1Shariat Courts and Women’s Rights in India*

India’s 65 million Muslim women, often called a minority within a minority their double handicap of gender and faith, are challenging medieval religious laws that have oppressed them for centuries. In recent years, Muslim women have fought fundamentalist interpretations of Islamic law (Sharia), which have long allowed men in India to divorce their wives for trivial matters and deny them financial support, asking the courts to take into consideration basic human rights. This is very much evident from the reaction of Muslim women against the release of model nikahnama and the clauses mentioned in this regarding marital issues. The recent release of model Nikahnama by the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) and its campaign over establishing and strengthening Shariat Courts/Darul Qazas in order to dispense quick justice to women according to the Quran has created confusion and debate within and outside the community. In presidential address of AIMPLB Bhopal convention in 2005, the president of AIMPLB, Sayyed Muhammad Rabe Hasani Nadvi, made the statement once again claiming that Darul Qazas were a necessity because there was little hope for getting decisions based on the Shariah from judges in state court’. He further insisted upon the need for Darul Qazas throughout the country and opposed Muslims taking their disputes to non-Muslim judges, a practice that he argues is ‘not i