The Islamic marriage is a contract whereby both signatories can stipulate mutually acceptable terms to safeguard their interests. Explains Mochala: "The woman's interests lie in discussing modalities and terms for divorce at the time of marriage; but families consider it in bad taste to discuss terms of estrangement at that occasion, little realising that these are actually terms of endearment that provide disincentives to future abuse."
The standard nikahnama, which the AIMPLB is trying to make legal after mustering a consensus, is designed to protect Muslim women in the three areas where they suffer most: mehr amount agreement and payment, triple talaq and second marriage. The board recommends that the mehr amount be paid in jewellery, land or shares. Mehr cannot be waived and mehr amounts are renegotiable only for enhancement. Triple talaq is discouraged: it's mandatory for the couple to have two witnesses each present, to live in the same house for three months, and to repeat the pronouncement every month for the marriage to be annulled. Failing this, the husband will have to pay triple the mehr amount. Financial penalties areto be imposed on husbands who remarry without the first wife's permission (see box). Mochala refutes the argument that the nikahnama does not protect women from economically weaker sections: "A jhuggi dweller cannot pay maintenance. We're making sure that in case he remarries, his first wife gets to keep the jhuggi."
Advertisement
Interestingly, Mochala's feedback from women's groups working among slum dwellers in Bombay indicates that enforcement of Section 125, that makes payment of maintenance to the divorced wife mandatory, is seldom enforceable among the weaker sections as the man does not earn enough.
The AIMPLB move has received widespread support. Supreme Court lawyer and former advocate general of Jammu and Kashmir, Muzzafar Beg, feels the proposed nikahnama is "a quantum leap in the right direction inasmuch that it seeks to include terms favourable to women in the marriage contract". Activist Sadia Dehlvi is enthusiastic: "This action to improve the Muslim woman's lot will find widespread acceptance because the move has been made from within the community. More significantly, it is based on provisions in theQuran, not the uniform civil code that the BJP seeks to impose saying that they want to protect our women. We've seen them protect our men and monuments before."
Advertisement
Expectedly there has been criticism, too. Supreme Court lawyer and Islamic jurisprudence expert, Sona Khan, feels that the AIMPLB is condoning second marriages by not outlawing them. Pointing out that many Islamic countries forbid second marriages, Khan says: "Disincentives to a second marriage is not the same thing as disallowing it. This move does not go far enough." Beg agrees: "It seems they do not prohibit second marriage. They merely penalise it. I suppose it is left to the woman to decide whether she wants single wifehood or triple mehrhood."
Criticism apart, there is no doubting the fact that through this nikahnama , the Muslim community is making a brave, if fledgling, attempt to improve the lot of their women: referring to their social and religious past to come up with answers to problems of gender discrimination that confront them in their present.
