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.
Mohd. Ahmad Khan v. Shah Bano Begum [1985], commonly referred to as the Shah Bano case, was a controversial maintenance lawsuit in India, in which the Supreme Court delivered a judgment favouring maintenance given to an aggrieved divorced Muslim woman. Then the Congress government enacted a law with its most controversial aspect being the right to maintenance for the period of iddat after the divorce, and shifting the onus of maintaining her to her relatives or the Waqf Board. It was seen as discriminatory as it denied right to basic maintenance available to Muslim women under secular law.
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.
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.
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.
Mohammad Rabey Hasani Nadwi was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar, who served as the president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board and as the chancellor of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, an Islamic seminary in Lucknow, India. He was the patron of Islamic Fiqh Academy, the vice president of the Aalami Rabita Adab-e-Islami in Riyadh, and a founding member of the Muslim World League. He was regularly listed in the publication The 500 Most Influential Muslims. His disciples included Ijteba Nadwi.
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.
Tauqeer Raza Khan is an Indian politician and Islamic cleric. He is a religious leader of the Bareilvi Sunni Muslims and founder of the Ittehad-e-Millat Council, a political party based in Uttar Pradesh. He is a great grandson of Ahmed Raza Khan Barelvi, who was the founder of the Barelvi movement of Sunni Islam. He also heads the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (Jadeed) after he cut ties with the All India Muslim Personal Law Board, claiming discrimination by the Deobandis.
All India Muslim Majlis-e-Mushawarat is a federation of various Muslim organisations in India. Majlis-e-Mushawarat was formally launched at a two-day meeting in 1964 at the Islamic seminary Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow. Several leading Muslim scholars and clerics, including Syed Abul Hasan Ali Nadvi, attended the meet while freedom fighter and a member in Jawaharlal Nehru's cabinet Syed Mahmud was elected its first president. It was established as an advocacy group in the wake of communal riots in the early 1960s.
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.
Wali Rahmani was an Indian Sunni Islamic scholar and academician who founded Rahmani30. He was a member of the Bihar Legislative Council from 1974 to 1996. He served as the general secretary of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and Sajjada Nashin of the Khanqah Rahmani in Munger.
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.
Muhammad Salim Qasmi Siddiqi was an Indian Muslim scholar who co-founded the Darul Uloom Waqf in Deoband and served as its first rector. He was an alumnus of Darul Uloom Deoband. He received the fourth Shah Waliullah Award and was honoured with the Mark of Distinction from Egypt.
Minnatullah Rahmani was an Indian Sunni Muslim scholar who served as the first General Secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He was an alumnus of Darul Uloom Nadwatul Ulama and Darul Uloom Deoband, and a member of Bihar Legislative Assembly. He also served as the General Secretary of the Jamiat Ulama Bihar. His father Muhammad Ali Mungeri was the founder of Nadwatul Ulama and his son Wali Rahmani established the Rahmani30 institute.
Khalid Saifullah Rahmani is an Indian Muslim scholar, author and jurist who serves as the fifth president of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board. He is the general secretary of Islamic Fiqh Academy of India. He has authored books including The Islamic Jurisprudence: Introduction and Codification and The Book of Fatāwa.
Maulana Mohammad Mirza Yasoob Abbas is an Islamic cleric and speaker of All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB). He is a member of the India Islamic Culture Centre, Delhi and Shia College, Lucknow.
Deobandi fiqh is a school of Islamic jurisprudence that is based on the Hanafi school of Islamic law. It is associated with the Deobandi movement, which originated in India in the late 19th century and has since spread to other parts of the world, particularly in South Asia. Deobandi fiqh emphasizes a strict adherence to the Quran and the Sunnah, and seeks to ensure that all aspects of daily life are guided by Islamic law. It places a strong emphasis on the principles of fiqh, or Islamic jurisprudence, and is known for its strict interpretation of Islamic law. It also emphasizes the importance of Islamic ethics and morality, and emphasizes the need for Muslims to lead a pious and virtuous life. Deobandi fiqh has had a significant influence on Islamic education and scholarship, particularly in South Asia and among the global South Asian diaspora. It plays a foundational role in the judiciary of Afghanistan. It has also been associated with various Islamic political movements and has been a subject of controversy and debate within the Muslim community.
All India Muslim Personal Law Board (Jadeed) (abbreviated as AIMPLB(J)) is a Non-governmental organisation in India which represents the interests of Barelvi Sunni Muslims of India in the Muslim personal law called Shariah. It split from the All India Muslim Personal Law Board and was founded as a separate organisation in December 2004.
