PTI file photo of a committee meeting of AIMPLB in New Delhi

NEW DELHI: The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is against the outlawing of Nikah Halala , though it feels that its use should be discouraged and restricted to the "rarest of rare situations".

Formalising its stand ahead of the hearing of the issue in the Supreme Court on the controversial practice where divorced Muslim women seeking to remarry her former spouse is required to first marry another person and consummate the marriage, the AIMPLB has said that the "practise is in line with Islamic law ".

"Nikah halala cannot be challenged," board secretary and legal counsel Zafaryab Jilani has said. "Nikah halala is a practice where you cannot marry your wife again after divorce unless she marries and consummates the marriage with someone else. It is a must that the wife is divorced again. This is as per the Quran and the board cannot have a different opinion," Jilani said after a recent consultation.

Significantly the board which represents the Muslim clergy has stuck to the stand despite growing voices within seeking a review.

Members of the board have come forward to say that the "concept of a temporary marriage with intent of remarriage with the first husband does not exist in the shariah". If a marriage is solemnised with intent of divorce so that the woman can return to the first husband then it is "haraam" and nothing short of a crime that should be punished.

"Marriage with another man with the intent to remarry the first husband is a sin as per the Quran. Such couples who do a contract marriage with the intention to remarry the first husband should be punished with the severest of punishment under the Indian Penal Code ," Kamal Faruqui, member of the board told TOI. "There is no denying that one hears of few unscrupulous elements in the community misusing nikah halala. This is wrong and unacceptable," Faruqui added.

When asked would the board support a ban on nikah halala in Supreme Court, he said, "We are abiding by the SC decision on instant triple talaq by building awareness about marriage and rights of the couple through guidelines in our nikah namah so that they don’t pronounce talaq in one go. Similarly, we will see what SC says on nikah halala."

Maulana Saifullah Rahmani, spokesperson of the board said, "We cannot support nikah halala done with the intent of returning to the first husband. We have resolved at our working committee meeting that we need to create awareness on issues like triple talaq and nikah halala."

On Sunday, the AIMPLB working committee chaired by Jalaluddin Umri who is the chief of Jamaat-e-Islami Hind met and resolved to promote resolution of marital disputes through the framework of "Darul Qaza" which they call "arbitration centres". In their statement the board has said that these are not parallel courts and cite a 2014 Supreme Court judgment on the status of Darul Qaza.

