Rejecting the Deoband fatwa against polygamy, the radical Kashmiri women’s separatist group Dukhtaran-e-Milat (DeM) has gone a step further saying a Muslim man should marry not only two but four wives.

“Islam permits a man to have four wives. There is no compromise on the tenets of Islam. The fatwa issued by Deoband Mufti is against the spirit of Islam. Therefore I will say a man should have four wives at a time,” Aasiya Andrabi, chairperson of DeM told DNA.

Clerics at Deoband issued a decree last week maintaining that though Islam permits two wives at a time, Indian traditions do not allow it. “It is hard to provide justice to two wives in the Indian custom,” the fatwa says.

Andrabi noted polygamy is important in Kashmir given the large army of widows and orphans left behind by the people who died in the 21 years of turmoil. “We have 30,000 widows in Kashmir. We have a large army of orphans. If a man keeps more than one wife and marries a widow, it is most desirable and in the spirit of Islam,” she said.

The DeM chief said the fatwa is against the holy Quran and Hadees (sayings of Prophet Muhammad). “We reject Deoband cleric’s fatwa. Islam is a complete way of life. What has been said in Quran cannot be changed by anyone come what may,” she said.

Andrabi noted that there are some women in her organisation who are married to men who already have other wives. Andrabi was the face of the 2010 agitation and was arrested under PublicSafety Act before her release last year. When militancy erupted in 1989, Andrabi’s DeM was the only women’s separatist group operating in Kashmir. However, given her stance, the DeM was banned by the government.

She married a militant commander of Jamait-ul-Mujadeen Mohammad Qasim Faktoo in early nineties. She and her husband were arrested with her new born baby and sent to jail. Her husband is facing a life sentence for allegedly killing a human rights activist in Kashmir.

After her release, Andrabi started the Purdah campaign asking women to wear veil or Abhaya. Such was her impact that at one time black cloth went out of stock due to heavy demand. Her cadres had even sprinkled colour on women who did not observe purdah.