Sheikh Khurshid Alam | Azim Premji University (original) (raw)
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Talks by Sheikh Khurshid Alam
There is paucity of research on the possibility of the appointment of Muslim women to the office ... more There is paucity of research on the possibility of the appointment of Muslim women to the office of Muslim Marriage Registrar (MMR) and Qazi. Generally in India and particularly in West Bengal the word 'Qazi' has become a misnomer. During my course of research whenever I asked people as to what did they understand by 'Qazi', they answered that 'Qazi' means Judge. The office of the MMR & Qazi is not the office of the 'Qazi – the judge' in the strict sense of the term because in India there is no idea of parallel judiciary. The ignorance of this fact that MMR & Qazi and the Judge are not the one and the same, has led to declaration and issuance of various fatwas that Muslim women cannot be a Qazi. I believe that when such fatwas are issued then the issuer had the same idea of the word Qazi as the masses have. It took India almost five decades, since its independence from the British to have Shabnam Ara Begum of East Midnapore in the State of West Bengal as the first women Qazi in the year 2004. The present article is an attempt to look into the issue of gender bias in the matter of appointment of Muslim women as MMR & Qazi.
The decriminalization of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court in the Naz Foundation case had drawn... more The decriminalization of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court in the Naz Foundation case had drawn mixed reactions in 2010 across all over India. For some it was a ray of hope towards a life free from constant fear of being pushed behind the bars and for some it was another opportunity to get into the limelight by joining protest marches against homosexuality, gay marriages and moral corruption in society. A year earlier, in 2009, my team from Department of law, University of Calcutta had participated in the Moot Court competition organized by Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi on the same burning topic of Section 377. Honestly speaking, I had also joined many protest marches and demonstrations against the Delhi High Court's Judgement and even written against the evil of homosexuality. However, my view regarding homosexuality is the same today as it was in 2009 but today I am in support of decriminalization of Section 377. Section 377 (Unnatural offences) of the I.P.C, 1860 states that " Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. " All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is in the forefront along with other organisations in opposing the decriminalization of Section 377 and I fail to understand the rationale behind it. There is no direct nexus between the decriminalization of Section 377 and moral corruption of the society. The relevant issue is that why should the State have the right to interfere with what is going on inside the room between consenting adults? Do Muslims believe that their struggles against the decriminalization of Section 377 going to make their society morally sound? I differ from the stand of many Muslims and Muslim Organizations regarding their opinion and struggle to get a favorable judgement of criminalizing Section 377 from the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending.
There is something which has been troubling me a lot for quite many years. At one point of time, ... more There is something which has been troubling me a lot for quite many years. At one point of time, I stopped pondering over the issue, out of the fear of losing my Imaan but the incident of Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) – where his curious mind asks Allah Almighty that how can a dead, whose flesh and blood dissipates in the earth, be brought back to life on the Day of Judgment – vanished my fears. Allah does not get angry with Khalilullah for raising question of such a nature, rather, He answers him with a beautiful practical demonstration. The cause of my trouble is the myriad differences among the Ummah. Each group leaves no stone unturned to malign the other. 'Jewish Agent' is the favourite slang used as a reference for the other. The Barelvis term the Deobandis as 'Jewish Agent', the Deobandis call the Jama'at e Islami people as 'Jewish Agent', for the Tableeghi Jamaat people, the Wahabbis are 'Jewish Agent', the Jamiat Ahl e Hadith calls the Barelvis as 'Jewish Agent' and this interesting name-calling continues in all the forms of cycles. File Photo used for illustration purpose only The people to have the last laugh are the real " Jewish Agent " , who do not have to spend a single penny for promotion or hire any personnel to do their job; as everything is meticulously done by so many groups of Muslims. There is a great saying in Bhojpuri – 'Hing lage na Fitkari, rang bhi aae chowka'. Even if we put aside this groupism, we cannot escape the fight between the people of different 'school of thought'. In the Indian sub-continent, the Hanafis boast the majority in terms of following. The Hanafi scholars are always found saying that all the four Madhabs are true and the Muslims are free to choose from any of these but the truth is that these very scholars and their followers show the worst form of intolerance towards anybody outside the fold of Hanafi school of thought. The Hanbalis, Shafaeis and Malikis are looked upon as outcast in most of the Hanafi Masjids and such gatherings. Since the Jamiat ahle hadith are not from any of the four schools of thought, they are considered as a different species and the special " Jewish Agent ". There is no point in talking about the Shia Muslims here, who are not even 'Muslims' for many Sunni Muslims. The Ahl e Hadiths are very articulate in terming anybody and everybody as Kafirs, all those who are not from Jamiat Ahl e Hadith. According to them, no school of thought is proper and hence there should be no adherence to any. The common claim against the Ahl e Hadiths is that they receive huge amount of petro-dollars to create rift between all the groups of Muslims. One of my friends, who is now at University of Westminster, London considered the Darul uloom Deoband as the 'Madrassas' Factory' of Asia and strongly objected to the mushrooming of madrassas everywhere in the country. I was very annoyed at his observation but after his explanation, I was forced to rethink. He said that the so-called madrassas have strangulated the spirit of education. The madrassas have only helped in preventing the children from turning into Kafirs and that's it. The madrassas of Bukhara and Samarkand produced scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers,
Drafts by Sheikh Khurshid Alam
There is paucity of research on the possibility of the appointment of Muslim women to the office ... more There is paucity of research on the possibility of the appointment of Muslim women to the office of Muslim Marriage Registrar (MMR) and Qazi. Generally in India and particularly in West Bengal the word 'Qazi' has become a misnomer. During my course of research whenever I asked people as to what did they understand by 'Qazi', they answered that 'Qazi' means Judge. The office of the MMR & Qazi is not the office of the 'Qazi – the judge' in the strict sense of the term because in India there is no idea of parallel judiciary. The ignorance of this fact that MMR & Qazi and the Judge are not the one and the same, has led to declaration and issuance of various fatwas that Muslim women cannot be a Qazi. I believe that when such fatwas are issued then the issuer had the same idea of the word Qazi as the masses have. It took India almost five decades, since its independence from the British to have Shabnam Ara Begum of East Midnapore in the State of West Bengal as the first women Qazi in the year 2004. The present article is an attempt to look into the issue of gender bias in the matter of appointment of Muslim women as MMR & Qazi.
The decriminalization of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court in the Naz Foundation case had drawn... more The decriminalization of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court in the Naz Foundation case had drawn mixed reactions in 2010 across all over India. For some it was a ray of hope towards a life free from constant fear of being pushed behind the bars and for some it was another opportunity to get into the limelight by joining protest marches against homosexuality, gay marriages and moral corruption in society. A year earlier, in 2009, my team from Department of law, University of Calcutta had participated in the Moot Court competition organized by Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi on the same burning topic of Section 377. Honestly speaking, I had also joined many protest marches and demonstrations against the Delhi High Court's Judgement and even written against the evil of homosexuality. However, my view regarding homosexuality is the same today as it was in 2009 but today I am in support of decriminalization of Section 377. Section 377 (Unnatural offences) of the I.P.C, 1860 states that " Whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine. " All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is in the forefront along with other organisations in opposing the decriminalization of Section 377 and I fail to understand the rationale behind it. There is no direct nexus between the decriminalization of Section 377 and moral corruption of the society. The relevant issue is that why should the State have the right to interfere with what is going on inside the room between consenting adults? Do Muslims believe that their struggles against the decriminalization of Section 377 going to make their society morally sound? I differ from the stand of many Muslims and Muslim Organizations regarding their opinion and struggle to get a favorable judgement of criminalizing Section 377 from the Supreme Court, where the matter is pending.
There is something which has been troubling me a lot for quite many years. At one point of time, ... more There is something which has been troubling me a lot for quite many years. At one point of time, I stopped pondering over the issue, out of the fear of losing my Imaan but the incident of Prophet Ibrahim (pbuh) – where his curious mind asks Allah Almighty that how can a dead, whose flesh and blood dissipates in the earth, be brought back to life on the Day of Judgment – vanished my fears. Allah does not get angry with Khalilullah for raising question of such a nature, rather, He answers him with a beautiful practical demonstration. The cause of my trouble is the myriad differences among the Ummah. Each group leaves no stone unturned to malign the other. 'Jewish Agent' is the favourite slang used as a reference for the other. The Barelvis term the Deobandis as 'Jewish Agent', the Deobandis call the Jama'at e Islami people as 'Jewish Agent', for the Tableeghi Jamaat people, the Wahabbis are 'Jewish Agent', the Jamiat Ahl e Hadith calls the Barelvis as 'Jewish Agent' and this interesting name-calling continues in all the forms of cycles. File Photo used for illustration purpose only The people to have the last laugh are the real " Jewish Agent " , who do not have to spend a single penny for promotion or hire any personnel to do their job; as everything is meticulously done by so many groups of Muslims. There is a great saying in Bhojpuri – 'Hing lage na Fitkari, rang bhi aae chowka'. Even if we put aside this groupism, we cannot escape the fight between the people of different 'school of thought'. In the Indian sub-continent, the Hanafis boast the majority in terms of following. The Hanafi scholars are always found saying that all the four Madhabs are true and the Muslims are free to choose from any of these but the truth is that these very scholars and their followers show the worst form of intolerance towards anybody outside the fold of Hanafi school of thought. The Hanbalis, Shafaeis and Malikis are looked upon as outcast in most of the Hanafi Masjids and such gatherings. Since the Jamiat ahle hadith are not from any of the four schools of thought, they are considered as a different species and the special " Jewish Agent ". There is no point in talking about the Shia Muslims here, who are not even 'Muslims' for many Sunni Muslims. The Ahl e Hadiths are very articulate in terming anybody and everybody as Kafirs, all those who are not from Jamiat Ahl e Hadith. According to them, no school of thought is proper and hence there should be no adherence to any. The common claim against the Ahl e Hadiths is that they receive huge amount of petro-dollars to create rift between all the groups of Muslims. One of my friends, who is now at University of Westminster, London considered the Darul uloom Deoband as the 'Madrassas' Factory' of Asia and strongly objected to the mushrooming of madrassas everywhere in the country. I was very annoyed at his observation but after his explanation, I was forced to rethink. He said that the so-called madrassas have strangulated the spirit of education. The madrassas have only helped in preventing the children from turning into Kafirs and that's it. The madrassas of Bukhara and Samarkand produced scientists, mathematicians, astronomers, philosophers,