LUCKNOW: Even as Shia cleric
Kalbe Jawwad advised women to produce leaders instead of aspiring to be one
themselves, All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) publicly denounced the
"parochial anti-feminist view point'' and openly came out in support of women's
reservation bill.
Condemning the "worrisome narrow interpretation of Islam as a religion bent upon
curtailing women's liberty and dignity,'' AISPLB president Maulana Mirza
Mohammad Athar said, "instruction have been forwarded to all branch heads of the
body based in Hyderabad, Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmadabad, Bhavnagar, etc to mobilise
community opinion to further the cause which could go a long way for the
much-needed female empowerment.''
Speaking to TOI, the octogenarian cleric, known for his forward thinking and
outspokenness, said that Islam "aims at giving each section of society its `jayaz
haq' (rightful due). Ordering women to confine themselves within four walls of
their homes is Afghani Islam and not what is followed by secular and liberal
countries like India,'' he declared.
"Islam aurton ko ghar main quaid karne ko qatayee nahin kahata,'' the maulana
said. Those who have been opposing the reservation bill on the basis of Shariat
are only trying to defame Islam and interpreting it at their personal will, he
charged. The issue has created a lot of confusion in the community, spokesperson
of the board Maulana Yasoob Abbas said.
"Denying women an opportunity to join public life when the UPA sadar, chief
minister of UP and the railway ministers are all females, will be thwarting
their personality. This is not something any religion in the world, least of all
Islam, will endorse,'' he said. Maulana Ibne Hasan, senior a member of AISPLB,
furnished example of Prophet's sisters Hazrate Fatima and also Hazrate Zainab,
who had pleaded their case in male assembly. "If women had this freedom at that
time, we can't afford to be regressive,'' he said.
Meanwhile, president of All India Women Personal Law Board Shaista Amber also
hit out at the ulema for their anti-women stance. Ambar said she would "ideally
like to have 50 percent reservation for females but in case it was not
politically feasible, she would welcome the 33 percent quota with open arm''.
She termed the bill "the right move for the right segment at the right time''.
This leaves out the clerics and academicians in the oldest body, All India
Muslim Personal Law Board, which is slated to hold its three-day annual
convention starting April 19. With prominent members like Nadwa head Maulana
Saidur Rehman already having slammed "unbridled freedom to women folk'', the
issue is unlikely to drum up any support.
There is a fair sprinkling of liberals like noted cleric Maulana Kalbe Sadiq,
who had floated the idea of 33 percent reservation of women in AIMPLB, or a
sizable number of young and educated ulema secretly in favour of a better
women's participation in public life, but the all powerful old guard, sources
said, may downplay the issue and kill it by calculated indifference.