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Muslim women in Lucknow have formed a separate personal law board to ensure they are given a fair deal when it comes to interpreting religious laws.

Muslim women in Lucknow recently announced the formation of a separate Muslim women's personal law board, rattling the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), which is already under pressure from several quarters.

"We have been suffering on account of the parochial worldview of the maulvis (Muslim priests) and the ulema (body of Muslim scholars). Their hegemony does not allow women space for articulating or questioning contentious laws which militate against their interests. Like the laws on family planning, talaq (divorce), kula (woman's offer of divorce) or the contents of the model nikahnama (marriage contract)," says Parveen Abdi, General Secretary of the newly formed All-India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB). "Women continue to suffer. They are being thrown out of home, have no financial security and remain ignorant about their rights."

The board claims to have as its senior advisor Zakiya Jafari, wife of Ahsan Jafari, the Congress MP who was killed in the post-Godhra riots in Gujarat. Does the 35-member board, with representation from both the Shia and Sunni communities, have real powers?

Shaista Amber, President of the AIMWPLB, says, "We are mobilising opinion among women. My first priority is to educate them about their rights. Power will follow." Rebuffing allegations and criticism from some members of AIMPLB, that the women are new entrants in the field, and that this is "just a bubble", Abdi, daughter of veteran freedom fighter M.N. Abdi, says she has been associated with the issue for a long time.

"I have been working with the Red Cross and with women in my community. It was after witnessing the power struggle between the Sunni and Shia ulema, the divisions within them and the recent formation of an All-India Shia Personal Law Board, which too ignored women's representation and their growing discontent, that we decided to solve our own problems."

A day after the women's board was formed, AIMPLB declared it did not recognise it. While many women are unsure about the credibility and sustainability of such a body, an equal number have welcomed the move. "It is commendable and apparently a step taken out of necessity," says Shagufta Khan, Secretary of the Gharib Nawaz Mahila Avam, a women's organisation in Ajmer, Rajasthan.

Referring to the "ulema on the AIMPLB," she says, "When they do not have the will, capability or intention to bring legal reforms which safeguard the interest of women, then it is high time that women spoke out."

Support for AIMWPLB seems to be slowly trickling in from various parts of the country. "Women have every right to challenge the authority of the ulema and the maulvis. Islam does not have a system of priesthood. Every Muslim, man or woman, can interpret the divine Shariah (Islamic law)," says Hasnath Mansur, former principal of a girls' college in Bangalore. She adds: "How can these maulvis represent the entire community? When they cannot interpret the Shariah to benefit women and protect their rights, we do not have to follow or be dictated by them. Women in Islam are equally competent and learned, to do the job."

Amber says, "I know the kind of silence that prevails in the dar-ul-qazas (shariah courts). Ninety-nine per cent women are not even aware that such courts exist. Abandoned, with three-four children and completely disheartened, divorced Muslim women do not know where to go for help for social security and justice."

Charging the AIMPLB with incompetence in taking care of Muslim women, she adds, "If the Board wanted to, it could have educated women about their rights through thousands of mosques in mohallas (neighbourhoods) and street corners all over the country, especially after the Friday sermons."

The Board's insensitivity towards women's issues; its under-representation of women (there is only one woman in the executive committee and only a tenth of the 201 members are women); and the absence of dialogue with women regarding formulation of the model nikahnama... these are issues that irked some Muslim women activists, prompting them to set up their own personal law board.

Shagufta, who has helped women in her area avail of family planning facilities, including permanent methods, which the AIMPLB is vehemently against, says, "Islam does not say that women should not take care of their health. It's the maulvis who say so. Islam does not say that a woman should continue to bear children even at the cost of her life."

As in all patriarchal societies, Muslim women are expected to carry the burden of traditional, cultural and religious "authenticity". As a statement issued by the Mumbai-based Muslim women's organisation, Awaz-e-Niswan, puts it, "Another strategy employed by reactionary forces is to play on the fears of Muslim women, to encourage them to think of themselves as members of a community under attack. A call has been made to preserve the Muslim identity, where the conservative elements decide what a good Muslim ought to be and how to lead his/her life."

Awaz-e-Niswan is trying to create awareness among women in Mumbai slums and is fully aware of the pressures on the community, particularly women. This feeling of tremendous insecurity has only heightened the misery of Muslim women. But, increasingly, Muslim women are struggling to speak out. "If the community has been under attack then there's all the more reason why the women should be empowered to protect themselves," argues Abdi. She adds a counter poser, "During communal riots it is the women who suffer the most. Shouldn't they be strengthened within the community in order to face the challenges of life? That is a query that the Board has no answers to."

Foreseeing several challenges before the new women's board, Shagufta warns that many Muslim women themselves may be hesitant to step out and support the cause. "Women are so conditioned that they might question such formations fearing that `these women' might take them away from `real Islam'. Apart from this apprehension, some Muslim women might also question the very need for setting up a separate women's personal law board."

However, both Abdi and Amber say the women's board is now a reality. Asks Amber, "Do you think we women should keep quiet and suffer?"

Women's Feature Service

Picture by K. Bhagya Prakash

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