Darul-Uloom-Deoband, the influential Islamic seminary on Tuesday, came out with something which would cheer many of those who find it in the news mostly for wrong reasons. The seminary declared that practice of ‘talaq’ (divorce) to wife because she gave birth to a baby girl is ‘illegal’ and ‘haraam’ (strictly prohibited by Islam).
The fatwa came in response to several instances, where the husband divorces his wife because she gave birth to baby girl. But the immediate trigger for this fatwa, was the instance in which a Muslim from Muzaffarnafgar who works in Riyadh, called up his wife in Muzaffarnagar and divorced her on phone just because she had recently given birth to his fourth child, a baby girl.
The matter went to the community panchayat which approved the ‘talaq’ after which somebody from Muzaffarnagar approached the seminary for its opinion on the issue. Fatwa means opinion and is technically not binding on the person who asks for it.
“It is not in the control of the woman to give birth to a baby boy or the baby girl. Moreover, a boy and a girl are equal for Islam. So, giving talaq to one’s wife just because she has given birth to a baby girl is completely unacceptable and haraam from the point of view of Islam,” said the spokesperson of the seminary, Ashraf Usmani.
Expressing outrage at the fact that the woman was given talaq on phone, Maulana Uslmani said, “ The very thought of divorcing one’s life partner while sitting thousands of miles away on phone is outrageous. This shows nothing but extreme highhandedness of this society towards woman which is quite inhuman and goes against Islamic spirit of the relationship between husband and wife.”
“It is quite unfortunate that the local panchayat doesn’t take into account rights of the woman in this case. As far as Islam is concerned this ‘talaq’ is completely ‘haraam’ and unacceptable,” added the spokesperson of the seminary.
A learned Islamic scholar, who is also a faculty of the seminary, told this correspondent that such instances are seen in rural areas and mostly among backward sections.
‘A clear signal’“But, this is probably the first time that Darul Uloom was asked about its opinion on the issue. No religion can justify this kind of logic of any man. It really saddens us,” said the scholar who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak.
He hoped that the stand of the seminary would send a “clear signal” among Muslims that girls and boys are equal for Islam.
Shandar Gufram, a Muzaffarnagar-based educationist who runs a girl's school which caters to lower section of the minority community, welcomed the fatwa, saying: “Though the sex ratio among Muslims is better than other communities, Islamic institutions like Darul Uloom, should come out rather more boldly and more frequently, if for nothing, then just to clear the charge against them that they are anti-woman.”
