'Triple talaq ruling is about Muslim women, not PM or BJP'

The fight against ‘triple talaq’ was a long drawn one, and the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) was in the forefront of the struggle. The Supreme Court turned BMMA’s petition ‘Muslim Women’s Quest for Equality’ into a PIL and clubbed it with other petitions, including that of Shayara Bano. BMMA co-founder Zakia Soman, a former university professor who quit her job to work for minority rights, spoke to DH’s Shemin Joy after the apex court’s judgement.

 How do you see the Supreme Court judgement on ‘triple talaq’?

It is a historic judgement, and it is not just for Muslim women. It is one of the landmark judgements in independent India. Muslim women are deprived of their Quranic rights and we are also deprived of our Constitutional rights. It is for the first time that this judgement is trying to sort of undo that kind of injustice on a vast scale.

 With this victory, do you think the fight is over?

Not at all. In fact, this is just the beginning. Armed with this judgement and a potential legal framework, we can take forward the entire struggle for gender justice in the Muslim community. We can also embark on a larger social reform project wherein we take up education and empowerment of Muslim girls.

How did this fight against triple talaq begin? What was the trigger?

Our organisation, BMMA, was formed in 2007. We were initially engaged in education, livelihood, widow pension and similar issues. But then, everyday we encountered women who started coming to us, saying ‘I have been divorced’, ‘I have been thrown out by my husband’. Women were coming to us asking ‘where can I go, what kind of help can you give us, what kind of guidance can you give us’. There were also questions whether instant talaq was valid, whether it was Quranic, would any Qazi (cleric) help victims of the practice. So, we felt that if so many women are facing this issue, then we need to take it up seriously. We did a national public hearing on triple talaq, where some 500 women came. We got a number of first-person narratives of their woes and suffering due to triple talaq. After that, we built a campaign to get triple talaq abolished. We also filed this petition in the Supreme Court.

What were the obstacles you encountered? What were the pulls and pressures from within the community?

They tried a lot to target us. Because we are all women, they tried to bring out things in our personal lives. For instance, in my case, they went after my family. They made a Whatsapp with my photograph. They wrote all kind of things about my husband and my son. It is very easy to level allegations against women and their personal lives. They tried all that. But it did not go well with the community. We received support from a lot of ordinary Muslims, both men and women. Several non-Muslim women also came to our support. We got support from the media, universities, social organisations, corporate houses and several others. That is why we were able to overcome the challenges we faced, like those from the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board.

There could be opposition from within the community to implementing the judgement. How do you intend to take on them?

The opposition will now become weaker and weaker. We will have to empower women extensively. We need to make women aware of the judgement, aware of the Quranic teachings as well as Constitutional principles. Muslims are also citizens, like everybody else. They also have the same concerns as others. They want education, jobs. We need to proceed on a social reform process.

There is an argument the latest judgement won’t do much for Muslim women’s rights because there were earlier judgements, too, but it did not stop the practice of triple talaq.

There is a difference. Despite those earlier judgements, triple talaq was happening. Now, with the kind of awareness and publicity this judgement has received, every Muslim woman will be aware that it is not a valid form of divorce. Even every husband is aware that if he indulges in this, it will not be valid. So, this judgement has gathered public attention around the issue unlike past judgements. That is the biggest positive.

There is a view that it will help further the agenda of RSS-BJP.

I don’t understand how abolition of triple talaq would help the RSS. It is not about the government, it is not about the RSS or BJP, it is not about the Prime Minister, or about any party. It is not about anybody else, it is about Muslim women. So, my contention is that BJP came to power only three years ago, who prevented others from abolishing triple talaq before that. We are talking about gender justice in Islam. How can RSS talk about gender justice in Islam? I don’t understand why they are bringing this in. This, it seems, has become a last resort (for those who want to perpetuate triple talaq) because they don’t have any substantive argument.

There is also a debate on Uniform Civil Code (UCC). Will this judgement be a precursor to it?

Not at all. UCC is a separate issue, it’s a separate debate. It is applied to every citizen of the country. It does not apply only to Muslims. Indian people are religious. So, we want the church wedding, we want the nikah, we want the kanyadaan. That is how we are. But a secular law should be made available as an alternative to all Indian citizens. It is the citizen’s prerogative to choose whether he or she wants to wed under secular law or under religious custom.