‘Fight for Muslim women’s inheritance rights not related to Uniform Civil Code, it is for basic human rights’

For the past two-and-a-half decades, V.P. Zuhra and NISA, a progressive Muslim women’s forum based i

For the past two-and-a-half decades, V.P. Zuhra and NISA, a progressive Muslim women’s forum based in Kozhikode that she leads, are almost synonymous with the fights for the rights of the females in the minority community. Ms. Zuhra is right now engaged in a campaign to secure equal property rights for Muslim women. She spoke to The Hindu on the eve of the International Women’s Day.

What is the relevance of your fight for the inheritance rights of Muslim women?

Actually, not many are aware of the complex provisions related to property rights in the Muslim Personal Law, which have nothing much to do with the Shariat. For example, according to the law, if a couple has only a single girl child, she is entitled to only half of her father’s property. The rest will go to her father’s siblings. If there are more than two girl children, they will get only two thirds of the total property. The rest will go to some male relatives. If a woman’s husband dies, she will get only one eighth of the total property. Such provisions make Muslim women dependent on their relatives to access the property inherited by their parents. The human rights, citizenship rights, and equal rights of these women are being denied. People who oppose equal rights for Muslim women are just playing vote bank politics.

What was the response of mainstream political parties to your campaign?

We had approached leaders of all major political organisations, Left, Right and Centre, and Ministers and MLAs etc. But a proper response has not been forthcoming. A Special Leave Petition, filed by the Khuran Sunnath Society and others, challenging a Kerala High Court order which dismissed their plea to declare that the practice followed by the Muslim community on women’s inheritance violated constitutional principles is now pending before the Supreme Court. NISA had impleaded itself in the case.

Now, the allegation is that this is indirectly supporting the Uniform Civil Code?

Our fight is no way related to the Uniform Civil Code, it is for getting equal rights for women. People will definitely oppose such a code if it is against their interests, like what happened with the Citizenship Amendment Act. If Hindu succession laws and Christian succession laws can be changed, why only Muslim inheritance laws should remain intact? The problem is with the interpretation of religious texts by the male clergy and their patriarchal mindset.