HVK Archives: Indian Muslims need in-house reforms
Indian Muslims need in-house reforms - The Indian Express
Zafar Jung
()
8 August 1996
Title : Indian Muslims need in-house reforms
Author : Zafar Jung
Publication : The Indian Express
Date : August 8, 1996
Article 44 of the Constitution directs the State to
secure to all citizens a Uniform Civil Code. The debate
of the Constituent Assembly in this regard does not seem
to signify values to be incorporated in such a code. On
the contrary, on providing safety to various minority
personal laws, K. M. Munshi, Alladi Krishnaswami Aiyar
and B. R. Ambedkar assured the Muslim members of the
Constituent Assembly that such a code, when enacted,
,would not be imposed on all citizens.
The Muslim Personal Law is presently engaging the
attention of the community itself as well as of others in
the country. In general various suggestions have been
mooted to bring about reforms in the existing personal
law. This has provided another opportunity to the sangh
parivar and its allies to open yet another battle front
against the besieged community. While the sangh
parivar's communalism constitutes the cause of its very
existence, secular parties like the CPI(M) too cannot be
absolved of the charge that they allowed the communal
forces to misuse the issue for political ends.
The argument that common civil code will bring justice to
Muslims women had led many secular Hindus to believe that
Muslims are opposed to national unity and that it is only
the Muslim Personal Law which carries the burden of
inequalities. The reality is that personal laws of all
communities are laden with inequalities. A discernible
communal bias exists not only in some of the provision of
the Hindu law but even in the supposedly secular Special
Marriage Act.
The enactment of a common code is not merely an academic
issue but a practical problem whose solution, and the way
the solution is found, are sure to have far-reaching
repercussions. Given the size of the country, and its
social, cultural and economic diversity, it is not easy
to implement the provision of a uniform civil code. The
gravity of the matter demands that we steer clear of
narrow-mindedness and rule out the possibility of such a
case for the time being and concentrate our energy on
reforms within the existing personal laws.
The Muslims too should realise the demands and the
realities of contemporary society and should not preclude
either procedural modification or reinterpretation or
rewriting in the contemporary legal idiom in the light of
new social demands, to meet new social injunctions,
without tampering with the core or the substance. They
have to go along with right-minded people of the majority
community if they want to secure a just solution. It is
necessary for the Muslims to set their house in order.
An all-out effort is to be made to argue the case of the
community, in case of an attempt by the Government, to
draft a common code in order to persuade the sceptics to
see reason in what we believe to be the Islamic position
on issues as inheritance, divorce (read triple talaq) and
polygamy. This is not to deny or belittle the need of
political efforts. It is time for the Ulema to deliberate
on the cultural and social perspective and on the recent
changes in personal laws brought about by some West Asian
countries and Pakistan. They should evaluate the scope of
reform in the Muslim Personal Law in the country.
It will be welcome if the able Ulema of the All India
Muslim Personal Law Board solicit views from other Muslim
intellectuals and scholars to frame a code. The
requirement is an in-depth study of the present-day needs
and also an integrating force in the Muslims community
for ushering in a new social order. As to how this
principle should be applied in the fast-changing society
of our times is the big question to answer. One way of
codifying the Muslim Personal Law is to compile mandates
concerning the Sharia affairs. These could be in the form
of clauses, with explanations. This code can in due
course replace the "Mohamedan Law" formulated by aliens.
At present codification and reforms of all family laws,
with a view to make them internally uniform and foolproof
against possible misuse, is the only pragmatic solution.
Any attempt to enact a uniform civil code by the sangh
parivar does not augur with the views of Guru Golwalkar,
who in reply to a question of necessity of such a code
said: "I don't think Uniform Civil Code is necessary for
promoting the feeling of nationalism."
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