KOZHIKODE: IUML state secretary K M Shaji on Monday said there was a political agenda behind the controversy over the Muslim laws on inheritance. Speaking at a seminar on ‘Inheritance: Sharia, Law, Justice’ organised by the Wafy Alumni Associationin Kozhikode, Shaji said it is no coincidence that BJP leader M T Ramesh was among the first to welcome the re-marriage of advocate C Shukkur.
“The presence of Musthafa (CPM leader V P P Musthafa) at the registration of the marriage is also conspicuous,” he said. Shaji said a person cannot pick and choose the one he or she likes from the Islamic practices. Once a person decides to embrace Islam, he or she should accept all its laws. There is no compulsion on anyone to remain in Islam, Shaji said.
He criticised atheists for meddling in matters of the religion. “I said it during the time of the controversy over women’s entry to Sabarimala. If you cannot agree with the practices, you can decide not to visit the temple,” he said.
Social activist Hameed Chennamangaloor said the claim that Sharia is a divine law and hence cannot be amended is baseless. “Islamic scholar Ziauddin Sardar has stated that though the Quran is divine, the same cannot be said for Islamic laws that were codified by the scholars 200 years after the death of the Prophet,” he said.
“Iranian scholar Abdolkarim Soroush too said the Quran is divine but the body of religious scholarship is not. Religious scholarship is the human understanding of the religion. The laws are interpretations of the scholars and therefore, they are not divine,” he said.
Abdul Hakeem Faizi, general secretary of the Confederation of Islamic Colleges, inaugurated the seminar. Columnist O Abdulla, Hasan Wafy Mannarkkad and others attended.