The status of Muslim women

THE NATIONAL Commission for Women has done a distinct service to society by coming out with its report on the status of Muslim women in India. Penned by Syeda Saiyidain Hameed, it is literally the `Voice of the voiceless.'

Many girls are married off before they are 15. The man has the right to have more than one wife. And he can divorce them at will - with the triple utterance of the word talaq. This talaq can even be conveyed by phone or post-card. Although Muslim Law requires the multiple wives to be `treated equally,' in practice they are only ``oppressed equally.'' There are ``heart-rending stories'' of Muslim women complaining bitterly of being ``deserted by husbands, of multiple marriages, of triple talaq, of non-payment of Mehr and maintenance, and of dowry harassment.'' Although the Nikahnama (marriage agreement) mentions a Mehr which she is entitled to get from her husband, the amount is often meagre and oftener it is not paid at all. On the other hand, the Hindu custom of dowry from the girl's side has entered Muslim society. Matters are complicated by the fact that there are only 930 women for every 1,000 Muslim males. Muslim society is poorer than Hindu society - having a yearly income of Rs. 22,807 per household as against the national average of Rs. 25,653. But it has a higher birth rate - 39 per 1,000 as against the Hindu rate of 32.

There is a vicious circle of large families, poverty, little education and less employment. According to the 1991 census, Muslims are 12.12 per cent of the population. But only 4 per cent of Indians who finish school are Muslim. Only 4 per cent Indians in government jobs are Muslim. And nobody seems to know how to break this vicious circle. To an objective observer the solution is clear enough; there must be a ban on polygamy and triple talaq. A divorced woman - and her minor children - must be maintained as long as she does not remarry. They must have smaller families and they must take greater care to send their children to school.

Great resistance

However, there is great resistance to all these suggestions. There are Muslim leaders, who urge their flock to have more children - since ``even the lame and the blind have the same one vote,'' and population is power. There are families that send their boys to English medium schools and their girls to Urdu schools. The Sunday fun is for sons but not for daughters.

And of course they have the strongest objection to any curbs on polygamy and instant talaq. When it is pointed out to them that even Pakistan has taken this course, their argument is that Pakistan may have done it, but it is not Islamic. They don't seem to see how and why India can be more `Islamic' than Pakistan. There was a time when there was a Muslim Criminal Law and a full- scale Muslim Civil Law. The Indian Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code replaced the former long ago. Even in Civil Law, the law of contracts, etc., replaced the old Muslim Civil Law long ago. All that is left is Family Law - concerning marriage and divorce. And country after Muslim country has updated these laws. Turkey has wholly replaced the Muslim Civil Law by the Swiss Civil Law. Egypt, Lebanon, Sudan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Iran, Iraq and Pakistan have strictly controlled polygamy. In many of these countries, the wife has the same right of divorce as the husband. In Egypt, Sudan, Jordan, Syria, Tunisia, Morocco, Pakistan and Bangladesh there is express or implied abolition of the triple talaq. However, the orthodox in India are stuck with the letter of the Muslim Law - as interpreted, up to 1947, by the (Christian) Privy Council of the British House of Lords!

Fortunately, polygamy and instant talaq are not now half as prevalent as before. But they are very much a sword hanging over the head of Muslim women. And it is a sword that needs to be removed.

Uniform civil code

It is sad to note that Pandit Nehru hurriedly reformed the Hindu Law and left Muslim society severely alone. In doing so, he acted as a communal Hindu. While nothing should be forced down the throat of any society, the government owes it to the country to educate the Muslim society on the imperative need to implement Article 44 of the Constitution concerning a uniform civil code.

It will be good for Muslims, good for Hindus and particularly good for Muslim women. The Muslim society should be explained to, and assured, that changing the Muslim Law does not mean changing Islam; it only means updating the law - as Pakistan, Turkey and several other Muslim countries have already done. In the absence of such updating, the resulting Muslim backwardness in education, employment and women's rights is a serious drag on Indian society.

Fortunately there is a silver lining in this clouded sky. A few years back, a BJP candidate got over a hundred votes in a polling station in Assam in a Muslim area where there was not even a BJP polling agent. Inquiries revealed that a Muslim lady had gone round telling Muslim women that if they wanted security against divorce they must vote the BJP. In South India, Muslims are taking to education in a big way. In Lucknow, Muslim women succeeded in asserting their right to offer Friday prayers in Bada Imambara. In Ahmedabad, Pathan Shamim, 30, has made history. When her love marriage did not work out, she tried to maintain herself and her son by vending milk and repairing cycles. Finally she settled for a taxi. She is often seen driving between Ahmedabad and Mumbai. She makes an average of Rs. 15,000 a month. She has put her son in a boarding school. And the boy's father's name has been given as ``Shamim''!

The NCW report mentions some other problems of Muslims: Muslim children seeking admission in neighbourhood schools are often told to go to Muslim schools, which may be far away; there are allegations of anti-Muslim prejudice in some school textbooks; and Muslims are not welcome in city flats. The last problem could be specially due to Gujarati allergy to non- vegetarian food. But these are issues that need to be tackled by the Gujarat Government.

K. R. MALKANI

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