Al Haqeeqa
Lok Sabha has passed the Triple Talaq Bill. I have always been an opponent of Triple Talaq and consider it totally un-Islamic. But the truth is that the Triple Talaq Bill does not ban but validates it making it valid but punishable under law with 3 years imprisonment. The argument being presented is that it is in tune with Quranic injunctions on Triple Talaq. It is not. Of course Quran prescribes a method of Talaq which allows reconciliation within three months and the Talaq becomes operable only after the period of Iddah (extended till the completion of the prenatal, natal and in my opinion also postnatal period). The Bill passed by Lok Sabha instead of rejecting Triple Talaq and directing the husband to follow the proper procedure accepts it as valid meaning that Talaq has taken place and punishes the husband with three years’ imprisonment.
The imprisonment clause is in tune with the current international system of justice which allows commercialization of crimes as well as justice. Prisons all over the world have become a huge industry. All this is being discussed in detail in my forthcoming book, “Justice Imprisoned”. The Talaq Bill will help in further swelling the population of prisons. In India the communal considerations will of course also play a big role. The families of the culprits including the divorced wives and their children with the former husbands will be deprived of the social and economic protection and will land them in more trouble.
If the Government is really worried about the ill effects of the Triple Talaq it should better come with a Bill that binds the husband to keep the wife back and start the Quranic procedure of Talaq if he really wants to divorce her. The Ulama on their part should not hesitate to benefit from the provisions of those fiqhs and fuqaha that do not accept instant Talaq as valid.
The Bill in the current form does not stand the demands of social justice and is destined to cause more problems. It will further jeopardize the already weakening family system.
Dr Javed Jamil is India based thinker and writer and Head of Chair in Islamic Studies & research, Yenepoya University, Mangalore, with over a dozen books including his latest, “Muslim Vision of Secular India: Destination & Road-map” and “Qur’anic Paradigms of Sciences & Society” (First Vol: Health), “Muslims Most Civilised, Yet Not Enough” and Other works include “The Devil of Economic Fundamentalism”, “The Essence of the Divine Verses”, “The Killer Sex”, “Islam means Peace” and “Rediscovering the Universe”. He can be contacted at doctorforu123”yahoo.com.
http://www.milligazette.com/news/16063-triple-talaq-bill-does-not-ban-but-validates-it
