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Journalism of Courage
Her proposal that Muslim women be given the right to divorce their husbands found no takers at the Kanpur meeting of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board yesterday. But Naseem Iqtidar Ali, the lone woman member of the Board’s executive committee, is not ready to give up her fight yet.
She says she will not rest till the clause of ‘‘tafvid-e-talaq’’ (right to divorce) for Muslim women is incorporated in the draft Nikahanama.
‘‘Main chup nahin baithoongi,’’ Naseem told The Indian Express on her return from Kanpur today.
‘‘I will have a telephonic talk with and also write a letter to the Law Board’s general secretary, Maulana Nizamuddin, to impress upon him the need to incorporate the tafvid-e-talaq in the draft Nikahanama,’’ she says.
The Kanpur meeting has decided to pass the draft Nikahanama at the general body meeting of the Law Board in December 2004 in Kozhikode, Kerala. And Naseem is determined to raise the issue then. ‘‘Main tafvid-e-talaq ka issue tab tak uthati rahoongi jab tak haar na maan loon,’’ she says. She insists that this right ‘‘is within the purview of the Shariat law’’.
At yesterday’s meeting, Naseem raised the issue but the maulanas ignored it. ‘‘Maine yeh mudda uthaya lekin baki membaron ne kaha ki jab Nikahanama par bahas hogi to suna jayega (I raised the issue again but the other members said that when the Nikahanama is debated, then the issue would be taken up).’’
Interestingly, when the agenda on the draft Nikahanama was taken up for discussion, the debate lasted only 25 minutes, and there was no mention of ‘‘tafvid-e-talaq’’. ‘‘Filhaal taal diya (they just ignored the issue),’’ says Naseem.
In November 2003, the draft Nikahnaama had been circulated among the 41 executive committee members but only five members, one of them Naseem, sent their suggestions, while the rest sat on it. ‘‘Kaan mein tel daale baithe hain (they are wary of giving suggestions),’’ Naseem says.
Under Shariat, women can opt for khula and initiate divorce proceedings but are not entitled to retain mehar, the bride money.
The issue was first raised by Naseem at the Bangalore convention of the Law Board in 2000. The Board members were split on the issue but when some women members expressed their reservations, it was dropped. ‘‘They were of the opinion that it would be misused by Muslim women, but this was four years ago,’’ Naseem said.
She is hopeful the Board will finally approve of including the clause in the draft Nikahanama, but says that ‘‘under no circumstances will I quit the Law Board’’.
