The uproar created by the marriage of a 22-year-old Muslim youth with his 54-year-old divorced stepmother,  is yet to die down.
When Mohammed Shokin, a resident of Gangeru village in Muzzafarnagar and his divorced stepmother Rukshana, who married in a Panipat court, returned to their village on Monday and announced their marriage, the clerics were quick to announce it “null and void”.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) spokesperson Qadim Rasool Illyas said the two must divorce at once. He said, “we must try to find out if the marriage happened knowingly or unknowingly and if there was any compulsion involved. However, under any circumstances, the marriage violates the tenets of Shariat. The couple must divorce in their and the community’s best interest”.
The Islamic Seminary, Dar-ul-Uloom, had reportedly declared the marriage illegal and ruled that the relationship would be treated as rape.
The couple were told to  immediately break the relationship to avoid harsh punishment.
Maulvi Hashim, Shokin’s father, is furious. “This man cannot be my son”, he told the panchayat, which ordered the couple to stay away from the village. Both are since untraceable.
Hashim also denies Rukhsana’s charge that his wife was driven away by constant mental and physical abuse. “She is lying to hide her misdeeds”, he says of the woman who bore him  11 children. Maulana Abdullah Javed of the Dar-ul-Uloom says the community will stand behind Hashim. “If he decides to file a report against his son, we shall support him”.
Signs of that support came on Tuesday when a clash between Shokin and Hashim supporters left six people injured. Security has since been tightened around the village.
While Islam does not bar divorcees from remarrying, according to clerics, the Surah Al Nisa (literally ‘The Woman’) of the Quran, in its 22nd ayat (sign) prohibits men from marrying women who have been divorced or abandoned by their fathers or grandfathers.