Amid an ongoing debate, Islamic seminaries in Deoband have issued a fatwa endorsing triple talaq (divorce by uttering the word ‘talaq’ thrice in quick succession) over the phone.
Responding to a question from Naseem Ahmad, a resident of Haryana, Darul Uloom Deoband Zakaria said talaq pronounced by the husband to his wife over phone would be valid and legal from the Islamic point of view. While giving the fatwa, Maulana Arshad Farooqui of the Fatwa Department of the seminary, however, said it would be valid only if the husband pronounced it while he is “in all his senses.” Farooqui held that a husband can also divorce his wife through a letter, message or an email in this age of technology, provided it is verified that the message and the letter is from the husband.
The fatwa is only an opinion and it is not mandatory for Muslims to follow it. But it becomes important amid the debate over triple talaq when the issue provoked a country-wide reaction and its constitutional validity is being examined by the Supreme Court. The Narendra Modi government had submitted in the apex court that triple talaq is illegal.
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Women’s groups like Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan rejected the fatwa. Zakia Soman from the group said the Deoband fatwa was illegal.