Will support Supreme Court on Babri Masjid, not on triple talaaq

Source – dnaindia.com

The All India Muslim Personal Board (AIMLB) is likely to pass a resolution on Saturday asking Muslims to accept whatever Supreme Court decides in the Babri masjid case. However, AIMLB will take an exact opposite stand if the apex court decides to rule in favour of abolishment of triple talaaq, Uniform Civil Code, clerics in AIMLB told DNA in wake of its upcoming executive meeting.

Babri Masjid, triple talaaq and Uniform Civil Code are the contentious issues which the Muslim body will discuss in its two-day executive meeting to be held at Nadwatul Ulama in Lucknow on April 15-16. Ayodhya temple-Babri Masjid case will be discussed against the backdrop of the SC’s suggestion for an out-of-court settlement and the issue of triple talaq. “The matter is very important for Muslims and we want a solution. We will discuss if the issue can be settled out of the court. We would like to arrive on a consensus to support SC in whatever it decides to do,” said an office bearer of AIMLB.

The Maulana, who did not wish to be named, added that triple talaaq and Uniform Civil Code will also be high on agenda of their meeting. The cleric, however, added that these two issues were very different from the Babri Masjid matter and AIMLB’s stand on this matter was clear. “These two issues are about Muslim Personal Law and we don’t want the SC to interfere in our personal matters.”

The meet will also discuss ways to highlight the board’s functions and activities through social media and strengthen its women’s wing. The board will also discuss functioning of Sharia courts in the country,” he said.

Many Muslim women have filed PILs in the SC challenging the provision of triple talaq and ‘nikah halala’, terming them regressive. The Board, however, has opposed the PILs and filed counter affidavit in the apex court defending Muslim Personal Laws and triple talaq. The Uttar Pradesh government has also decided to elicit views of Muslim women on the issue of triple talaq based on which it will present its side in the SC hearing the matter.

On October 7, 2016, the government had opposed in the SC the practice of triple talaq, ‘nikah halala‘ and polygamy among Muslims and favoured a relook on grounds like gender equality and secularism. The Ministry of Law and Justice, in its affidavit, had referred to constitutional principles like gender equality, secularism, international covenants, religious practices and marital law prevalent in various Islamic countries to drive home the point that the practice of triple talaq and polygamy needed to be adjudicated upon afresh by the apex court. The apex court had taken suo-motu cognisance of the question whether Muslim women faced gender discrimination in the event of ‘triple talaaq‘ by husbands or or due to other marriages of their husband.