A harder line

The recommendations made by the Council for Islamic Ideology, the chief advisory body on Islamic law, are not going to make life any easier for thousands of women in the country who are caught up in difficult marriages or seek divorce from husbands they would prefer not to live with. Following the hard line the council has consistently taken under its head Maulana Muhammad Khan Shirani, the body has now advised changes in the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance of 1961 and Dissolution of Muslim Marriage Act of 1939 to bring dissolution of marriage in conformity with Shariah laws, or at least the council’s interpretation of them. The CII has said that no court should be able to give a verdict favouring ‘khulaa’ for a woman without the consent of her husband, although she is free to file a case against him. This will only make it harder for women to obtain divorce. There are thousands of women in the country who have for years been unable to escape unwanted marriages even though this right is granted to them in their nikahnamas, due to the attitude taken by judicial officials.
The CII wants the nikahnama altered too to conform to its recommendations, which include further restricting the rights available to women. In the past, the body has advised that all clauses of the document be filled out, something that is rarely done, with passages that grant women greater freedoms often simply scratched out by the clerics conducting the marriage. During its meeting, the CII also suggested that surrogate motherhood was not legitimate in Islam. On a more welcome note, the council – surprisingly – suggested that transgenders be included within their families as full members and be granted inheritance rights with their gender determined according to their behaviour. While this is a mainly positive point of view, it has always been the case that on issues relating to women and their marital rights, the CII remains a mainly retrogressive body. It is reassuring that its recommendations do not as yet stand as law. But the tone it sets influences family courts and officials involved in our complicated process of divorce. We need a process of reform that can liberate women rather than one which impedes them further in life and adds to the orthodox mindset that has taken over so much of life in our country.