#dnaEdit: Women qazis

The appointment of Afroz Begum and Jahan Aara as the first women qazis in Rajasthan is an important step in the uphill struggle of establishing gender equality in religious and social matters. In an overwhelmingly male-dominated bastion, Afroz and Jahan are among the handful of voices who now have the power to bring justice to Muslim women whose rights have been consistently trampled upon in the name of religion. 

Every religion has to move with the times. For far too long Islam, like all other religions, has been held hostage by radical, conservative elements. The entrenched opposition to reforms — the consequence of deep-rooted patriarchy — has not only given rise to extreme forms of Islam, but also encouraged violence on the innocent in the holy war of jihad. The worst sufferers of this male-centric perspective of religion and its tenets have been women and children. 

Yet Islam is a rare religion that was once considered revolutionary because of its non-discriminatory nature, according equal status to men and women. The departure from the true spirit of Islam cast a shadow over the rights of women in matters of divorce and inheritance under the personal laws.

Today, there is a course-correction with women taking the initiative to assert their rights and challenge the notions of patriarchy that have wrongly come to be associated with Islam. The forces from within the community, such as the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA),  have been spearheading this fight for equality. Afroz and Jahan took part in a course at the Darul Uloom-e-Niswa, a centre for Islamic learning and theology, set up by the BMMA for training women qazis on Islamic jurisprudence. This initiative will have a strong bearing on changing negative perceptions of Islam. 

The conservatives are doubtlessly scared and angry at the rise of women within the religious hierarchy. But the crucial support of Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Deoband, which has wholeheartedly endorsed the appointment of the women qazis should silence the opposition. The first women qazi in India, Shabnam Ara Begum, from West Bengal’s Nandigram village in 2003 had even faced a legal challenge in Calcutta high court from a male claimant to the post. Shabnam, who had over the years helped her father in officiating marriages and settling disputes under the Muslim Sharia law, gradually gained people’s acceptance and became a shining example for other aspiring women. Regrettably, the progress towards greater acceptance for women kazis has been extremely slow, and is only now gathering momentum.

From a much broader perspective, such appointments can also further the causes of women across the religious spectrum who are engaged in similar struggles — for example, the right of women to enter shrines where only men are allowed. 

The discrimination against women on the basis of gender violates the right to equality principle enshrined in the Constitution. Political parties have stayed away from these contentious issues fearing a backlash from aggrieved communities that might result in loss of votes. It then became the responsibility of the courts to ensure that justice prevailed when, ideally, it should have been the communities settling the dispute amicably. This obstinacy to see reason or the fear of disrupting traditions, even when they run counter to the essence of modernity, is the primary cause of conflict. 

The fruits of BMMA’s labour will go a long way in ensuring equality for women in society.