Main Sadiya

"Sadiya Ashraf Syed hazir ho" called out the boy

In ushered Sadiya, a petite fair woman in her mid thirties wearing a lemon green Kurti, white plazzo pants and white ducats. She was flanked by her two kids Haneefa, 7 and Ammar 3 and her mother and father.

"Ashraf Syed hazir ho" called out the boy

In ushered Ashraf, a tall well built guy with a charming personality. He had his mother in tow with him.

As both the parties seated themselves in front of them, the judge asks

"What brought you here"

"Honourable sir, my client has also applied for KHULA at the Imarat Sharia, which is the Muslim Law Board", informed Preeti Saxena, Sadiya' s lawyer

"What is this KHULA" inquired the judge inquisitively

"Its the right which is given to muslim women wherein they can opt for separation from their husband if they don’t wish to stay together any longer" the lawyer briefly explained

"Oh really. I thought Islam had no rights for women" the judge Omkar pandit said impressed

"There are many things people don,t know about Islam, thanks to the media which just portrays a section of the laws hailing Islam as being Anti women, anti peace just for a handful of people the whole community has to suffer" shared Sadiya shaking her head

All present in the room nodded in agreement. Islam as a religion or for that matter any religion preaches peace.it is we the humans who have divided ourselves in different religions caste, creed. All religions preach GOD IS ONE but how many actually practice it????

Anyways the lawyer continued

"My client Sadiya Ashraf Syed doesn't wish to continue this relationship on grounds that her husband is infidel and also he has been physically abusing her" Preeti informed

"Domestic violence is something not acceptable but infidelity....in Islam 4 marriages are allowed so why pretend" the judge smirked

"With due respect Sir I agree that Islam allows four marriages. It is legal in Islam but there are many conditions attached to it

1. If a person is marrying again, he needs to take consent if his first wife is still alive

2. You need to give equal rights to all your wives

3.if a person is a widower and he has a young kid then to take care of that kid he can remarry

4.all the kids that you bear from every relation that you make have equal rights in the property

5. If there is widow who needs support he can marry her to become her guardian

So Islam in no way encourages polygamy. It has done things to ensure that our females are safe and the way its shown on tv "talaq talaq talaq" and divorce happens, is all false"

The judge had to eat his words.

"Please continue" he ordered

"Sir he and his family have been abusive physically as well as mentally. My client did her best to tolerate things but now things are spiralling out of control. She has 2 kids and she doesn't want them to be a party to all this at such a tender age"continued Preeti

"Hmmm well so now the question goes to you Mr Raunak Khandelwal, lawyer for Ashraf Syed" he asked looking at him

"Sir these are all false allegations. Actually she herself is characterless and now she’s putting all the blame on my client" he continued

"Characterless in what sense...kindly elaborate" asked Preeti

"She is into online business of dress materials and in the garb of that she chats with men and goes on dates with them" he continued

Sadia let out a smirk.

"What is it Mrs. Syed" the judge asked a bit annoyed

"Sir ulta chor kotwal ko daante" she responded

"Kindly elaborate so that we all can understand" he demanded

"Sir first of all that business that he’s talking about was set up by me from my MEHER amount and the DUKHTARI that I received from my grandfather" she told

Everyone in the room looked at each other as if she had spoken Latin and Greek.

"MEHER is the amount the groom pays to the bride at the time if marriage. As per our Shariah it is the basic right of the bride. The meher amount that I had got from him was 1 lac rupees"

Most people were astonished listening to this. They never knew Islam had such provisions for women.

"DUKHTARI is the share in property that the children get. The Male child gets 75% while girl child gets 25%" she informed

There were murmurs that see Islam differentiates between males and females.

"I knew this would be the reaction. But the thing is why females get less is coz of the following reasons

1. The girls get MEHER amount from the grooms

2. The girl gets the share of the property of her husband if he is no more

So since girls already have other sources to get money, shariah suggested the share to be 25 % for girls and 75% for males so that it is fair on males.

Everyone’s mouth was wide open. They never ever knew that such thing always existed in Islam which other religions are trying to incorporate it today.

"Hmm well I guess we need to break now. The hearing would continue post lunch" said the judge and everyone proceeded for lunch.

After lunch the session started again.

"So let's proceed Mr. Khandelwal" pronounced the judge

"Yes sir and the next allegation on Mrs. Syed is that she did not follow the purdah system. She didn’t wear the BURKHA when she was categorically asked by the family to do so. This is considered vulgarity in their religion" he told in an animated manner

"Sir even I know what my limits are. Islam advocates PURDAH from GAIR MEHRAM. Doing purdah from GAIR MEHRAM means we should not even allow them to see an ounce of our skin.

Do you know what is GAIR MEHRAM" she asked

The whole court was bewildered by this term.

"GAIR MEHRAM means anybody to who we can be married....so now the question would be who is MEHRAM then???

MEHRAM includes the following

1. Husband

2. Father

3. Son

4. Father's brother (own chacha)

5. Mother's brother (own mama)

6. Chacha's wife (own chachi)

7. Mama's wife ( own mami)

Besides them everyone is GAIR MEHRAM WHICH MEANS YOU CAN GET MARRIED TO THEM"

The whole court was trying to understand the nuances.

"So technically we need to do PURDAH from all GAIR MEHRAM and you know what the first hukm to do PURDAH IS ON MALES.....it is written in Quran that ANY MALE SHOULD LOWER HIS GAZE IF ANY GAIR MEHRAM WOMAN COMES IN FRONT OF HIM. HE SHOULD LOWER HIS GAZE NOT FIND FAULTS OF HER THAT SHE IS DRESSED IN A PARTICULAR WAY....but does this happen in our society....how many men are that decent" she questioned

Everyone in the room began looking here and there. This was the bitter truth if the society.

"Men don’t leave any chance to ogle at women and the reason they give is that they are dressed immodestly. That's why in Quran it was mentioned to safeguard the honour of women wear a BURKHA but it should not be skin hugging or tight fitting like it has become the fashion statement of today" she continued

There was on drop silence in the room as everyone heard in awe and began to absorb all that was being told.

It was like they were enlightened and all their misconceptions were being cleared.

"Hmmm so any more allegations" the judge continued

Mr khandelwal nodded his head in denial.

"Ms Preeti Saxena the defence is yours" he pronounced

"My client has complaint that Mr.Syed hit her on several occasions and when they had got married, he tried to force himself on her making her uncomfortable. Also he had never disclosed about a genetic disease he was suffering and he was getting HIJAMA done for that"

"So what's wrong in that. HIJAMA IS SUNNAH in Islam just like KHATNA is sunnah" elaborated Mr. Syed

"Would you please care to elaborate to all present here what these terms mean" the judge requested

"HIJAMA is an ancient treatment wherein cupping system is used to heal a person of any ailment. Such thing exists in China too. It's a very effective mode of treatment for various skin diseases.

KHATNA as you must be knowing is the circumcision which Muslim males undergo and in recent medical science also it is proved that people who have got KHATNA done are at lesser risk of prostrate cancer"

The whole crowd was trying to digest the information that was being given to them.

"Well anything else that you would like to tell" asked the judge

"Sir the next allegation is that he tried to coax her to drink alcohol on various parties and also eat chicken which was not HALAL" informed her

"Sir ok fine drinking alcohol is no longer HARAAM sir. Its ok..chalta hai. As for chicken kya pata they can wrongly say HALAL hai ...are we going to the market to see if are cutting the head or doing ZABA...in zaba the throat is just slit half and the whole blood is let to flow so that it doesn't clot...in recent times it has been proven that it is more be official for health...anyways I don't see any harm in it" he just shrugged the shoulders

Sadiya shook her head in disdain and Preeti just nodded her head and asked her to calm down.

"Well is there anything else that we want to discuss here" asked the judge

"Yes sir the main reason why we are going for KHULA and not TALAQ" continued Preeti

"Sir my husband doesn't want to give me TALAQ and yes saying Talaq, talaq,talaq thrice doesnt end the relationship.

The way it works is if a husband says talaq thrice, he has the option of reverting it within a span of one month.

The wife stays in period of IDDAT for 4 months and 10 days. That means that she would not be in touch with any other person especially males in this time. The same happens when a muslim women's husband dies. she has to observe the period of IDDAT....WHY???

Coz scientifically it is proven that it takes that much time for the genetic code to be deleted from the system so that in future when she remarries, she doesn't carry any traces of the Gene's from her previous husband. ISLAM has always been PRO REMARRIAGE OF WIDOWS AND DIVORCEES.

There was pin drop silence in the court.

Even after this period of IDDAT if the husband doesn't try to win back his wife then the procedure for divorce begins and once it is signed you end up being GAIR MEHRAM and in case you wish to remarry that same person it is not possible.

Also the husband has to give all the maintenance to the wife.

And in case of children upto 7 years the custody lies with the mother. If the child is a boy child at he age of 7 years he is given the option of choosing between parents however for girls it is like till the time she is an adult she stays with the mother, the father ought to send maintenance. This is done to safeguard the modesty of girl child"

Everyone was in awe that Islamic laws were so precise and clear.

However in KHULA, the girl opts for separation based on many points like non compatibility, abusive husband or they dont get along well and in that case she would not be given any maintenance. It is on her will that she opts for it.

My client Mrs. Sadiya Ashraf Syed wants to opt for KHULA for which she has already appealed I Imarat Shariah

"I don’t accept this KHULA " thundered Ashraf Syed

The judge looked at him sternly and asked him to sit down.

"Why do you not want to go for KHULA" cross questioned the judge

"Cause I want to stay with my kids. I don’t want to be away from them. I shall miss my kids." He told teary eyed

"Then in that case you have to behave well with their mother. There should be no complains of physical or mental torture, no restrictions which are beyond a civil living, no calling names. There should be mutual trust and respect " explained the judge

Even Sadiya nodded her head in agreement.

"So Mrs Sadiya Ashraf Syed, are you ready to give this relationship one more chance "questioned the judge

She looked towards her kids, her parents and her lawyers. The message they all conveyed was to give it another chance.

"I would like to give it another chance but yes whenever my self respect or dignity is hurt, I won't think twice to back out" she responded

"I will keep a check on it. Please come back with my kids" requested Ashraf

Sadiya agreed and the case was declared null and void.

There are differences in each an every relationship. However when it threatens your peace of mind and self respect, we should stand against it. Fight for your rights coz God has also said that "anyay karne se zada anyay sehna paap hai"

As Sadiya had reconciled for the sake of her kids, she continued staying with Ashraf. One month went fine. Again the abuses started following by raising hand at Sadiya.

That was the last nail on the coffin.

There and then she went to the police station and filed a complaint of physical abuse against her husband and mother in law.

She then filed a case for KHULA again with the court. Finally the day of hearing arrived after a good two months.

The judge Omkar Pandey continued

"So what brings you here again Mrs. Syed" he asked

"Sir I have the authority to represent my own case. As per the last reconciliation with my husband it was clearly laid down that if he did not mend his ways we would separate" she told

"Yes I know so what happened now" he asked concerned

"Sir he has raised his hand on several occasions. Every now and then tells me to get out of the house. Hurls abuses at me and my parents. When I ask him about share I property he conveniently says that you have come with this agenda of getting one house in your hand" tears streamed down her eyes

"Unfortunately my parents are still forcing me to reconcile……why...coz they are perturbed what the society will say..its irrelevant to them that their daughter is going through mental trauma and might have a nervous breakdown. Shes in the midst of having of an emotional roller coaster…..we are mothers how can we not think about children. As if we gave birth to them on our own. The father is equally responsible for the child. Let him also take equal responsibility. I don’t want to stay with this man.

My kids can decide where they want to stay but as per law since they are young they ought to stay with me.

I am done with the everyday chick chick. I want to live life not just pass years which I have done all these 10 years. Now God has given me an opportunity to live life. Please accept my petition of KHULA" she summarised

The judge was also literally in tears.

"We need to send a notice to him to attend the court only then we can decide" he informed

Ashraf was summoned and he gave his side of the story which was mostly false.

The judge saw through it and ruled the case in favour of Sadia.

Today Sadiya is leading a happy life with her kids. Her kids meet their father twice in 1 week.

As I said earlier also "anyay sehna bhi utna bada paap hai jitna anyay sehna". Stand up for yourselves love yourself coz if you don’t no one else will ever love you.