'Muslim Personal Law is a stick for Hindu communalists to beat Muslims with'

Editor’s note: This is a reader comment we received on the article ‘ Why the BJP argument against Muslim reservation is wrong ’. The comment has been edited for grammar. By bhanu Let’s get some ridiculous myths about Uniform Civil Code out of the way first: Myth 1: All Muslims are opposed to a Common Civil Code. Clearly, this is not the case. I am one who is not, as are many others. Myth 2: The Muslim Personal Law gives Muslims some great benefits that are being withheld from non-Muslims. [caption id=“attachment_1601647” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. AFP[/caption] Nothing can be further from the truth. The personal law only gives Muslims the right to be governed by Shariah principles in the personal matters of marriage, inheritance, property rights and religious observance. Commercial and criminal law is the same for all Indians. So why do I support a common law for all Indians in civil matters? For four very good reasons. First, there are at least six schools of jurisprudence among Muslims, four among Sunnis and two among Shias. The Indian Muslim Personal Law is a curious amalgam of principles from different schools, but most particularly the Hanafi branch of Sunni legal belief. While most Indian Muslims are from this sect, our so-called Muslim Personal Law does not cover large numbers of Muslims, who prefer their own interpretation of Shariah law. Therefore, this is hardly in conformity with pure Koranic practice, as the more extreme elements among the Muslim clergy would have us believe. Second, I believe the most important demand that Muslims should make in secular India is that we are treated equally. That we have equal rights and opportunities as all other Indians and that the State will afford us the same protection of our rights and property as it would Hindus. I do not believe Muslims can make that demand when, at the same time, we want to be treated differently in matters of personal law. This is an irreconcilable inconsistency. Third, at least half of all Muslims are badly served by the Muslim Personal Law. Triple talaq, no rights to maintenance (thank you, Rajiv Gandhi!) and subordinate rights of inheritance are all examples of how my Muslim sisters labour under an unfair and, dare I say it, unIslamic set of regulations. I have a daughter and, if she should want to marry a Muslim, it will be under the Special Marriages Act, thank you very much. And lastly, this ridiculous Muslim Personal Law is a convenient stick for Hindu communalists to beat Muslims with. Giving us the right to be governed by our own personal law gives them the right to claim that we are some kind of privileged minority with a suspect commitment to the Indian Republic. Take away the law and deprive Pravin Togadia of the stick.