'Marriage is a contract in Islam'

Over 50,000 women had gathered at the Azad Maidan over the weekend to protest against the Bill and demand its withdrawal. Pic/Sayyed Sameer Abedi

More than 50,000 burqa-clad women gathered at Azad Maidan over the weekend to demand the withdrawal of the Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017. These women were a part of a protest spearheaded by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), with most of them being members of the body's women's division.

As the protest moves to the capital, where they will hold a massive demonstration on April 4 at Ram Leela Maidan, Dr Asma Zahra, head of the women's wing of the AIMPLB spoke to mid-day about how the Bill - which is actually meant to 'protect' them - will backfire and only manage to keep these women, whose husbands don't want to be in a marriage with them anymore, unhappily married.

'Marriage a contract in Islam'
"The concept of marriage in Islam is a contract - it is not the same in Hindu ideology, where a girl child is believed to be 'paraya dhan' and be with her husband through different lifetimes," said Zahra.

"Muslim women are more empowered and have the right to choose their partners. The groom (during the marriage ceremony) says he will take his wife in marriage, which means that he is responsible for her maintenance and well-being as long as they remain married. The bride gives her consent for the same by saying qubool hai i.e. she agrees. Hence, the marriage is a contract between two consenting people," she added.

"If the husband does not want to have the wife in the marriage, then our religion gives us the right to be empowered and freed from it, which would otherwise cause us unhappiness. Muslim women are dignified, empowered, and free to re-marry. When the man says 'I divorce you,' whether once or thrice, he is conveying his intention of nullifying the marriage - he wants to break up. Whether he conveys his intention via a WhatsApp message or a letter, gradually or instantly, that doesn't matter," she said.

According to her, the Bill, in all its legality, was 'putting a legal binding on marriage after a break-up.' "It (the bill) is making things difficult for Muslim women. If we have the freedom to exit from a marriage, then why should we be trapped in an unsuccessful marriage via this bill?" She asked, and also cited that the Bill's suggestion of upto three years imprisonment for men who denounced their wives via triple talaq would do more self-harm than good.

"Will the girl be forced to live with her in-laws while her husband is in jail? What would they do to her? If she cannot live there, then where will she live? Also, what is the guarantee that the man, after serving a three imprisonment, will continue to treat her as his wife?" She added, "Even the name of the Bill is misleading (it is called 'protection of rights on marriage); it is not protecting Muslim women at all, and is not considered a win for them."

'It is a flawed Bill'
"This is a democratic country and we have a right to voice our opinion. Even though we do not have political representation, we have the numbers and expect a positive reaction from Rajya Sabha members by not letting this flawed Bill be passed. Even if it is somehow passed, they (RS members) will know that it is something Muslim women in the country never wanted," she said. The AIMPLB's action on taking the fight against the Bill ahead will be decided in the coming days.

The Bill
The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Bill, 2017 makes instant triple talaq a criminal offence and proposes a three-year jail term for a Muslim man who divorces his wife by uttering the word talaq thrice.

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