Triple talaq must go: Muslim reformists

New Delhi: A well-established Muslim group believes that the Sharia upholds the validity of triple talaq– a controversial practice under which a Muslim can divorce his wife by merely saying talaq three times.
Not everybody in the community agrees. Voices from the Muslim community are eager to make a point in these increasingly polarised times – that oral triple talaq undermines the dignity of women and has no place in Islam. The dominant All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB)–which says the Shariat upholds the validity of triple talaq–is being challenged, not just by women determined to fight back against the arbitrary termination of their marriages but also by scholars and other Muslim sects.
The Shariat, say scholars from the Shia and Bohra schools of Islam among others, is made up of writings in the Quran and Hadith–which are accounts of the Prophet’s words and actions.
It does not allow talaq at one go, they say, underlining the need to recognise the multiplicity in customs, practices and jurisprudence in Islam. As the Supreme Court readies to hear a clutch of petitions on the issue from May 11 and the issue acquires aggressive political overtones, the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) is pitching for a strict law. (PTI)