‘Sunni women should take marital discord to sharia court, not travel with brother-in-law’

MUMBAI: What should a Muslim woman do to get out of an oppressive and dysfunctional marriage? “She should first talk to elders in the family, try to get the crisis defused and, as a last resort, she should approach a Sunni shariah court to get justice.”
This is how senior cleric Mufti Nizamuddin Razavi replied to a question raised by a woman through a male intermediary on Friday, the first day of the 25th annual Sunni ijtema (congregation) held by the Sunni Dawate Islami at Azad Maidan from December 11-13.The fact that one can approach a civil court too in the country, if justice is denied, didn’t find any mention.
The Mufti’s answers at the ijtema’s hour-long question-answer session, attended by thousands of women from the city and suburbs, appeared patronizing and patriarchal to some. Asked if women should go for waxing and eyebrow threading, the Mufti pronounced: “Don’t do waxing and eyebrow threading. It is haram (non-permissible).”
Another question was about whether a woman can perform haj accompanied by her brother-in-law (brother of sister’s husband or brother of husband)? “No. Why only haj? A woman should not travel with her brother-in-law otherwise too,” the Mufti said. He also advised parents against naming their daughters after male emperors like Shahjahan, which he said reeks of “arrogance and power”.
He also pronounced that men should not wear gold jewellery, though silver is fine for them. Alcohol is banned but medicines and lotions which carry a little bit of alcohol passes the sharia test, said the Mufti, a cleric trained to issue fatwas.
Though the discourses and preaching focused more on women’s role in bringing up their children rather than on anything about their own career, few women were found complaining. “The discourses tell us about our rights. They empower us and inform us how to live as true Muslims,” said Shamina Irfan Shaikh, principal of Kurla-based Al Barkat School. When asked if she felt any discomfort in her burqa, Naseem Rais, a senior volunteer at the ijtema, said: “No. I wear burqa out of my own choice, as shariat demands it.”