Deoband fatwa: It's illegal for women to work, support family

[Desi Cartman]

Javed Akhtar gets death threats over fatwa statement

NEW DELHI: Noted lyricist Javed Akhtar has received death threats via email after he apparently called an Islamic cleric "insane" during a television debate about the fatwa against working women. Akhtar has informed the police about the messages which told him that "your countdown has begun". "I started getting a barrage of hate mails post my comments about the fatwa. They are of the opinion that by opposing the fatwa on Muslim working women, I am being anti-Islamic. I have informed the police and they have acted quickly and provided me with security" Akhtar told PTI. "These fatwas are not influential. The society does not bother about it. Some people were very outraged by my comments and sent me hate mail but this person has sent me couple of mails that are threatening," Akhtar said. Islamic seminary Darul Uloom, Deoband had recently issued a fatwa (religious edict) saying it was un-Islamic for women to work in offices in proximity with men and decreed that acceptance of their earnings by a family was against the Sharia. The Sharia law prohibits proximity of women and men in a workplace, said a recent fatwa issued by a bench of clerics headed by Chief Mufti Habib-ur-Rehman. Akhtar had condemned the fatwa during a discussion on TV following which the scriptwriter was told to apologise or face strict action.

[beetle]

A much more intriguing headline was the Allahabad HC's view that a Muslim man's marriage to a woman of another religion shall be considered void and against the tenets of Islam if he fails to get her converted to the religion before wedlock. "For a valid Muslim marriage, both the spouses have to be Muslim. In the present writ petition, this condition is not satisfied", the court remarked and quoted from a verse in the Holy Quran which says, "Do not marry unbelieving women until they believe... Nor marry your girls to unbelievers until they believe". http://ibnlive.in.com/news/muslim-man-wedding-hindu-woman-void-hc/115106-3.html?from=tn Expected i guess when there's a different rule for every religion and there's no common law for Indians.The court thus has to rely on religious texts to pass a verdict for such cases.

This view of the HC was case specific.The people concerned had not got married under the special marriage act which is applicable when people of different religions marry. A hindu and muslim can only marry under this act .If not .....the only way they can marry is if one of them converts to the religion followed by the other. The media forgot to mention that this was a nikaah between a muslim guy and a hindu girl.If they had married in court ...their marrige would have been legal.