uttering ‘talaq’ thrice

Triple talaq

The Supreme Court

No rule on triple talaq in Quran, says Salma Ansari

AGRA: Vice-President Hamid Ansari ’s wife Salma Ansari has said thatdoes not amount to divorce and asked Muslim women to read the Quran thoroughly instead of relying on clerics.In Aligarh to attend a function at a madrassa operated by Al Noor Charitable Society on Saturday, she said, “There is nothing like triple talaq in the Quran and women in India are being misguided over the issue. Read the holy scriptures to clear your doubts.”Talking to reporters on the sidelines of the function, she said, “is not an issue. There can be no ‘talaq’ just because someone utters talaq, talaq, talaq. There is no such rule in Quran. They have just made it up.”Salma Ansari’s views on triple talaq come at a time when there is a nationwide debate on the practice and the validity of triple talaq, ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy practices among Muslims challenged in the Supreme Court She also raised doubts on the interpretation of the Quran by the clerics. “You read the Quran in Arabic and don’t read the translation. You accept whatever the maulana (clerics) or the mulla says. You must read the Quran, read Hadis. Just see what Rasool had said,” she said. Women must have the courage to read the Quran by themselves and introspect, she said.Zakia Soman, co-founder of Bharatiya Muslim Morcha Andolan , said Ansari was correct as the Quran had nothing on triple talaq.She said women who fell victim to the practice had no option but to live with it, as maulanas and qazis support it.Shadab Bano, assistant professor in Aligarh Muslim University ’s history department, said triple talaq was not sanctioned in the Quran and was hence “un-Islamic”.The All India Muslim Personal Law Board had told the SC that the pleas challenging such practices among Muslims were not maintainable as the issues fell outside the realm of judiciary.The Centre had on October 7 last year opposed in the SC the practice of triple talaq, ‘nikah halala’ and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism.took suo motu cognizance of the matter as to whether Muslim women faced gender discrimination in the event of divorce or due to other marriages of their husband.