Opinion

Triple Talaq Unconstitutionalized, Now Nikah Halala

Triple Talaq is now dumped.

August 23, 2017

Muslim women are the most exploited bulk in each section of Muslim community. Here’s how…

Finally a medieval misogynistic Islamic practice of divorce prevailing since last 1,400 years – called Triple Talaq – is dumped. There is a lot of confusion over what is the actual verdict. As per my knowledge of this verdict, I’d say that this evil, atrocious and misogynistic practice has gone. Muslim women are freed.

What Is Triple Talaq?

In nutshell, ‘Triple Talaq’, also known as Talaq-e-Mughallazah (Irrevocable divorce), is a form of divorce that is practised by Muslims in India. A Muslim man can legally divorce his wife by pronouncing Talaq (the Arabic word) Three Times. The pronouncement can be oral or written, or, in recent times, delivered by electronic means such as telephone, pager, telegram, SMS, email or social media. The man need not cite any cause for the divorce and the wife need not be present at the time of pronouncement.

What can be more atrocious than a woman in no knowledge of his husband divorcing her for unknown reasons? There are numerous cases where Muslim women are given Triple Talaq for reasons such as; a woman forgot to switch on the fan while her husband was having lunch, a woman walked ahead of his husband, a woman forgot to add salt in food, etc.

The Muslim judge Abdul Nazeer favored Triple Talaq, preferred to submit to Islam over the fundamental right of Muslim women

On the religious ground a bench of five Supreme Court of India judges – comprising of a Hindu, a Sikh, a Parsi, a Christian and a Muslim – was constituted. Out of these five judges three judges, those are (Hindu) U U Lalit, (Parsi) Rohinton Fali Nariman and (Christian) Kurian Joseph, have given their verdicts against continuing the practice of Triple Talaq, unconstitutionalized it ; one Sikh judge that is our Chief Justice J S Khehar chose to stand politically correct took no position ; while the one Muslim judge Abdul Nazeer favored Triple Talaq, preferred to submit to Islam over the fundamental right of Muslim women – indicates that it doesn’t matter how educated a Muslim is, when it comes to taking a stand against any Islamic practice, no matter how atrocious or medieval it is, one chooses to submit to Islam out of fear of social boycott as in consequence.

Khehar has passed the ball into government’s court asking centre to pass a legislation to end Triple Talaq within six months.

Perplexing stand seemed taken by CJI J S Khehar. His judgment, according to my reading of it, is that he took no position on Triple Talaq. He neither favoured it nor gave a verdict against it – as I said earlier – chose to stand politically correct. However, Khehar has passed the ball into government’s court asking the centre to pass a legislation to end Triple Talaq within six months. And till six months Triple Talaq will not be performed. As the Prime Minister of India Shri Narendra Modi gave an open call in favour of Muslim women taking a stand to end Triple Talaq, it is just a matter of time and formality to pass a legislation ending Triple Talaq. If it doesn’t pass, the time limit will further until the legislation gets the approval of executives both in upper and lower houses. In any case, Triple Talaq is gone.

What’s Next ?
Nikah Halala

What’s more atrocious is the practice of ‘Nikah Halala’. A divorced woman cannot remarry her divorced husband unless she first marries another man. This practice is called Nikah Halala. This belief has been the basis of financial and sexual exploitation of Muslim women. For example, if a Muslim man wants any amount of money from his wife, he can exploit this custom of instant Talaq to threaten her, or, if any Muslim man wants to marry another woman he can exploit this divorce system to kick out his current wife.
A number of online services are charging “divorced” Muslim women thousands of pounds to take part in “Halala”, a BBC investigation has found, under the title ‘The Women Who Sleep With A Stranger To Save Their Marriage’. Women pay to marry, have sex with and then divorce a stranger, so they can get back with their first husbands. There are many Halala centres opened in Mumbai run by Maulvis.

It should have gone fifty years back but Congress’ appeasement of Muslim men was the only hurdle.

In nutshell, a Muslim woman seeking a divorce cannot give divorce to her husband unless she had mentioned that in her marriage contract. If her husband divorces her and wants to remarry, the woman has to have sex with another man of her husband’s choice, as in punishment to the woman, and then only the woman can return to her ex-husband. How pathetic and retrograding it was. Good sense prevailed that it’s gone. It should have gone fifty years back but Congress’ appeasement of Muslim men was the only hurdle.

You imagine the state of Muslim women they were living in. They were living in constant fear of getting divorced, for no reason. Muslim women are the most exploited bulk in each section of Muslim community. But now they are freed. Jai Hind…

Note:
1. Text in Blue points to additional data on the topic.
2. The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent or reflect the views of PGurus.