Conclusion

From the preceding discussion, it is revealed that no serious efforts are being made for the upliftment and empowerment of women and the tall claims are the only remedy which is provided to the poor creature by the legislature, judiciary and even by our religious leaders.

I have a feeling that there is also a politics of law reform. And by politics I do not mean anything sinister.... As regards modernists, theirs is an ideol­ogy of human rights and elimination of sex based discrimination. But if that is their ideology, I wonder why an attempt for a social change has not been a part of their strategy and why has it been assumed that legal change is the first and the only attainment to be made by them.³⁴

Notes

1 See Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Marriage) Act, 2019.

2 Bernard Weiss, Interpretation in Islamic Law: The Theory of Ijtiha d. The American Journal of Comparative Law 26, no. 2 (1978) American Society of Comparative Law: 199-212, https://doi.org/10.2307/839668

3 C.C. Adams, Islam and Modernism in Egypt (London: Oxford University Press 1933), 130.

4 J.N.D. Anderson, Islamic Law in the Modern World (1963), 105.

5 Furqan Ahmad, Towards the Renaissance: Shibli and Maulana Thanvi on Sharia, (New Delhi: The Indian Law Institute, 2019).

6 Quran II:65.

7 Following are the few decisions in British courts which are totally inconsistent: Mohd.

Hayat v.Mohd. Nawaz, AIR 1935 Lah. 622, 623; Khurshed Jan v. Abdul Hamid, 6 P.R. 1908; Shahulameeda v. Subaida Bebee, 1970 M.LJ. Cr. 562.

8 W.H. Macnaughten, Principles and Precedents of Mohammedan Law (Calcutta: Bengal Civil Service Publication 1825).

9 M. Hidyatullah, ed., Mulla, Principles of Mohammedan Law, 18th edn., (Bombay: N.M. Tripathi Pvt. Ltd, 1977);

See J.S. Bandukwala, “The Imrana case and the Deoband fatwa,” last visited July 4, 2015, http://www.pucl.org/Topics/Religion-communalism/2005/imrana.htm

The Quran (IV:3) says, “marry of the woman who seem good to you, two or three or four, and if he fear that why he can’t do justice (to so many than one only)” as cited in Tahir Mahmood, ed., Family Law and Social Change (Bombay: N.M TripathiPvt. Limited, 1975), 37.

Procedure of marriage is very simple; the parties willingly tie up in a matrimonial bond to live together, throughout their life, in a single sitting and before the presence of two witnesses. This is all for the commencement of Muslim marriage. However, a lot of customs and rites are observed and unnecessary money is spent. Nowadays many complex processes and formalities that have nothing to do with Islamic society, law and religion are followed.

Yousuf v. Swaramma, AIR 1971 Ker 264.

Muhammad Ali, Commentary on The Holy Quran (1917), 96.

Shaheen Sardar Ali, Modern Challenges to Islamic Law (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016), 261.

See KhatoonNisa v State of UP, II (1994) DMC 64; Also see author’s article “Understanding the Islamic Divorce,” Indian Express Magazine Delhi 1st August, 1994.

Furqan Ahmad, Triple Talaq: An Analytical Study with Emphasis on Socio-legal Aspects (Delhi: Regency Publications, 1994).

Shayara Bano v.Union of India, (2017) 9 SCC 1.

See Prof Baxi’s unpublished paper which he presented in a one-day workshop on ‘Dispelling Rhetorics: Law of Divorce and Gender Equality in Islam’. It must be men­tioned here that as per the initiative of Prof Baxi, the Indian Law Institute sent a copy of his paper presented in the aforementioned seminar to the concerned constitutional bench in May 2017.

Khatoon Nisa v State of UP, II (1994) DMC 64.

(1980) 4 SCC 125.

(1979) 2 SCC 316.

Mohd.Ahmed Khan v. Shah Bano Begum, (1985 SCR (3) 844).

See for instance, ShamimaFarooqui v. Shahid Khan, AIR 2015 SC 2025.

Aboobacker Haji v. Mamu Koya, 1971 KLT 663.

Bai Tahira v. Ali Hussain, AIR 1979 SC 362. Also see, Fuzlubi v. K. Khadervali, AIR 1980 SC 1730.

Maulana Thanvi, as cited in supra note 2. It may be mentioned to note that Rs. 5 and Rs. 10 per month were more than worth money, 100 years ago for woman’s expendi­ture. (Understanding- ft 65)

Mohd. Ahamad v. Shah Bano Begum, AIR 1983 SC 1526.

Bai Tahira v. Ali Hussain, AIR 1979 SC 362. Also see, Fuzlubi v. K. Khadervali, AIR 1980 SC 1730.

Mohd.Ahamad v. Shah Bano Begum, AIR 1983 SC 1526.

V.R. Krishna Iyer, The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act, 1986 (Lucknow: Eastern Book Company, 1987), xviii.

Upendra Baxi, “Islamization and the politics of Muslim law reform,” Islamic & Comparative Law Quarterly I no. 4 (1981): 320.

M. Rodinson, Islam and Capitalism (London: Penguin Books 1979) as cited Ibid. Upendra Baxi, The Future of Human Rights (New Delhi: OUP, 2006), 323—324.