Islamic laws cannot be treated differently from the belief and practices in personal/matrimonial relationship by other citizens who follow own customs and practices.
She claimed 99 per cent of Muslim women are in favour of Muslim personal law. “In the name of showing sympathy with Muslim women, a door is being opened to interfere in our religion.” She added that there would be a lot of difficulties in implementing the SC order on triple talaq.
Babri Masjid case
Meanwhile, the AIMPLB executive committee also expressed its surprise over the Supreme Court’s decision to begin hearing the Babri Masjid case on a daily day-to-day basis. Noting that the court had previously found it impossible to speed up the hearing because it had to go through a lot of documents, the board said it would abide by whatever the court decides. However, the process has to be judicial without bringing politics into it. It’s related to property, it’s a title suit.
Adv. Zafaryab Jeelani, member of the Executive Committee, said the court had now given very little time to the two parties, and that there was not enough time to translate all the documents. Saying “we would do our best”, the board said, “We feel this may be used as a plank by a certain political party. We want the might and respect of the court should not be compromised. Court is our last resort.” “Justice hurried is Justice buried”, he quipped.
by admin | May 25, 2021 | Opinions, World
Laila Alawa runs a Muslim-led feminist media company in Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of Laila Alawa
By Aysha Khan
(RNS) When Laila Alawa woke up on a recent morning, her phone wouldn’t stop pinging with Twitter notifications.
“You’re not American, you’re a terrorist sympathizer immigrant that nobody in America wants and for good reason,” one user tweeted.
“This c**t needs to be packed in a freight container, deported+ dumped mid-ocean like the garbage she is,” wrote another. Still others called her a traitor, a terrorist, a pig.
“Five minutes would go by and I would refresh my Twitter, and 20-plus new tweets would have come in,” Alawa, who wears a hijab and runs a Muslim-led feminist media company in Washington, said. “Each one was more hateful than the last.”
Muslim women like Alawa have worked to create a vibrant space for themselves in the online world. But increasingly, many groups — from Islamophobes to conservative Muslims to feminists — are using social media’s anonymity and lack of accountability to pry that from them.
It didn’t take long for Alawa, 24, to pin down the cause of the firestorm: a single post on a right-wing blog. A writer there had seen her association with a new Department of Homeland Security counterterrorism report, then scoured Alawa’s social media until he found a 2014 tweet that said 9/11 had changed the world “for good.” (The phrase “for good” can, of course, mean “permanently” rather than “for the better.”) The tweet spawned dozens more, including one by leading anti-Muslim blogger Pamela Geller.
The net result: a phone buzzing with thousands upon thousands of inflammatory tweets, Facebook messages, emails, Instagram notifications and more. Most were filled with insults, threats and rants on everything from genital mutilation to Shariah law to comparisons between Alawa and the Orlando, Fla., nightclub shooter. But many came in solidarity, too — from fellow Wellesley alumnae, Muslim American writers and Alawa’s smartphone-armed sisters in faith.
Moving online
In the last decade, young Muslim women have developed a strong digital presence that has paved the way to greater public engagement with the media by way of hijab video tutorials like those of British fashion superstar Dina Torkia, or viral Twitter hashtags like the feminist #YesAllWomen.
“A lot of times Muslim women have no choice but to go to the online space,” said Wardah Khalid, a Middle East policy analyst who spent years writing the Houston Chronicle’s Young American Muslim blog and regularly gets messages calling her a “raghead” or saying she is oppressed. “If you look at some of the traditional institutions that are purporting to speak for Muslims, the vast majority of their boards are male. That’s why Muslim women have taken such a large online presence. They created that space for themselves.”
But as a result, Khalid said, they are dealing with more abuse online than they might get sitting on the board of an organization like the Islamic Society of North America.
Wardah Khalid speaks at “No Way to Treat a Child” interfaith vigil on Capitol Hill on June 1, 2015. Photo courtesy of Emily Sajewski, FCNL
As media and networking have moved online, so has harassment. Earlier this month, The New York Times’ Washington bureau editor quit Twitter, saying the platform had not done enough to combat surging anti-Semitism. About 65 percent of young adults on the web have faced some level of harassment there, according to a 2014 Pew report. The numbers are especially bleak for young women: in a 2016 Australian study, more than 75 percent of women under 30 reported experiencing some form of abuse or harassment online.
The trend holds in the Muslim community. More than 70 percent of verified incidents of anti-Muslim abuse reported to the British organization Tell MAMA (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) took place online, and more than 80 percent of online attacks consist of verbal abuse and hate speech. One study participant said she never received any hate on her Twitter account until she began using a photo of herself wearing the hijab as her profile picture. Now, she receives “regular abuse” on the site.
Another participant said she tightened her Facebook privacy settings because of such abuse. For yet another participant, much of the abuse came from the “cyber mob” of right-wing, anti-immigrant English Defence League sympathizers. She reported the abuse to Tell MAMA after trolls threatened her with physical violence and tweeted photos of her with the words “You Burqa wearing slut.”
It wasn’t just EDL supporters. “They come from all walks of life and all backgrounds which is alarming,” one Muslim woman told Tell MAMA researchers. “They will set up a hoax ID and from there they can abuse anyone with complete anonymity and hiding behind a false ID.”
Anti-Muslim perpetrators, who are generally white males aged 15 to 35, often say they’d never attack a woman, Tell MAMA founder Fiyaz Mughal told VICE reporters earlier this year. “But they feel like they can target Muslim women, because they didn’t see them as female. They’ve dehumanized them so much that they can’t see their identity in a gendered way anymore.
“The only thing they see is that they are Muslim.”
Easy targets
Why are visibly Muslim women like Alawa so often targets of harassment online? “Muslim women are the most visible targets, as well as Sikh men,” said Alawa. “Their identities are on a platter for the rest of the world to pick apart.”
In the wake of #GamerGate, a controversial online movement highlighting shocking sexism and harassment in video gaming culture, trolls told one Muslim woman she was too “oppressed” to think for herself and that she “should focusing on ‘freeing’ (herself) instead of calling out #GamerGate’s misogyny.”
And the more marginalized a person’s identity, the more trolls pile on.
Donna Austen, the 43-year-old creator of the #BlackMuslimRamadan hashtag conversation, knows that well. She’s known on Twitter as @TinyMuslimah; she tweets often about the intersection of race, religion and activism. Much of her research as a Rutgers University doctoral candidate in anthropology involves monitoring digital spaces to see how social justice issues like #BlackLivesMatter unravel online.
This month, she held the second annual #BlackMuslimRamadan chat. “I’ve had so many Muslims in my Twitter messages and mentions talking about how it’s somehow un-Islamic to say that I’m black or to acknowledge my different cultural practices.”
Race is not the only dividing line. Six years ago, 35-year-old writer Ayesha Noor penned an op-ed for a local Virginia paper about Pastor Terry Jones’ planned “International Burn a Quran Day.” In it, she pointed fingers at the Muslim leadership’s failures, too. So when she started getting hate-filled messages from anti-Muslim readers, she was surprised. “Even if you say what they have been saying — even if you agree with them, you still get hate.”
Noor is no stranger to angry messages. As an Ahmadi Muslim, part of a minority sect declared heretical by orthodox Islam, she fields both standard anti-Muslim trolls as well as those declaring her a “kafir,” or disbeliever. “It’s been a couple years since I’ve stopped responding to people telling me, ‘oh, you are not a Muslim’ or ‘all Muslims are bad,’” she said.
In addition to her personal Twitter account, Noor runs @EqualEntrance, which shows Ahmadi mosques where women have equivalent praying facilities to those of men. The backlash can be broken down into three categories: “You can’t call this a mosque because Ahmadis aren’t Muslim,” “So this is where you come for jihad?” and “This isn’t feminist enough.”
The last one is almost comical. On one hand, she says, many feminists, atheists and self-proclaimed Muslim reformers say Muslim women are second-class citizens. “Then they go after me for saying Muslim women are actually people with their own minds and their own space,’” Noor said. “And they were saying, ‘Oh, but you can’t pray together! And it’s like, ‘But we don’t want to pray together.’ They put words in our mouth.”
Khalid, the Houston-based Middle East policy analyst, has felt the barbs of Muslim reformists, too. In March, she published an article on Vox criticizing the media’s use of what she termed “pseudo-experts” on Islam, and pointing out such names as ex-Muslim Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Muslim Reform Movement co-founder Asra Nomani.
The resulting Twitter backlash from reformists and their supporters was the first time she had ever been targeted on such a personal level, she said.
“They were saying I’m silencing their free speech, they were calling me a tribalist, they were trying to dig up dirt on me,” Khalid remembered. “They would reach out to other journalists who had interviewed me and say ‘hey, do you know this girl you’re writing great things about tried to smear our reform campaign?’”
The messages used to hurt her, she admits. “But then I realized that I’m the one who wrote the article, and I got to say what I wanted to say, and what I said obviously struck a nerve.”
Pushing back
There was a point, about four years ago during a national Ahmadi convention, where Noor was dealing with so many messages from anti-Ahmadi trolls that she considered leaving Twitter.
“When one troll comes, he brings ten trolls with him,” Noor said. “You think you’re talking to a different person and it’s exactly the same one. You only get rid of it when you block all of them.”
She used to reply to as many users as she could, muting those she found abusive, but when one exchange went on for about 200 tweets, she realized: “Maybe I should just stop doing that.” Now that’s she’s quit engaging the trolls, she sees social media as a positive experience, where she can learn about and respond to misinformation about her faith.
Last year, Susan Carland — a hijab-wearing Australian academic — made headlines with her strategy. “I donate $1 to @UNICEF for each hate-filled tweet I get from trolls,” she wrote in a tweet that quickly went viral. “Nearly at $1000 in donations. The needy children thank you, haters!”
In her three years on Twitter, Auston has developed another strategy: rebut and block. She turns the tables on trolls by retweeting (so that her own followers can deal with the troll as they choose), adding a snarky one-liner, and hitting the block button. She ends up blocking trolls several times a week — during events like the Orlando shooting rampage, it can end up being a daily task.
“We don’t take this stuff seriously until it escalates, but I don’t take any of this lightly,” she says. “People talk a lot about how this is because of the anonymity of the internet or whatever — I’m sorry, but that’s not an excuse. And if you feel empowered under any circumstances to speak to someone in a way that disrespects them or threatens violence, then it’s already a serious offense.”
In a world where anyone can suddenly find herself a victim of doxing — when a malicious hacker finds and publishes private information about someone online, often in an act of vigilante justice — responding to trolls is not always the safest strategy, some say.
Wardah Khalid. Photo courtesy of Christine Letts, FCNL
“If someone’s being hostile towards you and your hijab, a lot of times it’s best to just to walk away,” Khalid says. “I don’t want to further something that will only create more headaches for me or hurt me later on. I have no idea if the legal system is going to protect me or not, and even if it does, then by then it might be too late.”
While anti-Muslim attacks are nothing new, legal protections from online versions are limited. Both laws and law enforcement are often unequipped to deal with digital forms of harassment. When Alawa called Washington’s non-emergency hotline, the police didn’t seem to understand that tweets could be actual death threats. “I don’t get what’s going on but I’m trying to understand,” Alawa recalled the policewoman telling her, in disbelief.
“I just sat there and felt kind of deflated,” Alawa said. “It’s 5 a.m., you’re barely keeping it together and you have to explain this to someone who’s supposed to protect you.”
The social platforms themselves can be dangerously slow to respond. When a Twitter account purporting to be Alawa sprung up tweeting racist and homophobic statements, Twitter took more than a day to remove it and publicly verify her real account.
In its 2015 report, Tell MAMA researchers said it is critical for social media companies like Twitter and Facebook to make their systems of reporting hate crimes and online more user friendly. The organization recommended adding distinct tools aimed at reporting incidences of bigotry, hate speech and prejudice. Several study participants told researchers that the companies were either slow to act or ineffective, as perpetrators simply changed their names and made multiple accounts.
“I don’t think that Twitter has set up proper safeguards for people to feel as though there is some sort of community,” Alawa said. “Honestly, I wish Twitter understood what it means for someone to start tweeting out false rumors about me and start taking those threats seriously.”
Aysha Khan is the social media editor for RNS. She also reports on Muslim issues from Washington, D.C.
Courtesy : RNS
