Muslim body to oppose marriage registration

LUCKNOW: Riled by the decision to make the registration of marriages mandatory, the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) is set for a showdown with the Centre. The general body meeting of the apex Muslim body, to be held soon, is expected to be stormy with the clergy ready to tear into the "insidious designs to infringe the Shariat rules".
AIMPLB member Zafaryab Jilani said the board had made its reservations on the issue clear three years ago when the proposal was first floated.A committee headed by Maulana Ibrahim Rasool Ilyasi had conducted a survey of all states and presented a report to then law minister Veerappa Moily.
The findings, Jilani claimed, stated that while registration for certain official dealings was acceptable, holding it up as a prime condition, the violation of which could nullify a marriage, would be deemed a gross violation of Muslim personal law. Jilani is now the additional advocate general of UP.
"Our stand is unambiguous," said Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangimahali, head of Islamic Centre. "Let the government make the registration voluntary and not link it to the legal acceptance of nikah. The government must carry out suitable changes and make the nikahnama an officially acceptable registration," Firangimahali said.
The issue now threatens to turn into a gender war. "The nikahnama introduced by the board three years ago categorically makes registration of nikah a pre-condition," said All India Muslim Women Personal Law Board president Shaista Ambar. "This provision guarantees security of marital rights to Muslim females," she said, adding, "Lack of official proof of matrimony has wrecked many lives. Moreover, registration is handy for procuring pension of a deceased husband or for property rights."
The women's board, she added, has appealed to President Pratibha Patil to include registration clause in the Muslim Marriage Act and so far more than 100 progressive couples have opted for the new nikahnama.
Darul Uloom, Deoband, has also come out in open to "safeguard Shariat laws". Its spokesman Ashraf Usmani said, "The move is decidedly anti-Islam and highly objectionable."