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Muslims now see light in Supreme Court verdict on Sharia law

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A week after many Muslim religious scholars expressed concern at the the Supreme Court (SC) ruling that Shariat or Islamic courts have no legal sanctity, prominent Muslim intellectuals have asked the community leaders to introspect and adopt corrective measures in the light of apex court observations.

The apex court bench comprising Justice Chandramauli Kumar Prasad and Justice Pinaki Chandra Ghose last Monday had also made it clear that fatwas should not infringe upon the rights of individuals guaranteed under law. The petitioner – Advocate Vishwa Lochan Madan had approached Supreme Court with a prayer to ban the Sharia courts and Qazis from functioning and thereby dictating social behaviour of citizens.

At a discussion organised by South Asian Minorities Lawyers Association (SAMLA), Muslim leaders hailed the court verdict. Dr. Syed Qasim Rasool Ilyas, former spokesperson and member of the Executive Council of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, said the court verdict was in conformity with the views of Muslim Personal Law Board and the government stand before the court.

Prominent lawyer and Secretary General of the SAMLA said that Muslims should welcome the judgement and take the comments made by the Supreme Court in good faith and should adopt some corrective steps to impart more credibility and effect on the society. “The judgement is a great service to the country; the judgement has elucidated the most misunderstood concepts of Islam like the fatwa. The judgment has held that fatwa is a legal opinion only which binds none except those who voluntarily agree to abide”, Feroz Khan Ghazi said.

Another prominent lawyer Farrukh Khan said that Fatwa has been misunderstood by people as some kind of a “Dharmadesh” which implies some sort of command to follow. “Fatwa is not a dharmadesh but only an opinion by an expert which others may or may not follow as per their choice,” he said.

Some lawyers also complained that media didn’t present contents of the judgement correctly, which also compounded the confusion, not only among Muslims but in general public.

Former bureaucrat Dr MA Ibrahimi, called for spreading awareness about the scheme of rights and duties contained in Muslim law for smooth running of family and society. “Institutions like Darul Qaza can be effective only if such awareness takes root among Indian Muslims society”, said MA Ibarhimi.

Leading Muslim intellectual and director of institute of peace studies and conflict resolution, Irfan Engineer, described the apex court balanced, by clarifying that the fatwas may be issued by any religious authority or individual but cannot be enforced and the courts would disregard it.

Fatwas are mostly issued in response to a query about matters relating to everyday life in accordance with Sharia. But now the queries emanate mostly from third person unconcerned with the query and often journalists approach a local imam of a mosque with minimum training in Islamic religious affairs for his opinion on matter pertaining to a third person.

In the case of infamous Imrana case, a journalist and not the victim Imrana or her husband had sought the fatwa. 

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