The Hindu : National : Imrana case: Deoband Muftis rule out change

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Friday, Jul 01, 2005

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Imrana case: Deoband Muftis rule out change

No fatwa issued, says Md. Azam Khan

DEOBAND: The muftis of the Darul Uloom Deoband on Thursday ruled out any change in the Muslim Personal Law to provide solace to a woman who had been raped by her father-in-law.

Mufti Habiburrehman and Mufti Ezaz Arshad Kazmi told reporters here that the Bharatiya Janata Party and Communist Party of India (Marxist) demand for a change in the law was "totally unjustified."

"There is no scope for debate or change in the Muslim Personal law which is a fundamental law of Quran Hadees and is 1,400 years old," they said, citing scriptures to uphold the Deoband fatwa (edict) that had ordered the husband of the woman to leave her.

"The Quran Sharief lays down: `Do not perform `nikaah' with a woman whom your father had bedded'," Mufti Habiburrehman said.

Mufti Ezaz Arshad Kazmi, editor of the Deoband website, supported the stand of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to respect the edict of the Deoband in the Imrana case.

He criticised the demand of the CPI(M) general secretary, Prakash Karat, for a change in the law. Mr. Karat should not "echo the views of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh," he said. The views of people like Mr. Karat should be corrected instead of the Muslim Personal Law, he said.

There are four schools of law in the Sunni sect, the major one being Hanifi school to which 80 per cent of the Muslims adhere. The Deoband edict in the Imrana case was as per these canons. The other three sects are Shia, Hambili and Maliki.

Another leading scholar, Mufti Abdullah Javed said there is provision in the Maliki school of law, practised in Africa, that allows Imrana to stay with her husband, Noor Elahi, despite having been raped by her father-in-law.

It was, however, not permitted by any of the three other Sunni schools of law. She could, however, marry some one else. The responsibility of bringing up the five children would rest on Noor, he said. — UNI

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