Now there is hope for harried Muslim women. They need not hold on to marriages that have gone on the rocks. A ‘fatwa' of Jamia Nizamia, Hyderabad, gives a new lease of life to women deserted by overseas spouses. They can get their marriage annulled by using the ‘fasq' option and start life afresh.
This is good news for hundreds of Hyderabadi women whose wedding with Arab nationals has turned into a mirage. It is a miserable life for them with no financial support coming forth from their husbands.
Worse, the latter are neither prepared to take back their wives nor divorce them. Under these circumstances, the edict of the ancient seminary provides for declaring the marriage null and void – allowing the hassled women to remarry.
This is not a new fatwa, but one issued way back in 1954. But not many are aware of it since the Jamia's Dar-ul-Ifta, which issues fatwas, has not publicised it much for fear that it might be misused.
Accepted by courts
The decrees issued by the hoary institution, as per Islamic jurisprudence, are accepted by all courts. The none-too-familiar fatwa came to light the other day when Mohammed Qasim Siddiqui Tasqir, deputy Mufti, presented his research paper on ‘Nikah, talaq and fasq' at a function in Jamia Nizamia.
He says is possible for women to end their miserable marriages even if their husbands are unwilling to let them go by way of divorce or ‘khula'. All they have to do is to approach a Muslim judge or a Qazi of Shafai maslak to annul the marriage. It is one of the four maslaks Muslims follow. The maslaki affiliation remains important markers of identity within Muslim society.
Under the Hanafi maslak to which majority of Indian Muslims belong there is only talaq and khula but no option of ‘fasq' (annulment). Yet under dire circumstances the Hanafi women can avail themselves of the ‘Shafai' option to seek annulment of their marriage, Mufti Tasqir said.
Dissolving marriage
He says a Muslim judge is empowered to dissolve a Nikah if there is no trace of the husband for four years. The marriage can also be terminated without waiting for this mandatory period if the husband is not giving the maintenance amount.
The government can authorise the Qazis to annul such marriages through a GO. But there is danger of Qazis misusing their power for monetary benefits, it is said.
