The Forum For Muslim Women’s Gender Justice (FMWGJ) organised a state-level meeting in Kerala’s Kozhikode on Sunday, March 12 to mobilise public opinion on the need for gender equality in Muslim personal laws. Critiquing the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act 1937 as archaic and discriminatory, the FMWGJ demanded legal reforms to grant Muslim women equal property inheritance rights. This was a first-of-its-kind meeting in the state, organised for and by Muslim women.
The event, titled ‘Uyirppu’ (meaning resurrection in Malayalam), was arranged at the Kozhikode Town Hall, which was named ‘M Haleema Biwi Nagar’ for the day, as a tribute to Haleema Biwi, the first woman to have published magazines in Malayalam at a time when the press was vehemently stifled in the pre-independence era. The programme, which began with a reading of the Preamble of the Constitution, was inaugurated by Shareefa Khanam, a gender rights activist who set up the first all-women jamaat in Tamil Nadu. She pledged solidarity with the FMWGJ and stressed the need for Muslim women’s right to equal inheritance to be addressed by the law and the government.
As of now, personal law only permits a Muslim woman to claim one-eighth share of her husband’s property and half of what her brothers are given from ancestral property. In case the woman has no brothers, her father’s property will be divided amongst his brothers, out of which she will get a share. This issue, which the FMWGJ has been raising for a while now, became a huge point of debate in Kerala recently after advocate and actor C Shukkur and former MG University Pro-Vice-Chancellor (PVC) Dr Sheena Shukkur registered their marriage again under the Special Marriage Act, to ensure inheritance to their daughters.
The FMWGJ, which consists of Muslim women from across Kerala, had earlier in the year organised smaller meetings in several other districts in the state to raise awareness on inheritance laws. Author and activist VP Suhra, who is among the founding members of the Forum, is also one of the parties in a Special Leave Petition demanding equal inheritance rights for Muslim women. The petition is currently pending before the Supreme Court. In her speech, Suhra specified that this was a move by Muslim women who want to reform the religion from within, similar to how it was done in other religions. “It is men who have translated and interpreted Islam, and therefore, the laws are patriarchal, dismissing equal rights to women. When Hindu and Christian personal laws have been amended to equalise them for men and women, why has that not happened yet with Muslim personal laws?” she asked.
Other prominent gender justice advocates such as Dr Khatheeja Mumthaz, M Sulfath, Nilambur Ayesha, and K Ajitha were also present at the meeting. Dr Sheena Shukkur, who also attended the event, said that daughters must feel equal to sons in every way and that the FMWGJ’s efforts were the first step towards ensuring that for Muslim women.
Eminent literary and cultural icons like Shihabuddin Pythumkadavu, KEN Kunjahammed, PT Kunjumuhhamed, and Kalpatta Narayanan, among others, spoke in solidarity, detailing why the Uniform Civil Code is not the answer to Muslim women’s demand for equal property rights, especially in the current political climate of the state.
The speeches were followed by a discussion on Islamic laws and creative freedom. There was also a session where women who have suffered due to the current inheritance laws opened up about the financial and social damage it has done to them. The meeting ended with a call to keep the conversation going, no matter how much resistance may come from religious conservatives and the state.
Intriguingly, another event was organised at 4 pm at Nalanda Auditorium, located only a few metres from the Town Hall, by Wisdom Islamic Youth Organisation, to discuss the genuineness of FMWGJ’s claims and examine whether there is a need for such reforms in Muslim personal laws.