Muslim personal law: India (fatwas)
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Fatwas: legality of in India
Fatwas have no legal standing: SC
Dhananjay.Mahapatra New Delhi:
The Times of India Jul 08 2014
The Supreme Court ruled that fatwas issued by Sharia courts or muftis had no legal sanctity, saying the defiance of fatwas won't have civil or criminal consequences.
The court also said it would be illegal to impose these religion-based opinions on personal issues on ci tizens in violation of their fundamental rights.
“Whatever may be the status of fatwa during Mughal or British rule, it has no place in independent In dia under our constitutional scheme,“ a bench of Justices Chandramauli K Prasad and Pinaki C Ghose said.
“Any person trying to enforce a fatwa by any method shall be illegal and has to be dealt with in accordance with law,“ it added.
There have been bizarre fatwas across almost the entire spectrum of social life of Muslims -from banning a popular all-girls Kashmiri band to asking a woman in UP to treat her husband as her son after she was raped by her father-in-law. It was the mushrooming of fatwas, ranging from dissolution of marriage to dress code for women, which led advocate Vishwa Lochan Madan to file a PIL questioning jurisdiction of sharia courts, Dar-ul-Qaza (personal law courts) and Deoband muftis in dictating social behaviour of citizens and, in the process, virtually setting up a parallel judicial system on issues relating to Muslim personal law.
“A fatwa has no legal sanction and cannot be enforced by any legal process either by the Dar-ul-Qaza issuing that or the person concerned or for that matter anybody . The person or the body concerned may ignore it and it will not be necessary for anybody to challenge it before any court of law,“ said Justice Prasad, who authored the judgment.
“In case any person or body tries to impose it, their act would be illegal. Therefore, the grievance of the petitioner that Dar-ul-Qazas and Nizam-e-Qaza are running a parallel judicial system is misconceived,“ the bench said. The All India Muslim Personal Law Board had told the apex court, “Establishment of a network of judicial system throughout the country to help Muslims get their disputes settled by qazis may not have police powers but shall have the book of Allah in hand and Sunnat of the Rasool and all decisions should be according to the book and the Sunnat. This will bring Muslims to Muslim courts. They will get justice.“ But the bench was not amused. It said, “The object of establishment of such a court may be laudable but we have no doubt in our mind that it has no legal status.“
Fatwa cannot be forced upon people: SC
Fatwa cannot be forced upon people, Supreme Court rules
PTI | Feb 25, 2014
NEW DELHI: Fatwa issued by Muslim clerics cannot be forced upon people and the state has to protect persons who are harassed for not following such diktats, the Supreme Court on Tuesday said while expressing reservation in interfering with shariat courts.
Holding that it's a matter of choice for the people to accept fatwa or not, the apex court said running of institutions like Darul Qaza and Darul-Iftaa is a religious issue and the courts should interfere only when someone's rights are violated by their decision.
"We can protect people who are subjected to suffering due to this. When a pujari gives a date of Dussehra, he cannot force someone to celebrate the festival on that day. If somebody forces them on you, then we can protect you," the bench said after the petitioner pleaded that fatwa issued by clerics is unconstitutional.
It said fatwa issued by clerics or prediction made by pandits do not violate any law and so courts should restrain them from doing so.
"Which law gives power to issue fatwa and which statute gives pundit power to make horoscope? Court can only say that the state will protect the people if one is subjected to suffering due to fatwa," the bench said adding some fatwas may be issued for the welfare of the people.
"These are are political and religious issues and we do not want to go into it," the bench said while hearing a PIL filed by an advocate Vishwa Lochan Madam challenging the constitutional validity of shariat courts for allegedly running a parallel judicial system in the country.
All India personal law board submitted fatwa is bot binding on people and it is just an opinion of Mufti and he has no power and authority to implement it.
Senior advocate Raju Ramachandran, appearing for the Board, submitted if a fatwa is sought to be implemented against the wish of the concerned person, then he can approach court of law against it.
The petitioner submitted the fundamental rights of Muslims could not be controlled and curtailed through fatwas issued by qazis and muftis appointed by Muslim organizations.
"Bharat Mata ki Jai"
The Times of India, Apr 1, 2016
Darul Uloom Deoband issues fatwa against chanting of ‘Bharat Mata ki jai’
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband on Friday issued a fatwa against chanting of "Bharat Mata ki jai", saying that the slogan goes against the tenets of Islam.
"'Bharat Mata', according to some Hindu sects, is a goddess and they worship her. For Muslims worshiping a goddess would be un-Islamic," the fatwa said.
The fatwa added, "We love our country, but we do not worship it, Islam allows worshiping only one God." Condemning the fatwa issued by leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband, minister of state for food processing Sadhvi Niranjan Jyoti on Friday said denying people to chant "Bharat Mata ki jai" slogan amounted to insulting the freedom fighters.
"It is showing the fundamentalist side of Islam. Denying 'Bharat Mata ki jai' shows disrespect to martyrs of the country. It shows their mentality. They should understand that they are not living in Pakistan," said Jyoti.
At an event in Luckow on March 28,2016, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh chief Mohan Bhagwat said "nobody needs to be forced to raise the slogan and that efforts should be made to build a "great" India that is hailed across the globe voluntarily.
The R S S chief had stirred a controversy recently with his remark that the younger generation needed to be taught to hail "Mother India". In apparent retaliation, AIMIM leader Asaduddin Owaisi had said he would not chant "Bharat Mata ki jai" as he was not obliged to do it under the Constitution and that he would not do so even if a "knife is put to my throat".
The issue snowballed into a political slugfest with the Shiv Sena, BJP and other parties slamming the Hyderabad MP over his stand.
Maharashtra assembly suspended an AIMIM MLA after he refused to chant the slogan, while the Madhya Pradesh Assembly passed a censure motion condemning Owaisi.
Cow urine items
May 2016
The Times of India, May 19 2016
Fatwa against cow urine products
Priyangi Agarwal
Dargah Aala Hazrat has issued a fatwa against usage of products in which cow urine is mixed.
The fatwa came after a resident of Bareilly posed a question asking if it was okay to use products of a company known for mixing cow urine in their offerings.
The fatwa said that products of any company having cow urine should not be used as per Shariat.
On a question posed by Bakhtiyar Khan, the clerics at Dargah Aala Hazrat's Markazi Darul Ista (the centre which issues fatwas) passed the fatwa. The fatwa said that any product having cow urine as an ingredient should not be consumed or applied on the body.
The fatwa has been given by Mufti Muzaffar Hussain, head of shrine's Markazi Darul Ista and his associate, Mufti Kaushal Ali Razvi.
Maulana Shahbudeen Razvi, media coordinator at Dargah Aala Hazrat said, “As per Shariat, it is forbidden for Muslims to use any product in which cow urine is mixed.Cow urine is considered unholy in Shariat. The question was put up in connection with one company which is known for selling products having cow urine as one of the ingredients.... People should not eat, drink or apply them.“
Terming it against Islam, he added, “As per Shariat, people should not even consume medicines that have cow urine in the composition.“
August 2016
The Times of India, Aug 24 2016
Pervez IqbalSiddiqui
Darul Uloom fatwa on cow urine items
The use of cow urine products is `najayaz' (inappropriate), leading Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has said. “If it is declared or established that a product has cow urine in it, then its use is not allowed. However, if one is sure that a product of the same brand does not have cow urine in it, then such a product can be used,“ a panel of experts at the seminary has said in a fatwa.
The fatwa was issued in response to a question whether Muslims should use products of brands like Patanjali, which contain cow urine in them. It said any product with cow urine contravenes religious tenets.
Tamil Nadu Thowheed Jamat had in January 2016 issued a similar decree that prompted Patanjali to state that cow urine is used in five of its 700 products.
Haj
Clear all debts before embarking
The Times of India Feb 03 2016
Bareilly, Feb 3: A Sunni cleric in Uttar Pradesh has issued a new fatwa directing Muslim community people to clear all types of debts before heading for Hajj.
Sunni cleric Mufti Mohammed Salim Noori of dargah Aala Hazrat in Bareilly passed the fatwa. According to him, taxes like house, income tax, water tax are also come under debt.
'You go for Haj to meet Allah there, so one should carry any kind of debt on him,' said said Mufti Mohammed Salim Noori, reported the Times of India.
Noori added, 'The different forms of taxes levied on residents by the government are also considered debt. Therefore, pilgrims wishing to go on Haj should pay taxes before starting their journey. Also, as per Islam, people should first perform their day-to-day duties honestly and then focus on completing religious duties.'
'Apart from clearing their debts and taxes, people should leave enough money at their home so that their wife and children do not face any financial crisis when they are out performing Haj,' said Noori.
Infidels
Declaring Muslims ‘infidels’
Sharia panchayat boycotts 5 Muslims for being ‘infidels’
Mohammed Wajihuddin | TNN
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
Mumbai: Has Talibanism breached the solid wall which guarded Indian Islam for centuries? If the diktat issued by a Sharia panchayat comprising a dozen or so clerics in the Muslim-majority town of Malegaon last week is any indication, it seems to have.
In a shocking incident which reeks of Talibani fundamentalism and the regressive approach of the Khap Panchayat in parts of India, the Malegaon Sharia panchayat last Friday summarily ‘‘ex-communicated’’ five Muslims for allegedly being ‘‘apostates and infidels’’. Islamic scholars and liberal thinkers insist that such a unilateral decision has no standing, especially as Islam doesn’t recognise priesthood and the practice of ex-communication is non-existent, unlike in Christianity.
The clerics declared that the five — Fareedul Abedin, Sharief Cookerwalla, Yunus Trolleywalla, Iqbal Engineer and Yusuf Dalalthey — were no longer Muslims after hearing many who testified that the ‘‘accused’’, among other things, believed in and preached ideas and beliefs which went against Islam. One of the charges against them is that they refuted Prophet Mohammed’s divine ride, also called Meraj.
‘‘Their activities had created huge embarrassment. We invited all five to present their side of the story but only one of them, Abedin, turned up. We pronounced them out of Islam, as reliable witnesses testified against them,’’ said Mufti Ismail, local MLA and head of the Jamiautul Ulema in Malegaon.
Insurance for Muslims: India: A fatwa
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
‘Opting for insurance un-Islamic’
Lucknow: After its fatwa that working in banks is un-Islamic, the Darul Uloom Deoband has now declared that opting for an insurance policy too went against the tenets of Islam.
The “insurance policy is unlawful as it is based on interest and gambling,” claimed the fatwa issued by the country’s largest Islamic seminary.
The edict issued by Darul Ifta department of Darul Uloom seminary was in response to a query whether it is lawful to take an insurance policy in the light of the sharia.
Millions of Muslims in India opt for insurance policies which is a contract that pledges payment of an amount to a person assured or his nominee against losses or perils.
“The clerics who issue fatwas should also explain the context in which it is being issued to avoid any confusion,” Maulana Afroz Mujtaba, a Delhi-based cleric, said.
Meanwhile, leading Islamic body Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind’s spokesman Abdul Hameed Nomani said that fatwas should not be generalised and they should be seen in the context in which they have been issued.
“People must read between the lines and not generalise the fatwas,” Nomani said.
Earlier, Darul Uloom had declared the job of writing and calculating interest based work in banks and insurance companies as un-Islamic. The fatwa was in response to whether Muslims can do job in bank or insurance company.
The recent fatwas have drawn flak from many clerics and progressive leaders. PTI
Marriage with stepmother
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
Marriage with stepmom is rape: Deoband
Lucknow: With an eight-year older step-mother, Husna Beghum, as his love interest, things had never been smooth for Ronak Ali, 25, an unskilled labourer. Eldest among five, Ronak stunned his family and the little hamlet of Gunnor in Baghpat when he surfaced with Beghum — both had been missing since June 13 — by his side, this time, as his one-day-old bride.
Hounded by family, friends and relatives, the couple has gone into hiding again after the Islamic seminary of Darul Uloom, Deoband, has denounced the union as null and void. The terse edict delivered by the fatwa department on Wednesday, maintains that relationship with a mother, even if she is a step-mother, is sacrosanct. Therefore, the union will be deemed to be rape and the violators of the sharia will evoke the stringent punishment as per the tenets of Islam.
Confirming the fatwa, deputy vice-chancellor of the seminary, Maulana Abdul Khalique Madrasi said: ‘‘The episode was extremely unfortunate and shows perversion of the worst order. Such a ‘nikah’ can never be permissible under the sharia.” TNN
Wigs during prayers
The Times of India, Aug 09 2016
Sandeep Rai
No wigs during prayers: Darul
Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Deoband has now advised Muslims against wearing wigs while offering the namaz. In a new fatwa, the seminary has ruled that namaz is “incomplete“ if performed while wearing a wig or artificial beard.
Darul Uloom Deoband spokesperson Ashraf Usmani said wigs and artificial beards interfere with the two religious requirements for performing namaz, which are `vazu' (mandatorily washing one's hands, face and head before prayer time) and `gusl' (cleaning the entire body). “The wig impedes water from reaching the scalp. This defeats the purpose of `vazu' and `gusl' as the body remains impure,“ he added. Howe ver, Usmani did suggest “a way out“.
“If wearing a wig (during namaz) is important, one should take it off while performing `vazu' and `gusl' and put it back on during the prayers,“ he said.
The fatwa, Usmani said, did not apply to those who had undergone hair transplant. “This is because they (hair transplants) are like natural hair and water can easily reach the scalp,“ he said.
Changing lifestyles often create a lot of confusion among Muslims, who seek guidance from the seminary for a way out. “We receive a lot of letters, after which scholars try to find a solution. A fatwa is issued when all agree on a solution based on the teachings of the Quran and the Hadith,“ Usmani said.
Women
Employment
Deoband fatwa: It’s illegal for women to work, support family
Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui | TNN
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
Lucknow: In a Talibanesque fatwa, Darul Uloom Deoband, the self-appointed guardian for Indian Muslims, has decreed that it is ‘‘haram’’ and illegal according to the sharia for a family to accept a woman’s earnings.
Clerics at the largest Sunni Muslim seminary after Cairo’s Al-Azhar said the decree flowed from the fact that the sharia prohibited proximity of men and women in the workplace.
‘‘It is unlawful (under the sharia law) for Muslim women to work in the government or private sector where men and women work together and women have to talk with men frankly and without a veil,’’ said the fatwa issued by a bench of three clerics. The decree was issued over the weekend, but became public late on Monday, seminary sources said.
At a time when there is a rising clamour for job quotas for Muslims in India and a yearning for progress in the community that sees itself as neglected, the fatwa, although unlikely to be heeded, is clearly detrimental.
‘Fatwa against working women contradicts Islam’
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
From the archives of The Times of India 2007, 2009
Lucknow/New Delhi: Darul-Uloom Deoband’s fatwa describing the earnings of a working women as ‘haram’ (forbidden) under the Sharia has left many people fuming.
Waris Mazhari, Jamia Millia Islamia research scholar and a former Deoband student, says, ‘‘The life of the Prophet and his companions provides us a standard that Muslims should follow. In light of their way of life, the fatwa is completely unjustified. Our second Caliph Hazrat Umar Farooq had appointed several women to high posts. One of them, Shifa bin Abdullah, was the supervisor of the markets. It’s obvious that as the market supervisor she had to interact and deal with the men. Similarly, during the Prophet’s time, women used to worship in mosques and work along with men.
“No such restrictions were imposed. Men used to even seek guidance from the Prophet’s wife, Ayesha, who has also fought in a war — Jang-e-Jamal.’’
The fatwa, however, drew flak among other clerics.‘‘Men and women in sharia are entitled to equal rights. If men follow the sharia, there is no reason why women can’t work with them,’’ said Rasheed, the Naib Imam of Lucknow’s main Eidgah Mosque in Aishbagh.
Ration card in woman's name
Mar 18 2015
`Ration card in woman's name is un-Islamic'
Priyangi Agarwal
The food security law decrees that fresh ration cards be issued in the name of the eldest woman of a family. Offended by this depiction of women as the head of families, “which goes against Indian culture and Islamic law“, Sunni Barelvi Markaz of Dargah Ala Hazrat has issued a fatwa telling followers to keep away from ration cards.
“We have asked our followers to not apply for ration cards,“ said Mufti Mohammed Saleem Noori.
“In both Indian and Islamic culture, the male is regarded the head of family . Women should concentrate on creating an environment of heaven in the house,“ Noori added. He said some clerics will meet PM Narendra Modi to ask him for an amendment to the Act. Priyangi Agarwal
Yoga with `Om'
The Times of India, May 19 2016
Sandeep Rai
Darul Uloom Deoband has said it objects to religious connotations being attached to yoga, a day after a controversy erupted over a Yoga Day protocol issued by the Ayush ministry stating that each session be begun with the chanting of `Om' and Vedic mantras. The leading Islamic seminary's muftis said if Muslim students are forced to recite Vedic mantras or chant `Om' while performing yoga, they should stay away from such events.
Deoband vice-chancellor Maulana Abdul Qasim No mani told TOI, “Had yoga been just physical exercise, we could have allowed this. But associating it with chanting of `Om' and Vedic mantras gives it a religious twist. Besides, making it mandatory is unacceptable to us. Yoga can be quite beneficial for you. But it might not be good for me. In any case, it cannot be forced on everybody .“
The `Common Yoga Protocol' released by the Ayush ministry has been circulated among universities, schools and offices. It says the session should begin with a “prayer in any meditative posture with namaskara mudra“. The mantra to be recited during the session has been taken from the Rig Veda.
However, the ministry on Tuesday clarified that chanting of `Om' and other Vedic mantras before the yoga session on International Yoga Day on June 21 is not compulsory , but voluntary. “There is no compulsion... It is completely voluntary and one can remain silent. No one will object,“ Ayush ministry joint secretary Anil Kumar Ganeriwala said.
Calling media reports in this regard an attempt to make International Yoga Day controversial, he said though chanting of `Om' is an integral part of yoga, there is no move to make it compulsory . Some political parties have accused the government of pushing its Hindutva agenda by asking participants to chant Vedic mantras Congress criticised the BJPled government for being “insensitive“, saying yoga, a great discipline of ancient India, does not belong to the saffron party . JD(U) termed it yet another attempt to “impose the communal agenda“ on Indian masses.
See also
All India Muslim Personal Law Board
Muslim law and adoption: India
Muslim personal law, India: Divorce
Muslim personal law, India: Divorce (SC verdict, 2017: full text)
Muslim personal law, India: Marriage
Muslim personal law: India (fatwas)
