Muslim women outfits come out against meeting

KOZHIKODE: The Muslim women wings across the state have strongly come out against a meeting which was organised at Kozhikode on Saturday by various organisations to decide the stand on triple talaq. The meeting which was attended by almost all Muslim male organisations reached the conclusion that Uniform Civil Code is against secular principles and there is no need for a reform in Muslim personal law.
The meeting also decided to boycott the questionnaire issued by the Law Commission of India.
Meanwhile, the women’s wings of all Muslim organisations have come out in the open for not inviting them to the meeting which was called to discuss serious matters like triple talaq. “We want to reiterate with full consciousness that the meeting was ridiculous. The topics under discussion were something that affect half of the community. Yet, not even a single Muslim women’s organisation was invited to the meeting.

These kind of regressive actions from the part of religious clergy give a chance to Sangh Parivar to strengthen its propaganda about suppressed Muslim women, said Kerala Muslim Mahila Andolan state convener Sabeena T K.
The organisations including Mujahid and Jamaat-e Islami had earlier announced their disagreement with the practice of triple talaq. “The stoic silence of so called progressive factions shows the double standards of religious organisations in women’s matters,” Sabeena added.
“Triple talaq is un-Islamic and we strongly believe that there is a need for a reform in Muslim personal law. We should have been invited to the meeting which discussed such women related issues,” said Muslim Girls and Women’s Movement (MGM) president Khadeeja Nargis.

“We had already demanded for a discussion within the organisation. Usually, all matters are discussed in committees where women are present. But, the fact that we were kept away from this meeting is really shocking,” said the president of Jamaate Islami women’s wing, Safiya Ali.
When Sunni faction led by Kanthapuram AP Aboobacker Musliar stayed away from the meeting, representatives of E K Sunni, Jamaat-e Islami, Mujahid Madavoor, Kerala Nadvathul Mujahideen (KNM) and Muslim Educational Society (MES) were present.