| Topic: |
Politics > Politics-USA |
| User: |
"Ground_Reality" |
| Date: |
13 Feb 2005 05:33:55 PM |
| Object: |
Muslims in INDIA Wants Independence From Tyrannical INDIA |
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/4235999.stm
India's Muslims face up to rifts
By Sutapa Mukerjee
BBC News, Lucknow
Time will tell how serious the splits are
The are signs of churning among Muslims in India, home to the
religion's second largest population.
For one, Indian Shias recently broke away from the country's most
important Muslim organisation, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board
(AIMPLB).
And a group of women is also organising to get stronger representation
for themselves.
Under the Indian constitution Muslims have the right to separate laws
in matters such as marriage, divorce and inheritance. And it is the
AIMPLB that sets out those laws.
The body's main task is to "to hold the Muslims of different sects
together under one banner and ensure they follow the laws of Allah and
the Prophet," says AIMPLB member Khalid Rasheed.
'Sidelined'
Of the 145 million Muslims in India, about 20 million are Shias.
But now Shias are saying they have been sidelined by the
Sunni-dominated law board, which was set up in 1972.
A group of Muslim women have also formed a breakaway group
"It was time that we stood for our rights," says Maulana Mohammed
Athar, president of the breakaway All India Shia Personal Law Board.
"We have formed a forum of ourselves because the AIMPLB never took
interest in our well being."
Shias and Sunnis do not interpret family laws in a similar way.
The Shias say they don't believe in the controversial "triple talaq" or
instant divorce - a system wherein a Muslim man can divorce his wife in
a matter of minutes.
There are also differences in inheritance laws.
Among the Sunnis, a man's sister - along with his children- is entitled
to a share of inheritance after his death.
When a Shia man dies, his property is only inherited by his children.
No other family member has any claim.
"We also have different mosques and burial grounds", says Shia priest,
Sayeed Ali.
"We abide by the teachings of the Lord and the Prophet. Later the
caliphs made certain modifications to these civil laws, which were
never accepted by the Shia community."
The newly formed All India Shia Personal Law Board has 69 members
compared to 204 members in the AIMPLB.
The Shia body has the support of the erstwhile royal family of Lucknow
- some 2000 descendants of the family claim to have extended their
support.
"We can be now sure that our rights will be safeguarded," a family
member said.
'Nothing but a joke'
What is unmistakable, they say, are the winds of change blowing through
the world's second largest Muslim population.
It was time that we stood for our rights
Maulana Mohammed Athar, All India Shia Personal Law Board
Earlier this month, a group of women formed the All India Muslim
Women's Personal Law Board alleging that the religion's top body of had
been ignoring the rights of Muslim women.
This evoked a strong reaction from the AIMPLB.
"It is nothing but a joke. We strongly condemn it," a senior member
Maulana Sajjad Nomani told reporters.
Maulana Nomani believes that community members who are forming separate
bodies for resolving their issues were not familiar with the
constitution of the board.
The All India Muslim Women's Personal Law Board was founded with 35
members.
Its General Secretary, Parveen Abdi, says the women were forced to set
up a separate body because their rights were being ignored.
"Women have gone through hell. They became victims of incest, they
faced forced marriages, whimsical talaqs and biased judgments. There
seemed to be no one to take up the suffering woman's cause, not the
least the AIMPLB," Ms Abdi says.
Only time will tell whether the breakaway Shia group or the women's
group will be able to muster enough support to become a viable and
influential bodies among India's 145 million Muslims.
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