A sort of chaos is being created in the country. All this is around Muslim Personal Law, especially Triple Talaq. Of course, a little learning is a dangerous thing. The concept of talaq and triple talaq in Islam with reference to the Qur’an and Hadith has much broader sense; then what is being discussed by the political and governmen bodies. Though the reason this has become a major issue according to the people who oppose it is that women are becoming victims of triple talaq, thrown out of their homes and being rendered destitute.
What is to be looked at first should be the divorce rate among Muslims. All India Muslim Personal Law Board, on 8 April, presented a report from 30 districts of different states in India, denoting divorce rate among Muslims is lower than that in other communities. Collection of data from various Darul Qaza also indicates that only 2-3 per cent cases are related to divorce, most of which were initiated by women. As per the census of 2001, the divorce rate of Muslim women was 5.3 per thousand women, which has risen to 5.63 in 2011 census. It is a slight increase in a decade’s time and nothing unusual has happened within the Muslim community. The fact that around 5 crore forms from Muslim women and men around the country are favouring Shariat and Triple Talaq proclaimed by AIMPLB’s women wing Asma Zohra, should make it clear to all of us what the Muslim women of this nation want.
Despite these fact files, there are people trying to pick faults and create doubts among Muslims regarding Islamic Shari’ah. They are trying to bring down the very profound teachings of Islam under the tab of ‘Violation of Women’s Rights’ and also by the fake claims of high rate of divorces among Muslims through Indian media.
Some questions to be posed to these so-called protectors of women are: What about thousands of riot-affected Muslim women who have been rendered widows in the various riots across the country since Independence? What about the rights of Ikhlaq’s and Pehlu Khan’s wives and the women of other Muslims who were killed by frenzied mobs on suspicion of ‘eating’ beef or ‘smuggling’ cows?
History has witnessed that over fourteen hundred years ago, Islam gave women rights that women in the West have only recently began to enjoy. Islam does not accept for women and men anything but justice and kind treatment. It is Islam that provides equal reward, equal accountability, equal right to knowledge and even equal right to choose a spouse. “And for women are rights over men. Similar to those of men over women.” (Qur’an 2:228)
The fact cannot be denied that triple talaq is there within the teachings of Islam. Naming certain Muslim nations who have banned triple talaq does not mean it is not valid. But the unlawful use rather misuse or abuse of Triple talaq can be a problem; Almighty Lord has given us the proper way to live and survive in this world, through the Qur’ān and the teachings of Our Beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be to him). People will always try to add up or execute the teachings of Islam in an unlawful manner, and that may be the cause in certain ‘triple tataq’ cases filed by the Indian Muslim women about which the government and the right wing forces are creating a great fuss. The fault can be with those who misuse the law not at all in the teachings of Islam. According to The Book of Talaq (Sahih Muslim: Book 9); Divorce is of 3 kinds: The Ahsan, or most laudable, the Hasan, or laudable, and the Bid’a or irregular. Talaq Ahsan is where the husband repudiates his wife by making one pronouncement within the term of Tuhr (purity) during which he has not had sexual intercourse with her, and she is left to observe her ‘Idda.
Talaq Hasan is where a husband repudiates his wife by three sentences of divorce, in three Tuhrs.
Talaq Bid’a is where a husband repudiates his wife by three divorces at once. According to the majority of the jurists, this Talaq holds good, but it is against the spirit of the Shari’ah, and, therefore, the man who follows this course in divorce is an offender in the eye of Islamic Law.
The thing to be understood here is how these captives of negativity are again using certain things from Islamic belief and its teachings to delude Muslims; in this case especially Indian Muslim women. Just like the term ‘Jihad’ which the whole world uses to defame and degrade Muslims, triple talaq is just another topic for the right wing forces to do the same. On the other half of the table; another issue they want to be looked into is termed as ‘polygamy’ by the Centre and Supreme Court. This term ‘polygamy’ is not even appropriate as per the teachings of Islam. Muslim men can marry more than one woman to the limit of four at the same time, for which the correct term is polygyny. If only the person who wants to marry more than one woman can deal justly among the wives. It includes being just in food, clothes, housing, interest and treatment. However, the Qur’ān has also denoted that if a man fears that he cannot deal justly or can oppress, then the principle of being content with one woman becomes valid. Polygyny in today’s world has solution to problems like prostitution, extramarital affairs and the upsurge in homosexuality. The population of men being less than the women, be it cause of men dying in war, violent incidents, etc; polygyny is the solution to fulfil the worldly and natural need of women.