A few days after two women proclaimed that they have become Rajasthan’s first women qazis, clerics on Monday said Islam does not allow a woman to become a qazi.
Jahan Ara and Afroz Begum had, during a press conference last week, said they were the first women qazis from Rajasthan. The duo from Jaipur was among a group of 16 women from different States across the country who recently completed a two-year course from Darul Uloom-i-Niswan in Mumbai to become qazis.
Jahan Ara told The Hindu : “Although we are qualified now to solemnise nikah (Islamic marriage ceremony), our duties go beyond that. It is the duty of a qazi to speak about rights and duties, and ensure truthfulness.” The duo was sent for training by the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan, of which the two women are members.
Speaking to The Hindu , Khalid Usmani, Rajasthan’s chief qazi, said: “Women cannot become qazis. The Koran states that women cannot be above men.” Abdul Sattar, Jaipur’s Mufti, also told the media that Islam did not allow a woman to hold the position of a Qazi.
Contesting the statements of the clerics, A. Faizur Rahman, secretary general of the Islamic forum for the Promotion of Moderate Thought, told The Hindu : “Islam gives equal rights to men and women. The Koran and the Prophet do not discriminate between men and women. In Islam, a responsible position can be held by anybody on the basis of scholarship and academic qualification.”
“There are many women scholars in Islam. [Islamic scholar] Mohammad Akram Nadwi, a fellow at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies, has compiled a 40-volume biographical dictionary on Muslim women scholars in Islamic history who, he says, even issued fatwas and enjoyed considerable public authority in society,” Mr. Rahman said.
