N.B. Nair
Every religion has its own personal law, which delineates marriage, divorce, maintenance, inheritance, and succession. These personal laws discriminate against women and deny them equality. There have been debates in India for a uniform personal law, though it has evaded any kind of unanimity or agreement among political and religious leaders.
Though sons and daughters have rights over the property of their deceased parents, it is not equal. In the case of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, and Sikhs, a woman has the same right to her deceased parents’ property as that of her brothers.
In the Muslim community, though the woman has a right over the property of her deceased parents, it is not equal – the quantum of the share for a female heir is half of that of male heirs. But if the deceased person does not have any male child, his female child or children would get only two third of his property and the rest would go to his brothers and sisters.
A Christian woman is entitled to a pre-determined share – it depends on the identity of other relatives of the deceased. If the deceased has children, his widow gets one-third of his property, with the remaining going to the children.
When a lawyer-turned-film actor, Advocate Shukkur from Kerala, announced, he is going to marry his wife for a second time, it became an issue for debate in the state.
While Shukkur practices law in Kannur, his wife Dr. Sheena Shukkur, is currently the Director of Mancheshwaram campus of Kannur University in north Kerala. Prior to that, she was Pro-Vice Chancellor of Mahatma Gandhi University at Kottayam in Kerala. The couple has three daughters.
Shukkur’s reasoning for the second marriage of his wife is that their life savings should entirely go to their daughters.
“Shouldn’t my (our) life savings go to the three daughters? There is no doubt, they should inherit it. The 1937 Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act is the reason. According to this law, the inheritance of Indian Muslims is under Muslim Personal Law or Shariat. However, there is no mention of Shariat in the 1937 Act. Therefore, Indian courts take decisions on the Principles of Mahomedan Law written by Sir D.H. Mulla in 1906. According to this law, my daughters would get only two third of my property, while my brothers have the right to one-third,” Shukkur wrote in a Facebook post announcing his second marriage to Sheena.
“Why should our children face discrimination for being born females?” he asked.
Shukkur said he and Sheena were married on October 6, 1994, under Islamic religious laws. “We announce our marriage under the Special Marriage Act 1954, Section 15 on March 8, 2023, before the Sub Registrar, Kanhangad-Hosdurg at 10.00 am, in the presence of relatives and friends.” Incidentally, he chose International Women’s Day to solemnise their second marriage.
Shukkur felt this is the only way to overcome the obstacle while adhering to the Islamic religious framework.
“This is not to challenge anyone or the religious system. I am not blaming any religious leader. They might clarify their stand and interpret Shariat. I am only drawing the right from our Constitution to get equality for women when it is denied in Islam. I believe all are equal before Allah and the Constitution. Equality should exist in every field,” he said.
“It is not just the question of inheritance. In a plural society, the status of women in all communities should be equal. I want equal status for my daughters in society, or in my own extended family, at par with boys. They should not feel degraded or humiliated,” Shukkur told Inspirational India.
The lawyer said, there have been several instances of registration of marriage under the Special Marriage Act in the past like that of Justice Kamal Pasha (Retd), of Kerala High Court. He said, a movement has started in Kerala against the skewed inheritance law in the Muslim community, and several faces of intellectual Muslims in the state, under the banner of the Forum for Muslim Women’s Gender Justice meets in Kozhikode on March 12, 2023, to enlist support for it.
Incidentally, Shukkur’s relatives are all in agreement with his revolutionary move, including his father and brother. “The first person to inform this was my father, who is 83 years old. Though he is a religious, conservative person, he instantly approved of it.”
Shukur noted, according to the 14th Amendment to Indian Constitution, the Right to Equality was made a fundamental right. But it is regrettable, children of those who practice Islam face discrimination based on sex.
Congratulating the Shukkur couple for their revolutionary step, Abdul Ali, a powerful voice against the Muslim Law of Inheritance said, it is an attempt to create history, by challenging an anti-woman law enforced in the name of Shariat.
“It is easy to read history, everyone can do it. But only a few can create history,” Ali commented in a Facebook post.
Ali said, what exists today as Indian Shariat Act 1937 (brought into force during British Rule), is not a compilation of laws. It only says, Shariat governs the inheritance of Muslims. Since there is no clarity on inheritance, Islamic Religious Scholars ruled, this is Shariat Law, and courts and other judicial bodies accepted it.
“No one takes Quran seriously. That is the problem. The last sentence of 4th Chapter of the Quran speaks of the rights of siblings (both brothers and sisters). But what went against this was the offspring of the diseased. This was changed by Religious Scholars to “sons.” This is how discrimination based on sex came into vogue. The marriage of Shukkurs in a way is to make inheritance in the spirit of the Quran,” explained Abdul Ali.
C.K. Faisal, a columnist and Under Secretary (Law) to Kerala Government said, the Islamic law of inheritance is based on the concept that the woman is naturally weak and always needs a man’s protection. “The provision of giving a substantial portion of the property of an expired Muslim man, when all his children are daughters, to his collateral heirs is based on this antediluvian concept. This rule runs against the Constitution’s Equality Code and modern jurisprudence,” he told Inspirational India.
Shukkur has also dabbled in Malayalam films. His debut film was Nna Thaan Kesu Kodu, (Sue me then) in which he portrayed the role of a humorous character of Advocate Shukkur himself.
Image Courtesy: FB of Shukkur Vakkeel