Sunday, November 27, 2005
MUSLIM WOMEN UNITE AGAINST DIVORCE BY SMS
Divorce among Muslims in India has never been easier thanks to new technology that has enabled men to end their marriages through an SMS or mobile phone text message. But a group of Muslim women are up in arms against this method of articulating the "triple talaaq", the formal unilateral declaration, repeated three times, with which men declare their divorce from their wives.
Sources among the Muslim community in Mumbai have said that representatives from "dozens of women’s associations", have decided to organise a three-day convention in Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh, on the problems facing women in the world of Islam, including this new method of divorce. The conference is set to begin on Tuesday.
The new methods of communication have in effect made it easier for a man to present his talaaq, admitted Abdul Ahad Falahi, the Mufti of the madrassah or Muslim school Darul Qaza in Mumbai. He said that "many talaaqs are coming through SMS these days", as well through the telephone, fax or an email, while traditionally they were always done verbally - in front of a religious leader who had officiated at the marriage ceremony - or through a letter.
For this reason, the Muslims women's organisation have decided to deal with the question of the "unconventional methods" of divorce on the proposal of the All India Muslim Women’s Personal Law Board, which is based in Hyderabad. The convention over the next few days will also discuss the rights of women in a divorce.
The cases that have been reported in the news on the growing rate of divorce communicated by the husband via SMS or with just a phone call, have infuriated Muslim women, Rehana Sultana, the director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
Similar practices are discouraged, said Sultana, adding that men who resort to this method of divorce "should be severely fined, with a figure ten times the meher," which is the amount under Muslim tradition the man has to pay to the family of the bride at the time of marriage.
Sources among the Muslim community in Mumbai have said that representatives from "dozens of women’s associations", have decided to organise a three-day convention in Lucknow, the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh, on the problems facing women in the world of Islam, including this new method of divorce. The conference is set to begin on Tuesday.
The new methods of communication have in effect made it easier for a man to present his talaaq, admitted Abdul Ahad Falahi, the Mufti of the madrassah or Muslim school Darul Qaza in Mumbai. He said that "many talaaqs are coming through SMS these days", as well through the telephone, fax or an email, while traditionally they were always done verbally - in front of a religious leader who had officiated at the marriage ceremony - or through a letter.
For this reason, the Muslims women's organisation have decided to deal with the question of the "unconventional methods" of divorce on the proposal of the All India Muslim Women’s Personal Law Board, which is based in Hyderabad. The convention over the next few days will also discuss the rights of women in a divorce.
The cases that have been reported in the news on the growing rate of divorce communicated by the husband via SMS or with just a phone call, have infuriated Muslim women, Rehana Sultana, the director of the Centre for Women’s Studies at the Maulana Azad National Urdu University.
Similar practices are discouraged, said Sultana, adding that men who resort to this method of divorce "should be severely fined, with a figure ten times the meher," which is the amount under Muslim tradition the man has to pay to the family of the bride at the time of marriage.
# posted by Unknown : Sunday, November 27, 2005
