INDI A

SINGAPORE

M A L AY S I A

Notion Press No.8, 3rd Cross Street, CIT Colony, Mylapore, Chennai, Tamil Nadu – 600004 First Published by Notion Press 2021 Copyright © Dr. Noorjehan Safia Niaz 2021 All Rights Reserved. ISBN 978-1-63806-661-3 This book has been published with all efforts taken to make the material error-free after the consent of the author. However, the author and the publisher do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any party for any loss, damage, or disruption caused by errors or omissions, whether such errors or omissions result from negligence, accident, or any other cause. While every effort has been made to avoid any mistake or omission, this publication is being sold on the condition and understanding that neither the author nor the publishers or printers would be liable in any manner to any person by reason of any mistake or omission in this publication or for any action taken or omitted to be taken or advice rendered or accepted on the basis of this work. For any defect in printing or binding the publishers will be liable only to replace the defective copy by another copy of this work then available.

CONTENTS

Foreword5 Preface7 Acknowledgments11 Introduction13 Bader Sayeed – Her Journey

19

Shehnaaz Sheikh – Special Story

32

Personal Stories Brief Introduction to BMMA Leaders

41

1  Farhat Amin, Odisha

46

2  Qazi Jeibunnisa Riyaz, Tamil Nadu

59

3  Qazi Zubeda Khatoon Shaikh, Maharashtra

69

4  Mariya Salim, West Bengal

84

5  Qazi Nasreen Metai, Karnataka

93

6  Naseem Mansuri, Gurjat

101

7  Qazi Nishat Hussein, Rajasthan

106

8  Niyazmeen Dahiya, Delhi

129

9  Noorjehan Diwan, Gujrat

139

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4 • Contents

10  Rahima Khatoon, West Bengal

149

11  Qazi Safia Akhtar, Madhya Pradesh

159

Co-Founders 12  Zakia Soman

179

13  Noorjehan Safia Niaz

193

Issues 14  Perceptions about Gender

223

15  Politics and Muslim Women

235

16  Faith, Strength and Challenges

246

17  India and Indian Muslim Women

255

18  Politics of Hate and Indian Muslim Women

261

19  Way Forward

278

FOREWORD

Society in our country whether we accept it or not, is patriarchal. All books, articles, biographies are devoted to the men of India’s civil society, much more frequently than to women. When an initiative is taken to portray and highlight the life stories of women leaders of our country, the result is the book in your hand by Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz of the Bharat Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA). The second section of the book is the most informative and is a must read. It details achievements of several of the women leaders of BMMA. You may approve most of the choices, but the book deserves to be read by all Muslims to keep our sense of current history, and by other communities for a perspective of Muslim women’s participation in the development of our nation, India, and the struggles for their freedom. The 14 women chronicled in this book have gone through many challenges to emerge as leaders of the community. They have shown exemplary courage despite many not having formal education. They have challenged the entrenched patriarchy and have led from the front in their fight for equality and justice. The leaders are true to their slogan of ‘My Struggle, My Leadership’ – Jiski Ladai Uski Agwai. 5

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This book is inspiring and provides a great impetus to any women to question patriarchy and find the courage to lead the change and bring in sustainable transformation in the society. Zakia Soman and Noorjahan Safia Niaz’s effort goes a long way in unveiling the Muslim women’s leadership and puts the Muslim women on its well-deserved pedestal. Bader Sayeed Advocate High Court – Chennai President – ROSHNI Chennai

PREFACE

This book happened in the midst of the pandemic when each of the BMMA leaders were involved in relief work to the most poor and distressed families, not just Muslims but all those who needed it. They showed exemplary confidence, fearlessness and deep passion to serve people. This is a qualitative study of 15 Muslim women in India. A lot has been written about Indian Muslim women as victims of her circumstances, of her religion and culture and of patriarchy. But not much has been written about Indian Muslim women’s leadership, her contribution and her achievements; especially of the last decade. And especially of those Muslim women who come from very humble and poor backgrounds. As they fought patriarchy on a daily basis, they also created their own voice and agency for facilitating transformation in the lives of fellow women. This study uses her language and her experiences to present herself to the world. Each leader presented here is completely intertwined with the community; she is the community, and she speaks not just as a woman but also as a Muslim woman, 7

8 • Preface

about her experiences, perspectives, worldview, of herself and the world around her. These are Muslim women’s personal stories of leadership in their private and public realm. These narrations have been left out by more historical documents. Even the present-day reporting is all about her being a victim of the system and its patriarchal practices; the way all along Shahbanu was depicted. Whereas, in reality Shahbanu actually challenged her discrimination in the court of law and the case went right up to the Supreme Court of the country and yet she is a victim! And the historical records and documented stories have not given as much attention to Shehnaaz Sheikh who also approached the Supreme Court to challenge the discriminatory practices within the Muslim family law. We are happy to have Shehnaaz Shaikh write a short summary of her struggles and challenges in this book. When women tell their stories, they are giving meaning to their own lives. When they chronicle their own realities, they give life to their own narratives. While they share their life in their own words they also add to the world of knowledge of feminism. Their stories bring in more nuances in the ever-expanding understanding of gender studies. In a world torn apart by strife, poverty, despair and deprivation, their stories stand out like beacons of hope. As they unravel their lives for the world to know, they also enhance the ever-increasing need for feminization of leadership across all spectrums of life. The purpose of the study was also to fill up the pages of feminist history with voices of Muslim women through their own lenses and their own voices and

Preface • 9

to highlight the leadership potential and impact of Muslim women, her agency, her education, her fierce commitment and her fearlessness in the face of adversity. It is meant to create a historical record for future generations to inspire them and to educate them about the legacy that they have inherited. It is also meant to inspire more and more women to take up the charge of themselves, their community and their country. Dr. Noorjehan Safia Niaz Zakia Soman

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

First big thank you goes to Adv. Bader Sayeed for agreeing to write the foreword for this book and also for sharing her life history. Deep gratitude and solidarity with Shehnaaz Shaikh who set a precedent for future generation of Muslim women to come forward and fight for their rights. We thank all BMMA leaders for coming forward from their busy schedules to share their stories. We thank the publishers Notion Press for publishing this book. This is the 4th book with them and they have lived up to their professional commitment and a time bound delivery of their promises. We also take the opportunity, on behalf of our entire BMMA team to thank our respective family members, friends, colleagues for supporting us in our journeys. It would have been difficult without their unflinching support.

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INTRODUCTION

As you hold this book in your hands or on your screen, the country is going through a deep churning. The year 2020 too has been a huge challenge at all levels. While the largest democracy shows the door to its autocrat and brings in a brown South Asian woman as its first vice-president, India is struggling to keep afloat its democratic edifice, bombarded by a slew of fascist measures. From lynchings of Muslim youth to ‘Corona Jihad’, Islamophobia is at its peak. Whether we see a formal Hindu rashtra or not is yet to be determined, but the masses are up and rising. In January 2020, Shaheen Baugs across the country indicated the capacity of Muslim women to not just fight her own battles within the community but also take on the state by its horns. The fight against CAA/NRC/NPR saw students, academics and ordinary women, especially Muslim women out on the streets defending the very idea of India. They rose not just as Muslim women but as citizens of this country. In this context of heightened anti-Muslim stance by the state, Muslim women represented by BMMA have been fighting for their rights within the family. Inspite of 13

14 • Introduction

being accused of being ‘used’ by the state for its Muslim bashing, and inspite of being called RSS-BJP-VHP, BMMA has continued its demand for a comprehensive codified gender just Muslim family law. It is these very circumstances that have been quoted time and again refraining Muslim women from taking up their fight for their legal rights. They said, time is not right. Well, Muslim women are not waiting for the right time. The time is now. As we speak up against state atrocities, we continue to demand our rights from, not this or that party, but from the Parliament as an institution. Muslim women have always been the centre of many academic and non-academic studies. This is an attempt to vocalise an ordinary and conventional Muslim women’s unique history, struggles, achievements in her own language and style. It is opening a window through which one sees how she lived, how she was, what she contributed. Muslim women in India are fighting patriarchy of the larger society as well as the patriarchy entrenched in their community identity, and patriarchy that emerges because of faulty male interpretations of the religious texts. They struggle to assert for their rights within and outside the community. Most of the last 7 decades of her life as an Indian, she has been told to choose one over the other; choose the rights of the community over her own rights within as well as those emanating from the state. She and her issues were invisibalised and made to be sacrificed for the larger interest. That she is also ‘community’ never really occurred or mattered to the patriarchal mindset both within and outside the

Introduction • 15

community. This time around, she is not only fighting for own rights within the community but also fighting as an Indian and stands before the state as an equal citizen. Islam does not have an institutionalized structure of the clerics on lines of Christianity. There is no Islamic ‘pope’ for final adherence. And yet clerics in India had organized themselves into institutions like AIMPLB, DUD etc. to give themselves the legitimacy and also seek the same from the larger community. These structures neither have religious sanctity or power emanating from religion nor do they have any state power. They just gave that power to themselves. This power was used or rather misused by the state for their political gains but other than that these religious organizations had no religion sanctioned authority or legitimacy. Since they themselves lacked legitimacy, Muslim women in India did not feel the need to even consider approaching them for their own legitimacy. And Muslim women’s legitimacy comes from their own lived experience of patriarchy and the strong need to challenge that. In the last decade Indian Muslim women have challenged the traditional religious male groups and rendered them open to being questioned. There was a time when the ulemas were taken very seriously. They are even now by a certain section but their hold has definitely loosened. They passed illogical and ridiculous fatwas bringing embarrassment to the community. They also justified all discriminatory practices against women as legal and Islamic, rendering opposition to it as heretical and blasphemous. Muslim women by entering the domain of religion challenged the very institution of these religious leaders. She not just commented and expressed her views on religion but also took a step

In this book the authors have tried to fill up the pages of feminist history with the voices of Muslim women through their own lenses and their own voices. This collection of memoirs is meant to highlight the leadership potential and impact of a Muslim woman, her agency, her education, her fierce commitment and her fearlessness in the face of adversity. It is meant to create a historical record for future generations to inspire them and to educate them about the legacy that they have inherited. It is also meant to inspire more and more women to take up the charge of themselves, their community and their country.

Zakia Soman and Noorjehan Safia Niaz are the co-founders of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan [Indian Muslim Women’s Movement]. They have been leading BMMA since 2007 and in the last 13 years have mobilized lakhs of Muslim women, enabled their leadership and created an alternative voice and agency within the community. Notable amongst their achievements is the legislation against triple divorce, training women qazis, setting up Women’s Shariat Courts and entry into the Haji Ali dargah through a Supreme Court judgment. Price 350