Triple talaq.

The Triple Talaq Issue is the red hot burning topic of discussion during any conversation whether social or professional. The impact of the ban on Muslim women’s progress, the immediacy of this issue to other questions needs much more detailed analysis. Once again Muslim women are caught at the center of a discussion. The visual media is filled with images of burqa-clad Muslim women presented as the suffering victims of the orthodox laws of the community. The debates in the media generally present a highly polarized environment, where ‘neutral, secular, liberal progressive’ voices demanding justice for Muslim women are placed in opposition with ‘misogynist and patriarchal’ Muslim men.

Following petitions by Muslim women in the Supreme Court, there has been an ongoing debate about triple talaq and the need for its abolition. The dominant views on the issue are either by the likes of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board or the Muslim women themselves.

It signifies two extreme positions; continuation of status quo versus voices for reform and gender justice. This article is an attempt to put forward our position based on the lived realities of women as a Muslim women’s’ organization that strives for justice and equality.

Terming Muslim women “supervisors” and “managers” of the family, un-Islamic customs and traditions prevalent in society today are due only to the women unaware of her faith.

Triple talaq issue should be abolished because it is un-Quranic; goes against the spirit of the Constitution and lastly, but importantly, it is unjust and inhuman. It is not a debate created by the media as suggested by some. In our work, across 15 states in the last ten years, we regularly have women coming with their grievances about triple talaq.

Historically, India doesn’t have a clean record in saving Muslim women, whether during partition violence, the aftermath of police action in Hyderabad.

Second, the current debates invariably highlight the idea of a single and static Islamic law. They do not take into account the diverse views of heterogeneous Muslim communities regarding reforms in personal law.

It is clear that triple talaq issue is a gross violation of the rights of women citizens. The right to religious freedom applies equally to women and men. It nowhere gives male citizens the permission to oppress female citizens. Muslim women have been denied their Quranic rights owing to misinterpretations and interference of patriarchal orthodox bodies. We are confident that the courts will make this long-pending correction and give justice to the Muslim women of the country.

The Shayara Bano case has opened up a deeper debate on the role of the Supreme Courts in protecting the rights of all women regardless of their religious status. Should courts apply fundamental rights according to law or weigh it on political expediencies? Perhaps the judiciaries in both countries will have to reflect upon this question, as women are no longer disempowered and willing to accept charitable crumbs from courts. Instead they are asserting their rights as equal citizens.

In order to answer these important questions, one need to first trace the origin of talaq-ul biddat. The practice is said to have originated in pre-Islamic Arabia, which is also known as the Jahilliyha Period or the Time of Ignorance. With the advent of Islam and Prophet Muhammad in Arabia, the said practice was abolished. During the era of Prophet Muhammad, no one was allowed to pronounce triple talaq. In a case where a man named Rukanah pronounced triple talaq in one sitting to his wife. Prophet Muhammad himself interpreted it as one divorce and allowed Rukanah to take his wife back. Prophet was of the view that when divorce is pronounced in one sitting, be it thrice or hundred times, it has to be treated as one.

This tradition was followed during the time of first Caliph Abu Bakr and for about two years during the second Caliph Umar. During this period Arab invaded many other countries, including Iraq, Syria, Egypt and Persia. The Arabs thought that the women in these countries were more beautiful than their own women, so they offered to marry them. Ignorant of the fact that triple talaq was no longer valid in Arab, these women urged the Arab men to divorce their wives through triple talaq. The Arab men willingly did so (because men knew that Islam had abolished triple talaq and that would not be effective), and even after marrying these women, they would validly retain their earlier wives as well.

When these Syrian, Persian, Egyptian women found that they were being cheated, they approached Caliph Umar to enforce Triple talaq again in order to stop its misuse by Arabs. The Caliph complied with their demands to meet an emergency situation, but with an intention to enforce it permanently. Thus today also triple talaq is being practiced, it is considered as sinful but nevertheless valid.