BAREILLY: The Sunni Barelvi Markaz of Dargah Ala Hazrat on Saturday passed a fatwa decrying the findings of a survey by a research student of the law department at Mahatma Jyotiba Phule (MJP) Rohilkhand University on Muslim women’s views on marriage , divorce, ‘iddat’ (the fixed time period after divorce) and maintenance allowance.

The survey said that 40% Muslim women wanted a change in the sharia law, 30% wanted the right to divorce, and as many as 80% demanded equal right in property as men. Twenty per cent were of the opinion that the time period of ‘iddat’ should be scrapped.

The survey, titled "Status of Muslim women and protective laws in socio-legal system", was conducted by Shumaila Anjum , a research scholar of MJP Rohilkhand University. She spoke to 100 women belonging to different sections of society in the Rohilkhand region.

Taking note of the survey the muftis of Dargah Ala Hazrat issued a fatwa against it and said that “sharia law cannot be changed and no one has right to demand amendment in it”. However, the research scholar, who now finds herself in the eye of a storm, reacted by saying that the “survey was conducted for improving the lives of Muslim women”.

Mufti Mohammed Saleem Noori, one of three Muftis who passed a fatwa against the survey, said, “It is a negative survey as it is based on misleading questions. Like a survey or campaign cannot be launched for bringing an amendment to the Constitution of the country, Islamic law cannot be changed and no one has a right to demand an amendment to any of its clauses.”

He added, “No one can demand an amendment in shariat law and it is wrong to say that it oppresses women. The law is equal for both men and women and those women who spoke in the survey are not fully aware about the law.”

The other muftis who issued the fatwa are Mufti Mohammed Afroz Alam and Mufti Mohammed Aakil Razvi. A wing of Dargah Ala Hazrat, Tahreek-e-Tahaffuz Sunniat (TTS), also conducted its own survey in this connection and said its findings revealed that all Muslim women disagreed with the one conducted by Anjum.

Asked about it, Anjum said the findings of her survey were an honest reflection of what women feel and it is their perception. Amit Singh, head of the law department under whose guidance Anjum had conducted the survey, said, “The survey was a part of an academic exercise. It is not the first time that women have expressed such thing as time and again, many groups of Muslim women have expressed similar views before of Muslim Law Board.”

Criticizing the issuance of the fatwa, advocate and women’s right expert Asma Zaidi said, “Now issuing fatwa has become a trend and muftis pass it for petty things or issues. Women want change and Prophet Mohammed always endorsed education among women. Even the wife of the Prophet was an entrepreneur and her money was utilized for spreading Islam.”

