Shia board moots model ‘nikahnama’, denounces ‘triple talaq’ in one sitting

After the recent case in SC, the All India Shia Personal Law Board’s model nikahnama denounces triple talaq in one sitting. The AISPLB is hopeful the draft will be accepted across the country.

Amidst fresh spotlight on triple talaq, the All India Shia Personal Law Board (AISPLB) has come out with a model ‘nikahnama’ (marriage contract) that denounces the controversial practice of triple talaq (divorce) in one sitting among the Muslims.

A case in the Supreme Court seeks that triple talaq be declared as unconstitutional.(HT photo for representation purpose)

“I have given a draft of the ‘nikahnama’ to Maulana Kalbe Sadiq, who is vice chairman of the board and Zafaryab Jilani, senior high court lawyer, for proper vetting after which it would be adopted,” AISPLB spokesperson Maulana Yasoob Abbas told Hindustan Times.

He said Maulana Sadiq had endorsed the draft that was originally presented by him at AISPLB convention in Mumbai in 2007. Incidentally, Maulana Sadiq is also senior vice president of All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), the apex governing body of Muslims on religious matters, which is against any kind of ban on triple talaq.

The AIMPLB too had mooted a similar model ‘nikahnama’ in 2003 laying down specific guidelines and conditions on which a marriage can be annulled by both husband and wife and the prescribed format has been prevalent among a large section of Sunni Muslims here in Uttar Pradesh.

Maulana Yasoob said it was a misconception that women did not have divorce rights. “Both men and women have equal rights but it is the provision of triple talaq that has been cropping of and on and unnecessary putting the religion (Islam) in bad light. And now the matter has reached Supreme Court,” he pointed out.

The Supreme Court is hearing a petition filed by women’s rights activists who want declaration of triple ‘talaq’ -- whereby Muslim men can divorce their wives by simply stating their intention three times orally -- as unconstitutional.

Maualan Yasoob said he was confident that the draft would be accepted and adopted across the country by the Muslims as it empowered women and gave them rights in the modern context and was not in variance with anything laid down in the Indian Constitution.