The Property Rights Of Muslim Women

In a room with green walls, printed curtains on narrow windows and plastic flowers sitting atop a showcase made of laminated plywood sits Aafia sewing the hem of a sari. Two children – a girl and a boy – are in school. Her husband of 10 years has his own garage which repairs cars and two-wheelers. Aafia is estranged from her parents who live half a kilometre away in another locality. Two years ago, Aafia had asked her father for details about the family’s properties. She had also asked him to hand her some part of the share which would enable her to enrol for a make-up and personality development course. That was two years ago.

Since then, Aafia's parents and brothers have banned her from entering their house. “A woman’s parents are a big support system for her. I did not do anything wrong. I asked them for some money which was from the share they would give me,” said Aafia, knitting furiously. It was as if she was channelling her entire anger into those knots and crosses. Like every other family living in the Muslim area in Mankhurd, Aafia comes from a conservative family who goes by the book in their daily living. “My mother is illiterate, yet I am educated. My father did not listen to people or educated me. I am a graduate today. We were a happy family. The moment I asked them for my share, they changed. I am excommunicated from my family. My husband, who too was keen that I get my share, is angry that I will not get it now,” said Aafia, speaking to Outlook.

Not a single day goes by without Aafia's husband asking her for an update on the “share status”. “He wants me to go back and demand my share. They are my parents. I cannot do that,” she said. Going to court is an option that Aafia has never considered. “If Allah wishes it, I will get it. One cannot go against the wish of Allah,” she said.

For 40-year-old Bilquis, a social worker, asking for a share in the property of her father is something she has imagined but never implemented. An unlettered woman, Bilquis is the second wife of her husband – a driver for a corporate firm. She works with an NGO which deals with issues relating to the welfare of women.

Some years ago, Bilquis's father had passed away and the eldest of her brothers became the custodian of the family property – a two-storied house and seven acres of land near Nashik.

“I have three brothers and they divided the property amongst themselves. My sister and I were left with nothing. When we asked them for a share, they asked us to choose between them and the property,” said Bilquis to Outlook.

While Bilquis chose her siblings over the property, her sister threatened to file a case against them. They gave her Rs 50,000 as a settlement. She took it and has never come back to the family. Bilquis confessed to being hurt by the actions of her siblings but has not found the courage to ask for her share in the property. “Tomorrow if my husband takes a third wife, I will have to go back to my mother’s house. If I fight with my brothers, that house will be closed for me. So, I have decided to let them take the property,” said Bilquis.

There are hundreds of Muslim women who do not challenge or seek the rights to the property of their fathers, said Hasina Khan who works with Bebaak, an NGO involved with the upliftment of Muslim women. Headquartered in Mumbai, Bebaak works across multiple states. “There are women who have demanded their share and this has led to familial disputes,” said Khan. “The family creates an emotional drama and the women get caught in it. No woman from any religion openly gets into a dispute with the father over the property. The women are considered to be secondary citizens. Before marriage, they live in the father’s house and after marriage, they live in the husband’s house. She never has a house to call her own,” said Khan.

Lamenting the lack of written documents that will serve as proof that the property will be given to the woman by her father and brothers, Khan feels that many women do not challenge patriarchy. “They always feel that if there is any problem with their husbands they can come back to their homes. The parents and brothers are the support system of women who are single, divorced or have marital issues. So, women will forgo their rights to the property and maintain their relations with the parental home,” said Khan to Outlook.

When Farheen’s father transferred over two lakh rupees to her bank account, she was ecstatic. Overwhelmed by the bonanza given to her as “Eidi” (gift given on Eid day) by her father, Farheen vowed to look after her ageing parents, despite all odds. One day during a family conversation at her father’s house, Farheen, a single woman discovered that her brother was the sole heir to all the property owned by her father, a merchant at Mumbai’s Kalbadevi textile market. “I felt waves of shock running through me. They gave me two lakhs and gave him everything else. There are just two of us and my father could have given us both equal share,” said Farheen. “I am a working person and I earn my own money. But, the underhandedness of the deal shocked me. I did not ask for it. So, when you give, at least match my brother’s share. Though I have let it go, I feel deeply hurt,” said Farheen to Outlook.

This is a common occurrence, points out Ayesha Pasha, an independent researcher, who has been informally working with Muslim women across Maharashtra. “Equal property rights of Muslim women is a sore issue, an issue that will never see justice delivered. Muslim women do not have the financial or emotional wherewithal to take on their parents and siblings. They suffer in silence,” said Pasha to Outlook. According to her, it is difficult to even get these women to voice their concerns regarding their property rights. “They are scared of being banned by their parents. It is completely emotional,” asserted Pasha.

Only three Muslim women have so far approached Bebaak for assistance. However, when Khan and her associates wanted to follow up with these women, they backtracked. “They did not want to pursue it. They would not even take our calls, so we presumed there might have been a settlement within the family,” said Khan. “There is often not much property to be shared as most of the community are not financially well off,” added Khan.

According to both Khan and Pasha, Muslim women are extremely reluctant to take the court route to stake claim to their rights in the property of their fathers. “No woman in any religion will go to court,” said Khan.