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Sunni body’s proposed nikahnama calls for right to divorce for women
The Sunni Ulema Council, a prominent body of Sunni Muslims, has proposed a new nikahnama (marriage contract) that bars triple talaq in one sitting and provides safeguards to women, including the right to divorce
The Sunni Ulema Council, a prominent body of Sunni Muslims, has proposed a new nikahnama (marriage contract) that bars triple talaq in one sitting and provides safeguards to women, including the right to divorce.
In a first, the document will be made available in both Urdu and Hindi.
“We are giving them (new nikahnama) to the clergy to build a consensus on it and also promote it in place of the old one that had none of the conditions mentioned in this one,” said Haji Mohammad Salees, convener of the Sunni Ulema Council.
According to the draft, seen by HT, the nikahnama gives the woman the right to divorce and binds the clerics and witnesses to give their testimony in case the issue reaches a court. The name and address of the cleric who solemnises the marriage would also be mentioned in the contract, the draft states.
The draft of the nikahnama states that a husband will not be able to give triple talaq in one sitting and the method of divorce would be in accordance with the Quran, Salees said. The old version was only available in Urdu and did not have any instructions on divorce which is why triple talaq happened, he said.
“The new nikahnama has detailed that divorce can only take place as per the method outlined in the Quran -- the husband cannot give triple talaq in one sitting,” he said. Getting it in Hindi would make it easier to understand for everyone who are not well-versed in Urdu, he said.
Salees said that the old version of the nikahnama needed to be changed to with respect to the change in time. He said that old version was just an announcement of marriage declaring that the woman would get a mutually agreed amount, meher, in lieu of the marriage. Unlike the old version, Aadhar numbers of the man and woman, along with those of the witnesses, would be mentioned in the marriage contract, he added.
“The new nikahnama is being discussed among clerics, who are likely to reach a decision before Ramzan,” he said.
The All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board (AIMWPLB) has given its consent to the new nikahnama, which is likely to be effective from Eid this year, president of the board Syeda Tabassum said. “The nikahnama will formally be in use from Eid this year; the draft is ready and it will be an effective instrument in checking cases of triple talaq,” said Tabassum.
The AIMWPLB, on its part, would organise pre- and post-marriage counselling and distribute books on rights of the husband and wife.
