Lady muftis breach male bastion

DP - RIGHTS
RF20
September - 06
THE TELEGRAPH, CALCUTTA, 31 AUG 2006
Lady muftis breach male bastion
GS. RADHAKRISHNA
Hyderabad, Aug. 30: Sania
Mirza's short skirts may have
hogged global headlines, but
city teenager Amina Batool
perhaps better represents the
rise of woman power in
India's Muslim society
The 17-year-old is one of
several young women practising as "muftias" — women
muftis—in the city delivering
the Friday sermon in allwomen mosques, resolving
family and marital disputes,
confirming divorces and issuing fatwas on current issues
such as terrorism.
Amina and nine other
women graduated last week
from the city's Jamiat-ulMominath, a deemed university of Islamic theology that has
been training women as muftias skilled in interpreting the
Shariat for men and women in
their personal matters.
It was the Jamiat-ul-Mominath, Lucknow, that first
began training muftias, but
few of its graduates are practising clerics. The Hyderabad
Jamiat, too, came out with its
first batch in 2003.
The real change came
when many of the 100-odd
women's mosques in Hyder-
abad opened their doors to
muftias about a year ago.
Jamiat director Mufti Mohammed Mastan Ali insists
that the muftias — the face of
a changing Muslim society —
wit h edicts against terrorists
after the Mumbai trai n blasts;
they have ruled that Sania's
short dresses are unbecoming
of aMusli mwoman.
As they go on practising,
the muftias are expected to
continue wit h their theological studies for another 12 years. "They must live like ascetics in mosques and also travel
around, preaching. They need
at least five years t o understand and recite the Quran.
They must also learn Arabic
literature," Mastan Ali said.
After completing the course,
the muftias can marry
By the age of 30, the worn-
are not rebels. "They don't revolt against established religious practices and beliefs. We
just felt that sermons from women muftis would attract more women, and a fatwa from a
muftia on a women's issue would find greater compliance."
The 10 new graduates gave
their first sermon last Friday,
with a packed all-woman mosque at Asifnagar listening to
Amina in rapt attention.
"Our muftias have been
practising for almost a year.
They have rendered critical
and useful fatwas for youngsters," Mastan Ali said.
The muftias have come out
en woul d be i n a position t o
teach at national institutes
and head all-women mosques,
the mufti said.
Muftias, however, cannot
practise at male congregations. Other than women' s
mosques, they can preach at
all-women
congregations,
hel d at specified times i n general mosques.
Not a single verse i n the
Quran, nor a single Hadit h
(sayings of the Prophet) forbids women fro m becoming
muftis. Aisha, the Prophet' s
favourite wife, became a religious authorit y after his deat h
and served the community.
TIME TO PREACH
<title>Lady muftis breach male bastion</title>
<author>G.S. Radhakrishna</author>
<keywords>LR1</keywords>
<publication>The Telegraph</publication>
<pubDate>31/08/2006</pubDate>
<classif>A13</classif>
<entrydt>06/10/2006</entrydt>
<sd>GD</sd>
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