Sibal said if Parliament wishes to bring a law it can

enact with regard to an activity which is secular and reformatory.

"Unlike the Hindu law, the marriage in Muslim law is purely a civil matter. It is a contract between two consenting adults and so is divorce. It is an essential tenet of Islam.

There is no question of religion being in danger," he said.

He said the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, was brought with an intention to ensure that unlike Hindu women, their Muslim counterparts get property rights and it did not codify the Shariat law.

Sibal said Section 2 of the Act talked about custom and usage but did not deal with Shariat and hence, triple talaq is protected under Article 25 (right to religion) of Constitution.

The bench countered Sibal on this and said what was sought to be excluded in the Act was custom and usage and what was crystallised was the personal law.

The apex court said then it was meant that Shariat should be treated as personal law and the community will look into it whether it needed to be reformed.

"Why will the court decide what is my faith? We are protected under the Constitution. It is my personal law. In a Hindu majority state, muslim minority needs to be protected.

"In a Muslim majority state, Hindu minority needs to be protected. We need to protect the culture,faith and religion", Sibal said.

He said in the Indian context, personal laws needed constitutional protection to prevent social and economic repercussions.

During the day when the bench asked whether triple talaq was part of holy 'Quran', Sibal said, "Quran does not talk of it. Immediately after a few years of the death of Prophet Muhammad, the companions of Prophet Muhammad talked about triple talaq. It is my belief and I practice it. Today, the Supreme Court says that it will examine it." Then the bench asked Sibal whether he wanted to say that "practice or belief" with regard to triple talaq was a subject matter of Article 25 (right to practice religion), he replied in affirmative.

"We cannot go into rights and wrongs because my faith does not allow this," Sibal said.

Drawing analogy with the customary ritual of 'saptapadi' among the Hindus in marriages, Sibal said nobody can say that it was wrong or right and hence the matter of faith be left as it was.

Sibal said billions of words have been written on the debate over validity of triple talaq and it would be "hazardous" to interpret them within six days by the apex court.

Referring to the different practices of Islam followed at various places, he said in Saudi Arabia, even the house of the Prophet was demolished and here 'dargahs' are protected.

He said the problem was the patriarchal system where women do not get fair treatment and it was true for every religion.

Senior advocate Indira Jaising, opposing triple talaq, responded by saying "patriarchy is coming from religion only." The bench said two other forms of divorce have some safeguards but whether triple talaq had such safeguards? "Our understanding is that 'nikahnama' (marriage contract) can exclude the provision of triple talaq," it said and asked "can the other two forms of divorce (talaq hasan and talaq ahsan) be also excluded in nikahnama." Sibal replied that this cannot be done.

Another counsel appearing in the case said "triple talaq was the most undesirable form of granting divorce and we are trying to educate people not to resort to it".

Sibal supplemented by saying "we do not want somebody else to change it" and added that a "majority of Muslim scholars believe that triple talaq is bad".

At the fag-end of fourth day's hearing, former Union Minister and Islamic scholar Arif Mohammad Khan, representing All India Women Muslim Personal Law Board, objected to the grant of an entire day to the AIMPLB to advance its arguments in support of triple talaq while the women's group was given just half-an-hour.

Khan, who had quit Rajiv Gandhi's cabinet over differences in handling the Shah Bano case, said he wanted the opportunity to rebut arguments as "more confusion has been created".

Yesterday, the Centre had told the apex court that it will bring a new law to regulate marriage and divorce among the Muslim community if all forms of divorce including triple talaq are struck down.

The apex court is hearing a clutch of pleas challenging triple talaq, polygamy and 'nikah halala' which is going on before a bench comprising members of different religious communities including Sikh, Christian, Parsi, Hindu and Muslim.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)