If any attempt is made to impose UCC against the will of the people, it is bound to lead to severe reaction, and the Muslim community will have the right to use all peaceful methods to oppose any such action.
Dr Javed Jamil | Clarion India
WHO is interested in Uniform Civil Code (UCC)? The clamour for UCC comes from at least three forces.
First are forces of Hindutva (not the Hindu community at large), less out of any ideological convictions, and more out of a desire to dominate. They think that for Hindus to be united as a monopolising power, the best course of action would be to pose Muslims and their religion as threats to Hindus and their religion and to ensure that they are not allowed to develop into a socially, economically and politically powerful community at par with Hindus.
Second, is market forces which regard moral and family values enshrined in religions as a massive obstacle in their plans of turning human beings into commercial beings. They are particularly aggressive towards Islam, because it has a clear distinction between permitted and prohibited, and its followers are determined believers in their religious system. The market forces seek to commercialise every human weakness.
Third is leftist forces whose socio-economic ideology does not recognise religion altogether.
The myth of uniformity: Different laws in India
Laws are not only different in different states on the ground of their special status but also related to the issues of various prohibitions, taxes, etc. Articles giving different statuses to different states include:
* 369, Parliammt’s right to enact different laws for different states
* 371 (Special provision for Maharashtra and Gujarat) 371A (Nagaland)
* 371B (Assam)
* 371C (Manipur)
* 371D & 371E (Andhra Pradesh and Telangana)
* 371F (Sikkim)
* 371G (Mizoram)
* 371H (Arunachal Pradesh)
* 371I (State of Goa)
Article 370 has recently been abrogated.
Then, till recently there was Armed Forces Special Powers Act for Tripura.
Despite Hindi being the national language, the language policy of different states is different. In Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, languages other than Hindi are official.
Laws related to alcohol and cow slaughter are also different in different states. There is no ban on cow slaughter in Arunachal, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura, Sikkim, Kerala and West Bengal.
Reservation policy in education and jobs is different for different states and for different communities.
Even tax policies vary from state to state.
Directive Principles
First, they are only guidelines and not enforceable.
Second, Article 44 related to UCC is not the only directive principle not yet enforced. For example, there is a directive principle that the State shall work towards reducing economic inequality as well as inequalities in status and opportunities, not only among individuals but also among groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations. Economic inequality in India is ever on the increase. Forbes’ list of 100 richest Indians shows wealth is concentrated only in a few hands, mainly upper caste Hindus.
Modernity is not acceptable as the basis of uniformity
Modern systems are totally unacceptable as a basis of UCC as they regard humans as commercial rather than human beings. Market-controlled feminism has done much greater damage to everyone especially women and children than any other system. “Rights” to women are in fact rights to men to enjoy, use and exploit women. Economics, not health or peace is supreme for them. This has led to all kinds of dangerous practices (in terms of effects on health) like promiscuity, gay, lesbianism, prostitution, alcohol, drugs and gambling. This leads to tens of millions of deaths due to sex-related diseases and crimes including lakhs of rapes. More than 70 million children are killed in wombs every year.
In a study, the University of Utah found that the number of women who have had sex with more than 15 partners is 7 per cent. And the overwhelming majority of the population is promiscuous. Gallup finds 7.1% of adult Americans are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender.
According to Childtrends, about 40 per cent of births in America occur outside marriage and nearly 24 million children live in single-parent families.
If India continues with these trends, it too will witness a sharp increase in all such problems including crimes related to live-in relationships and promiscuity.
Why Islamic Social System is perfect for human security (health of individuals, family health and social order)
Difference between Islamic and modern approaches:
Modernism seeks to disintegrate the family system as part of economic fundamentalism; in Islam, family issues are dealt with in accordance with the needs of all members of the family and society.
In modernity, family is an impediment to the growth of: the sex market, fashion market, hoteling, alcohol, drugs, gambling, etc.
In Islam, family is the pivot of social peace; and is a wall of safety against unhealthy sexual practices and exploitation; it protects women in their biological functions, and protects children against neglect and abuse; also provides huge protection against many diseases.
In modernity, a woman can become a prostitute, unmarried sex partner, unwed mother, or a single parent; in Islam, there is protection against all of these.
In Islam, the rights of men and women are based on their biological roles and social responsibilities towards each other and towards children; in modernism, these are based on the demands of the market.
Modernity allows premarital relationships but bans legal marriage before a specified age. In Islam, there is no scope for premarital sex; but marriage is allowed after biological adulthood, though mental and financial maturity is preferable.
Modernity allows promiscuity but bans polygamy. In Islam, there is absolutely no room for promiscuity; it allows restricted polygamy with women and their children enjoying full medical, legal, and social rights.
In modernism, in the name of financial liberty wives are being overburdened with work; they work making serious compromises with their family life, children being the greatest sufferers. In Islam, wives have the freedom to earn, but the responsibility of maintaining them and their children is of their husbands.
Status of women in Islam
Islam believes in equality, not uniformity. There is no uniformity in the biological functions and responsibilities of men and women. Women have a lot of biological burdens (pregnancy, breastfeeding, nurturing of children); so the responsibility of finances is on men who have to maintain wives and children. Killing girls has been fiercely condemned in Noble Qur’an. Women have the right to education, the right to choose their spouses, the right to take divorce, the right to maintenance throughout her married life, the right to have mehr in consideration of marriage, and the right to decide along with their husbands in matters of family planning, right to custody of children (till specific ages) if divorced, right to remarry if divorced or widowed, right to inheritance and right to bequeath. She has equal rights in religion and her status as a mother is considered much higher than the father’s.
Divorce
The divorce method in Islam is perfect, provided Qur’anic directions are followed, which give three months for reconciliation. Iddah (Waiting Period) is extremely crucial as it protects
(1) wives against immediate desertion;
(2) Unborn children;
(3) Identity of the father (if her pregnancy becomes known after she leaves, there may be doubts raised about the father)
(4) Pregnant woman; her Iddah will be extended till completion of childbirth;
(5) Iddah is of 90 days in divorce and 130 days for widows. So a woman can marry another man only after a gap of 90 days. This protects from sex-transmitted diseases as the incubation period of all STDs and the window period of AIDS is less than 90 days.
(6) Even after Iddah, she gets maintenance from her husband if she is breastfeeding;
(7) In the case of previous children, boys will be with her till the age of at least 7 years and girls till marriage, and the father will be responsible for their maintenance.
Polygamy versus promiscuity
It is ironic that polygamy is being attacked by those who have been promoting promiscuity all over the globe! In modernity, one can have relations with as many women as possible, without attracting any legal action, but cannot have a second legal wife. Unlike promiscuity, polygamy protects the social and legal status of women. Polygamy is also not associated with sexually transmitted diseases the way promiscuity is. It is because unlike in promiscuity where both men and women normally have several relationships, mostly casual, in polygyny, man has long-term relations with women (a maximum of four, which too is rare), none of whom has relations with any other man. Thus, polygyny is self-limiting and medically minimally hazardous, and promiscuity is all-enveloping and medically enormously dangerous. It is practically impossible for even a significant minority to become polygamous, as the demography does not allow it, but it is a distinct possibility that a majority of the population becomes promiscuous.
There may be reasons for a second wife: No Children from a previous wife, her illness etc.; and it ensures that most of the women get married, especially if M/F ratio is in favour of women.
Polyandry is out of the question. It will also create problems regarding the paternity of children who will be the main sufferers. With women undergoing cycles of menstruation and pregnancy, it will be difficult to satisfy more husbands. If both husbands and wives are allowed multiple spouses, it will in effect lead to promiscuity, which is extremely dangerous for health.
Islam allows polygyny but prefers monogamy. In Indian Muslims, the polygamy rate is extremely low.
Mehr
Apart from the inheritance, Islam gives a woman several economic rights in marriages. The first is “Mehr”, an amount (cash and kind), paid/promised by a husband to wife. Islamically, this should be paid right at the time of marriage but in India normally it is “promised”. In case of divorce, Qur’an asks men to give an additional amount as “Mataa bil Maruf”.
Holistic regime of hygiene in Islam
I. External Physical Hygiene
* Istanja (washing of private parts after urinating): protective effects against urogenital infection,
* Keeping garments clean,
* Wudu (ablution): This involves washing exposed organs and mouth, reducing risks of mouth infections, cardiovascular problems, skin infections and cancers and eye infections,
* Miswak (brushing of teeth) is highly promoted in the sayings of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): The use of miswak is a remarkable preventive effect on infective diseases of teeth, gums and several internal organs, and
* Ban on pork and discouraging keeping dogs in domestic areas act as prevention against swine flu and rabies which have killed crores during the last century.
II. Internal Physical Hygiene
* Total ban on alcohol, drugs, and
* ban on the flesh of dead animals, carnivorous animals, pork, blood, etc;
II. Sexual Hygiene
* Sex only with spouses. Sex during menses and the immediate postnatal period is not allowed. Washing of mouth and private parts soon after intercourse, and
* Circumcision (big protection against HIV, HPV cancer cervix and other STDs).
IV. Mental Hygiene
A total ban on activities such as pornography, watching sex and violence, and reading material corrupting thoughts, which can incite people to indulge in forbidden activities.
V. Spiritual Hygiene
Regular prayers: invocations; preaching; meditation; and charity
VI. Environmental Hygiene
Clean surroundings; not doing anything that pollutes air and water.
Almost all pandemics during the last 120 years, which have killed more than 200 million people (Swine Flu, AIDS, Rabies, Covid), had a direct relationship with non-compliance with Islamic guidelines.
Health is, in fact, an inseparable part of Islamic objectives. With proper practice, every year more than 80 million lives can be saved including two million murders; 2.2 million suicides; 2.5 million deaths due to AIDS; 2 million deaths associated with alcohol; 2 million deaths associated with gambling and drugs; 70 million cases of foeticide; and 60,000 deaths due to rabies.
Some recent modifications in law and their implications:
Love Jihad
The Uttar Pradesh Government passed a law on “Love Jihad” for criminalising any marriage of a Hindu girl with a Muslim boy if it leads to his conversion. The question is: Why Hindutva chauvinists are bringing in a law against ‘Love Jihad’ only and not against “love dharmayudh”? Why are they worried only about Muslim boys marrying Hindu girls, and not about Hindu boys marrying Muslim girls? Is there a sinister plan behind this? With the births of girls rapidly decreasing among newborns in Hindus in various states, are they planning to launch “love dharmayudh” in the future after making sure that ‘Love Jihad’ is banned? There have been reports about open calls to Hindu boys to marry Muslim girls.
Hindutva forces would better run a campaign against female infanticide rampant in Hindu society.
If any law was passed, it should have been applicable to both, boy-Hindu-girl-Muslim and boy-Muslim-girl-Hindu. What happened meant not just discrimination on grounds of religion but also on grounds of sex.
Increase in marriage age
The question arises: Why legal consent for sex, which is 16 in India, was not raised at the same time? Do they want more and more girls to be involved in pre-marital relationships paving the way for bigger commercialisation of sex and man-woman attraction?
Increasing the marriage age will help markets. The nightlife of all kinds will prosper.
One of the effects of this policy has already been visible in recent methods, with the killing of live-in partners regularly hitting the media.
Homosexuality
Supreme Court is all set to pronounce judgement on a petition wanting legalisation of same-sex marriages. SC has already legalised homosexuality. But facts cannot be totally buried.
Homosexuality remains the most dangerous out of all sexual proclivities. It involves an organ (anus) which no anatomist or physiologist can tell to be fit for sex. Only gay-market benefits. According to various reports men having sex with men have a life expectancy of 20-30 years less than heterosexuals. Even SC had accepted in its judgment that homosexuals are 8 times more likely to catch HIV/AIDS.
There is a difference between “homosexual rights” of humans and “human rights” of homosexuals. Homosexuals need attention: social and medical. They need to be protected from unauthorised punishments by other members of society and they need psychological support for giving up their habits.
Triple divorce
Another step taken by Modi Government was a ban on triple divorce. Its ordinance puts erring husbands behind bars for three years, which is inhuman and does not benefit the divorced wife and children in any way.
The two-child policy is also going to increase abortions, especially female foeticide.
It is to be noted that the Muslim community in India has an extremely low incidence of polygamy and divorce. Female foeticide among Muslims is rare, while it is common in Hindus, where dowry deaths still continue to take place. Muslims are also much less likely to indulge in drinking and gambling, which have a direct association with family disturbances. At world levels also crimes against women are extremely low in Islamic countries especially compared to Western nations.
Conclusion
In India, secularism does not mean the negation of religion but acceptance of the rights of the people to practice and propagate religion. Articles 15, 16, 25-29 are meant exactly for the same. An overwhelming majority strongly believes in religion and a strong family system and has specific kinds of family culture.
Any attempt to bring Uniform Civil Code will be opposed by Muslims. They cannot accept any UCC:
- * If based on modern concepts of freedom of sex;
- * If it tries to change laws related to family matters in Islam, like limited polygamy, divorce, etc;
- * If it accepts homosexuality, promiscuity and prostitution;
- * If it changes laws related to inheritance, which in Islam, are directly proportionate to the economic responsibilities of men and women;
Family planning through temporary methods is acceptable, putting a ban on the number of children will aggravate abortions, especially female infanticide;
If it takes steps to promote marriages of Muslim girls with Hindus (while maintaining a ban on marriage of Muslim boys with Hindu girls);
If rights to use Waqf properties in the interest of the community are affected;
If it seeks to create obstacles in practices like azaan (call to prayers), namaz (prayers), fasting and Hajj;
Muslims themselves need to follow Islamic Shariah in true spirit. Muslims tend to ignore the rights of women in inheritance. Rules related to mehr and divorce need to be properly put into practice.
Finally, If any attempt is made to impose UCC against the will of the people, it is bound to lead to severe reaction, and the Muslim community will have the right to use all peaceful methods to oppose any such action.
Muslims will favour moves bringing religions together on grounds of common morality and will oppose any move creating hatred on grounds of religious identities.
In order to save mankind from total ruin, we have to rethink our philosophies:
* We have to recognise — legally, socially, medically and economically the importance of family in a healthy, peaceful and prosperous society;
* We have to recognise that any work useful for society is an economic activity, which should be measured in terms of benefits rather than currency;
* We have to define a work as “dangerous” if it poses a threat to health, family peace, or social order.
* A preference for certain professions should be shown for women seeking work outside homes like medical, teaching, and social work involving women and children;
* There should be schemes that make it possible for women to work from home.
Every woman is a working woman. Housewives should be respected as house managers.
Let there be a nationwide survey conducted by asking questions:
Should there be a ban on alcohol? extramarital and premarital relationships? gambling? prostitution? nakedness and pornography? homosexuality?
Let these be surveyed by the Law Commission!
In the past, Law Commission has also not opined in favour of Uniform Civil Code.
India takes pride in unity in diversity. It is well recognised that recognition of diversity in culture and religion leads to unity and attempts to force uniformity disturbs unity.
Finally, while all religions will find it hard to accept UCC, Muslims will not support any change in laws, which go contrary to the spirit of Qur’an and Sunnah.
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Dr Javed Jamil is an India-based thinker and writer and Chair in Islamic Studies & Research, Yenepoya University, Mangalore. He has authored over 20 books. The views expressed here are author’s personal.
