Shia heads bent on separate law board

[Ray]

Shia heads bent on separate law board

Subodh Ghildiyal/ New Delhi

With Moharram approaching, the move to create a separate Muslim Personal Law Board for the Shia community may be in the cold storage for the next two months, but the community leaders are bent on making it a reality. The move is led by the ambitious Shias but the questions raised and projection of Shia-Sunni interests as "mutually exclusive" have made it potentially threatening for the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) as an umbrella Muslim body.

The convening committee for the Shia Board will meet in the last week of January. As Moharram forbids the community from creating new bodies during the period, the board is likely to fructify in April.

Strategies evolved to garner support for a separate board is that the AIMPLB is no longer an all-Muslim umbrella outfit as the Brelvis have already formed a separate board last year. Said Ibne Hasan, a member of the convening committee for the new board: "The need was felt for a long time, but we kept quiet as we were shouted down for trying to break the Muslim unity. Now that Brelvis have left, it is time we, too, have our Board."

The ambitious Shia leaders are at the forefront of the new move but they have confronted the AIMPLB with a probing heavy agenda lest they be dismissed for political adventurism - triple talaq, family planning and silence of the AIMPLB during 20-year ban on Shia azadari processions. The views of the Shias are radically different from those of Sunnis on these issues. Ironically, divorce and family planning were raised by Kalbe Sadiq, AIMPLB vice-president and Shia cleric, who stands for the unity of the board. An insider said, "He is so much for Shia-Sunni unity that he downplays his marginalisation within the AIMPLB. The rest of the community, however, is willing to speak up." The proponents of the Shia Board have also claimed under-representation in the 200-member AIMPLB.

The story of the Shia community is different. In its existence since 1972, the AIMPLB has not come across a single personal law issue of Shia sect - triple talaq is forbidden in the community while other jurisprudence is well laid out and is dealt with by Maulvis. The support for family planning was also raised by Kalbe Sadiq though his views met with stiff resistance from other board members. The proponents of unity use these facts to back their arguments. "It is all politics," as a Shia leader said, "because we don't have any issues pertaining to personal law, we don't need a board."

While sensitive matters have been put at the forefront to support the new demand, politics is also visible. Mirza Mohammed Attar, who is at the forefront, is seen soft towards a political party while Yasuf Abbas is active. Maulana Agha Roohi, who has lent his support, is a BJP member while Mushir Alam is a BSP member. But the Shia leaders have denied any political hand.

Besides the issues raised, at the root of the need of a new board is the local and global influence stemming from the religious platform. An insider said that Shias, too, want a slice of clout till now in the hands of Sunnis.
http://www.dailypioneer.com/indexn12...&counter_img=3

The Shia were against the triple talaq and some other issues (necessity of a small family for the well being of the Moslem upward mobility since a small family would ensure good food and education unlike when having a family of 8 to 10 children as is mostly the case amongst the poor) which the Sunni majority of the Muslim Personal Board overruled.

While making the triple talaq a wee bit difficult i.e. no longer possible on e mail or SMS, the Sunnis claimed the small families were un Islamic or at least the process to ensure so.

A large majority of Indian were dumbfounded because in the ancient times there were no condoms and hence equataing with being un Islamic was a bit too far fetched.