Biography
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Professor Tahir Mahmood | |
|---|---|
| Born | 6 September 1941 [1] Lucknow, United Provinces, British India |
| Occupation | Legal educator |
| Relatives | Syed Zafar Mahmood (brother) |
Tahir Mahmood is an Indian legal scholar and author of a large number of books frequently cited in the judgments of the Supreme Court of India and numerous High Courts. He had his higher legal education in Aligarh and London and has over fifty years of academic experience. Currently he is with Amity University where his designation is "Distinguished Jurist Chair, Professor of Eminence & Chairman, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies."
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He has served as the Dean of the Faculty of Law in Delhi University (1992–95), Chairman of Government of India's National Commission for Minorities (1996–99), and Member of the Law Commission of India (2007–09).
His major interest areas have been religion-state relations, Islamic law and Indian family laws. He has authored over twenty books besides editing a large number of anthologies and new editions of some classic works. He launched two prestigious journals - the Islamic and Comparative Law Quarterly in 1981 and the Religion and Law Review in 1992. His major books are Laws of India on Religion and Religious Affairs (2008), Religion, Law and Society across the Globe (2013), Principles of Hindu Law: Personal Law of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs (2014), Reminiscing on Law Brains: Bench, Bar and Academia (2014), Minorities Commission 1978-2015: Minor Role in Major Affairs (2nd edition 2016) and Muslim Law in India and Abroad (2nd edition 2016). His thematic autobiography, Amid Gods and Lords: Living through Labyrinths of Religion and Law, was published in a second edition in 2015. He regularly writes for English and Urdu media.
He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Center for Law and Religion Studies at Brigham Young University (US), Steering Committee of the International Consortium of Law and Religion Studies at the University of Milan (Italy), and Editorial Board of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs (Jeddah-London).
Shah Waliullah Award for Contemporary Understanding of Islamic Law (India 2009), Distinguished Academic Services Award (US, 2010).
Dhimmī or muʿāhid (معاهد) is a historical term for non-Muslims living in an Islamic state with legal protection. The word literally means "protected person", referring to the state's obligation under sharia to protect the individual's life, property, as well as freedom of religion, in exchange for loyalty to the state and payment of the jizya tax, in contrast to the zakat, or obligatory alms, paid by the Muslim subjects. Dhimmi were exempt from certain duties assigned specifically to Muslims if they paid the poll tax (jizya) but were otherwise equal under the laws of property, contract, and obligation.
Hindus are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism. Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for people living in the Indian subcontinent.
Uniform Civil Code, or Samana Nagrika Samhita, sometimes referred as UCC, is a proposal in India to formulate and implement personal laws of citizens which apply on all citizens equally regardless of their religion, gender and sexual orientation. Currently, personal laws of various communities are governed by their religious scriptures. Implementation of a uniform civil code across the nation is one of the contentious promises pursued by India's ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. It is an important issue regarding secularism in Indian politics and continues to remain disputed by India's political left wing, Muslim groups and other conservative religious groups and sects in defence of sharia and religious customs. Personal laws are distinguished from public law and cover marriage, divorce, inheritance, adoption and maintenance. Meanwhile, article 25-28 of the Indian constitution guarantees religious freedom to Indian citizens and allows religious groups to maintain their own affairs, article 44 of the constitution expects the Indian state to apply directive principles and common law for all Indian citizens while formulating national policies.
Freedom of religion in Pakistan is guaranteed by the Constitution of Pakistan for individuals of various religions and religious sects.
Freedom of religion is enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution. First, Article 11 provides that every person has the right to profess and to practice his or her religion and to propagate it. Second, the Constitution also provides that Islam is the religion of the country but other religions may be practised in peace and harmony.
Islam is India's second-largest religion, with 14.2% of the country's population, approximately 172.2 million people identifying as adherents of Islam in 2011 Census. India is also the country with the second largest number of Muslims in the world. The majority of India's Muslims are Sunni, with Shia making up 13% of the population.
Freedom of religion in India is a fundamental right guaranteed by Article 25-28 of the Constitution of India. Modern India came into existence in 1947 and the Indian constitution's preamble was amended in 1976 to state that India is a secular state. Supreme Court of India ruled that India was already a secular state from the time it adopted its constitution, what actually was done through this amendment is to state explicitly what was earlier contained implicitly under article 25 to 28. Every citizen of India has a right to practice and promote their religion peacefully. However, there have been numerous incidents of religious intolerance that resulted in riots and violence, notably, the 1984 Anti-Sikh Massacre in Delhi, 1990 Exodus of Kashmiri Hindus from Kashmir and Punjab, 2002 Anti-Muslim Gujarat Riots and the 2008 Anti-Christian riots in Odisha. Some perpetrators of the 1984 Anti-Sikh Massacre in Delhi have not been brought to justice despite widespread condemnation.
Hindus have experienced both historical and ongoing religious persecution and systematic violence, in the form of forced conversions, documented massacres, genocides, demolition and desecration of temples, as well as the destruction of educational centres.
Hinduism is the second largest religious affiliation in Pakistan after Islam. While Hinduism was the dominant faith in the region a few centuries back, today Hindus account for 2.14% of Pakistan's population or 4.4 million people according to the 2017 Pakistan Census, although Pakistan Hindu Council has claimed that there are 8 million Hindus living in Pakistan, making up 4% of the country's population. The Umerkot district has the highest percentage of Hindu residents in the country at 52.2%, while Tharparkar district has the most Hindus in absolute numbers at 714,698. Mithi a town in Sindh, Pakistan have around 80 percent hindu population.
With the Forty-second Amendment of the Constitution of India enacted in 1976, the Preamble to the Constitution asserted that India is a secular nation. However, the Supreme Court of India in the 1994 case S. R. Bommai v. Union of India established the fact that India was secular since the formation of the republic. The judgement established that there is separation of state and religion. It stated "In matters of State, religion has no place. And if the Constitution requires the State to be secular in thought and action, the same requirement attaches to political parties as well. The Constitution does not recognize, it does not permit, mixing religion and State power. That is the constitutional injunction. None can say otherwise so long as this Constitution governs this country. Politics and religion cannot be mixed. Any State government which pursues nonsecular on policies or nonsecular course of action acts contrary to the constitutional mandate and renders itself amenable to action under Article 356". Furthermore, constitutionally, state-owned educational institutions are prohibited from imparting religious instructions, and Article 27 of the constitution prohibits using tax-payers money for the promotion of any religion.
Fatawa 'Alamgiri, also known as Al-Fatawa al-'Alamgiriyya or Al-Fatawa al-Hindiyya, is a 17th-century sharia based compilation on statecraft, general ethics, military strategy, economic policy, justice and punishment, that served as the law and principal regulating body of the Mughal Empire, during the reign of the Mughal emperor Muhammad Muhiuddin Aurangzeb Alamgir. It subsequently went on to become the reference legal text to enforce Sharia in colonial south Asia in the 18th century through early 20th century, and has been heralded as "the greatest digest of Muslim law made in India".
The official religion of Pakistan is Islam, as enshrined by Article 2 of the Constitution, and is practised by approximately 96.47% of the country's population. The remaining less than 4% practice Hinduism, Christianity, Ahmadiyya, Sikhism and other religions. A few aspects of Secularism have also been adopted by Pakistani constitution from British colonial concept. However, religious minorities in Pakistan often face significant discrimination, subject to issues such as violence and the blasphemy laws.
Anti-Hindu sentiment, also known as Hinduphobia, is a negative perception, sentiment or actions against the practitioners of Hinduism.
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is a non-government organisation constituted in 1973 by that time Prime Minister Mrs. Indira Gandhi to adopt suitable strategies for the protection and continued applicability of Muslim Personal Law in India, most importantly, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act of 1937, providing for the application of the Islamic Law Code of Shariat to Muslims in India in personal affairs. The Act applies to all matters of personal law except such successions. Even this section had the right under laws such as the Cutchi Memons Act, 1920 and the Mahomedan Inheritance Act to opt for "Mahomedan Law". Faizur Rahman claims that a majority of Muslim followed Muslim law, not the Hindu civil code.
Religion in India is characterised by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. The preamble of Indian constitution states that India is a secular state. The Indian subcontinent is the birthplace of four of the world's major religions; namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism. According to the 2011 census, 79.8% of the population of India practices Hinduism, 14.2% adheres to Islam, 2.3% adheres to Christianity, 1.7% adheres to Sikhism, 0.7% adheres to Buddhism and 0.4% adheres to Jainism. Zoroastrianism, Sanamahism and Judaism also have an ancient history in India, and each has several thousands of Indian adherents. India has the largest population of people adhering to Zoroastrianism and Bahá'í Faith in the world, even though these religions initially grew in Persia.
In the Constitution of Bangladesh, Islam is referred to twice in the introduction and Part I of the constitution. The document begins with the Islamic phrase Basmala which in English is translated as “In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful” and article (2A) declares that :"Islam is the state religion of the republic". Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has stated that Bangladesh will be governed in line with the spirit of the Constitution of Medina. But at the same time, Constitution of Bangladesh pays lip service to secularism as it is one of the four fundamental principles of the original Constitution of Bangladesh. Despite having Islam as the state religion by 2A. Bangladesh is mostly governed by secular laws, set up during the times when the region was ruled by the British Crown. The constitution also states that "the State shall ensure equal status and equal right in the practice of the Hindu, Buddhist, Christian and other religions". "Freedom of religion" is its basic structure guaranteed by the Bangladeshi constitution in which it calls for equal rights to all its citizens irrespective of their religious differences and it also bans discrimination on the grounds of religion on various platforms. Bangladesh is one of the few secular Muslim-majority nations and "proselytizing" i.e. conversions from one religion to another are generally accepted and is legalized by law under article 41 of the constitution, subject to law, public order, and morality. The major religion in Bangladesh is Islam (91%), but a significant percentage of the population adheres to Hinduism (8%) as per the 2021 official estimation; other religious groups include Buddhists 0.6%,, Christians, and Animists (0.1%). Bangladesh was founded as a secular state, but Islam was made the state religion in the 1980s. But in 2010, the High Court held up the secular principles of the 1972 constitution. The High Court also strengthened its stance against punishments by Islamic edict (fatwa), following complaints of brutal sentences carried out against women by extra-legal village courts.
Ahmadiyya, officially the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community or the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jama'at, is an Islamic revival or messianic movement originating in Punjab, British India, in the late 19th century. It was founded by Mirza Ghulam Ahmad (1835–1908), who claimed to have been divinely appointed as both the Promised Mahdi and Messiah expected by Muslims to appear towards the end times and bring about, by peaceful means, the final triumph of Islam; as well as to embody, in this capacity, the expected eschatological figure of other major religious traditions. Adherents of the Ahmadiyya—a term adopted expressly in reference to Muhammad's alternative name Aḥmad—are known as Ahmadi Muslims or simply Ahmadis.
The Pakistani textbooks controversy refers to claimed inaccuracies and historical denialism. The inaccuracies and myths promote religious intolerance and Indophobia and lead to calls for curriculum reform. According to the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, Pakistan's school textbooks have systematically inculcated anti-Indian discrimination through historical omissions and deliberate misinformation since the 1970s.
Jamal Khwaja was an Indian philosopher.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind or Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind is one of the leading organizations of Islamic scholars belonging to the Deobandi school of thought in India. It was founded in November 1919 by a group of Muslim scholars including Abdul Bari Firangi Mahali, Kifayatullah Dehlawi, Muhammad Ibrahim Mir Sialkoti and Sanaullah Amritsari.
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