A holiday is a day or other period of time set aside for festivals or recreation. Public holidays are set by public authorities and vary by state or region. Religious holidays are set by religious organisations for their members and are often also observed as public holidays in religious majority countries. Some religious holidays, such as Christmas, have become secularised by part or all of those who observe them. In addition to secularisation, many holidays have become commercialised due to the growth of industry.
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (sawm), prayer (salah), reflection, and community. A commemoration of Muhammad's first revelation, the annual observance of Ramadan is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam and lasts twenty-nine to thirty days, from one sighting of the crescent moon to the next.
The Uniform Civil Code is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless of their religion. Currently, personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures. Implementation of a uniform civil code across the nation is pursued by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Personal laws cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance. While articles 25-28 of the Indian Constitution guarantee religious freedom to Indian citizens and allow religious groups to maintain their own affairs, article 44 expects the Indian state to apply directive principles and common law for all Indian citizens while formulating national policies.
The legal system of India consists of civil law, common law, customary law, religious law and corporate law within the legal framework inherited from the colonial era and various legislation first introduced by the British are still in effect in modified forms today. Since the drafting of the Indian Constitution, Indian laws also adhere to the United Nations guidelines on human rights law and the environmental law. personal law is fairly complex, with each religion adhering to its own specific laws. In most states, registering of marriages and divorces is not compulsory. Separate laws govern Hindus including Sikhs, Jains and Buddhist, Muslims, Christians, and followers of other religions. The exception to this rule is in the state of Goa, where a uniform civil code is in place, in which all religions have a common law regarding marriages, divorces, and adoption. Plus, recently, on February 7, 2024, the Indian state of Uttarakhand has also incorporated a uniform civil code. In the first major reformist judgment for the 2010s, the Supreme Court of India banned the Islamic practice of "Triple Talaq". The landmark Supreme Court of India judgment was welcomed by women's rights activists across India.
In Islamic law (sharia), marriage is a legal and social contract between two individuals. Marriage is an act of Islam and is strongly recommended. Polygyny is permitted in Islam under some conditions, but polyandry is forbidden.
Nikah halala, also known as tahleel marriage, is a practice in which a woman, after being divorced by triple talaq, marries another man, consummates the marriage, and gets divorced again in order to be able to remarry her former husband. Nikah means marriage and halala means to make something halal, or permissible. This form of marriage is haram (forbidden) according to the hadith of Islamic prophet Muhammad. Nikah halala is practiced by a small minority of Muslims, mainly in countries that recognise the triple talaq.
Divorce according to Islamic law can occur in a variety of forms, some initiated by a husband and some by a wife. The main categories of Islamic customary law are talaq, khulʿ and faskh. Historically, the rules of divorce were governed by sharia, as interpreted by traditional Islamic jurisprudence, though they differed depending on the legal school, and historical practices sometimes diverged from legal theory.
All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) is an organisation formed in January 2005 to represent the rights of Shia Muslims in India. It was felt that the current board, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) had been neglecting the views of Shia Muslims in India. Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, vice chairman of the Shia board is also senior vice president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB).
Hamid Umar Dalwai was an Indian journalist, social reformer, thinker, activist, author, writer and the founder of Muslim Satyashodhak Mandal and Indian Secular Society. Despite being an atheist, he attempted and advocated for several modernistic and liberal reforms within the Indian Muslim community, most notably being his futile agitation against the practice of triple talaq and polygyny during the 1960s. He has also authored several books, including Muslim Politics in Secular India (1968).
Arif Mohammad Khan is an Indian politician belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). He is currently the Governor of Kerala. He is a former Union Minister. He has held several portfolios ranging from energy to civil aviation.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is a non-governmental organization in India that represents the interests of Muslims in matters of personal law. It was formed in 1973 with the objective of protecting and promoting the application of Islamic personal law among Muslims in India. The AIMPLB is primarily concerned with issues related to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and other personal matters governed by Islamic law, known as Shariah. The AIMPLB has been involved in various significant cases and debates, including those related to the Muslim Women Act, the Shah Bano case, and the Triple Talaq issue. It has also played a role in advocating for the preservation of Muslim personal laws and resisting attempts to introduce a uniform civil code in India.
Ravi Shankar Prasad is an Indian politician and lawyer, from the Bharatiya Janata Party. A Member of Parliament since 2000, first in the Rajya Sabha (2000–2019) and then in the Lok Sabha, Prasad has served as Union Minister multiple times: As Minister of State, he served in the ministries of Coal (2001–2003), Law and Justice (2002–2003), and Information and Broadcasting (2003–2004) under Atal Bihari Vajpayee's premiership; as Cabinet Minister, he held the Law and Justice, Communications, and Electronics and Information Technology (2014–2021) portfolios under Narendra Modi's premiership.
Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan or BMMA is an autonomous, secular, rights-based mass organization led by Zakia Soman which fights for the citizenship rights of the Muslim women in India. The BMMA was formed in January 2011. The organisation is based in Mumbai.
The following is a timeline of the Premiership of Narendra Modi from his inauguration as Prime Minister of India on 26 May 2014 till now. The following are the highlights of the major events that took place under his premiership.
Mohsin Raza is an Indian politician from the state of Uttar Pradesh. He is the Minister of State for Minority Welfare Muslim Waqf and Hajj of the state in the Yogi Adityanath ministry.
Triple talaq and talaq-e-mughallazah are now-banned means of Islamic divorce previously available to Muslims in India, especially adherents of Hanafi Sunni Islamic schools of jurisprudence. A Muslim man could legally divorce his wife by proclaiming three times consecutively the word talaq.
All the Muslims in India are governed by the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937. This law deals with marriage, succession, inheritance and charities among Muslims. The Dissolution of Muslim Marriages Act, 1939 deals with the circumstances in which Muslim women can obtain divorce and rights of Muslim women who have been divorced by their husbands and to provide for related matters. These laws are not applicable in the state of Goa, where Goa civil code is applicable for all persons irrespective of religion. These laws are not applicable to Indians, including Muslims, who married under the Special Marriage Act, 1954.
The Muslim Women Act, 2019 is an Act of the Parliament of India criminalising triple talaq. In August 2017, the Supreme Court of India declared triple talaq, which enables Muslim men to instantly divorce their wives, to be unconstitutional. The minority opinion suggested the Parliament to consider appropriate legislation governing triple talaq in the Muslim community.
Nida Khan is an Indian women's rights activist who experienced the Instant triple talaq. A fatwa was issued by Khurshid Alam Razvi, a Mufti calling for social boycott of Nida for speaking out against practices of Triple Talaq. She is the founder of Ala Hazrat Helping Society, a Non-governmental organization.
Ziya Us Salam is an Indian author, literary critic, journalist and social commentator, who has worked for The Hindu Group since 2000. In addition to serving as the associate editor for magazine Frontline, he also wrote several columns on sociocultural issues and book reviews for the magazine.
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