What's a female Muslim 'mufti' called? A muftia!
Allwyn
in the seminary!
Fatwas and the female Muslim
An all-woman fatwa panel in Hyderabad, the first of its kind in the
world, issues edicts on subjects ranging from make-up to menstruation.
Disapproval from the Muslim orthodoxy notwithstanding, it’s a hit
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When a woman recently approached Nazima Aziz with a question on
whether she could sit through a recitation of the Quran while
menstruating, the latter replied: “There’s no harm in listening to the
Quranic verses while you are menstruating, but don’t touch the book
during the period.”
This seemingly mundane Q & A assumes significance in a particular
context. The questioner could have been anyone from across the globe,
but Aziz, the veiled woman who answered the question was a muftia — a
female version of the male mufti who replies to queries or dishes out
advice in the form of fatwas (edicts). Needless to say, in the rigidly
patriarchal Muslim society, a muftia is still an oddity.
Aziz heads a panel of muftias at the darul ifta (house of guidance)
at Jamiatul Mominat, an exclusive women’s madrassa in Hyderabad.
Functioning from a crammed room in Jamiatul Mominat’s five-storey
nondescript building in the city’s Muslim-dominated, dusty Moghulpura
area, the female darul ifta is charting a courageous course by
empowering Muslim women in an area hitherto occupied by males alone.
Elsewhere in the Muslim world, both men and women seek fatwas
(edicts) from male muftis trained in ifta (a two-year specialised
course in Islamic jurisprudence normally done after Almiat or
graduation). But at this female darul ifta, the first of its kind in
the world, women approach women to know the Sharia’s position on a
range of subjects from make-up to menstruation, flirting to shares in
inheritance.
Beginning with four students in 1991, Jamiatul Mominat created
history when it introduced a women’s darul ifta in 2004 as a course.
“We have so far produced 75 muftias. This year alone we have 18 girls
in our ifta course,” says 39-year-old Mufti Mastan Ali, the madrassa’s
founder who has predictably ruffled a few feathers among the
conservative ulema. The patriarchal clergy sees this initiative as an
intrusion into the sole rights of Muslim males. Strangely, as the
bearded Mastan Ali observes, even the city’s 100-odd-years-old much-
revered madrassa, Jamia Nizamia, founded by Hafiz Anwarullah Farooqui
with the patronage of the last Nizam, Nawab Mir Osman Ali, didn’t dare
float a female darul ifta.
Women understandably are not comfortable about approaching male
muftis with certain questions, especially those concerning
menstruation or the way they should dress, at home and in public.
“Earlier, women asked questions through husbands or other male members
in the family. Now, they can directly approach our panel of muftias,”
says Mohammed Hasnuddin, the chief mufti at Jamiatul Mominat who also
vets the fatwas issued by women. “I only verify if the fatwas have
been issued after consulting the right scriptures,” claims the 45-year-
old Hasnuddin, who wears a turban and has his flowing beard dyed in
henna.
When Ghausia Begum’s husband, Zakiruddin, died a few years ago and
left behind three sons and a fixed amount of Rs 3 lakh, Ghausia was in
a quandry. She didn’t know her share in the husband’s property. She
approached the female darul ifta and was told that according to the
Sharia rules, a widow can claim one-eighth of her husband’s property
while the rest will be shared by his children. “I would not have
approached a male mufti to find this. The female darul ifta bailed me
out,” says the relieved Ghausia.
Questions pour in from far-off mofussil towns too and they are
answered in the form of fatwas, absolutely free, claims Mastan Ali.
Fatwas are sought via snail mail, e-mail and even telephone. “We have
five muftias in the madrassa to answer questions; now we’ve started a
24-hour helpline too,” says Ali, who has instructed his staff not to
give out any muftia’s number to an outsider. “They might harass these
girls,” he laughs, to which the team of burqa-clad muftias, including
his wife Rizwana Zarin, nod.
The army of maulvis in Hyderabad might flinch at the sight of women
delivering fatwas. But the initiative has undoubtedly excited the
city’s many liberals. “It has created a space for Muslim women which
was denied to them for the last 1,400 years,” says A Suneetha, co-
ordinator at Anveshi, a research centre for women’s studies. Suneetha,
who has written extensively on marginalised women, lauds the female
darul ifta also because it is based in a Muslim-dominated locality not
known to be sympathetic to such bold initiatives.
Syeda Amina Batul, one of the students, says she was enamoured by
the respect a mufti/muftia receives. “On becoming a muftia, I can help
women solve many of their riddles. This is something Hazrat Ayesha,
one of the wives of Prophet Muhammad, did too,” says Batul. Batul’s
teacher Nazima, when asked if she endorses the Supreme Court order
mandating burqa-clad Muslim women to lift their veils for voter ID
photographs, says: “The voter ID, like the passport, is an important
document, and Muslim women should abide by this verdict.”
While the Muslim world has largely ignored an important tradition
set by none other than the Prophet’s wife, Ayesha, Mastan Ali and his
team of muftias are resurrecting that norm. Despite the conservative
atmosphere these women muftias work in — a request for a photograph
was politely turned down — the very initiative is a giant step. Ask
the women who opened their hearts to this unique women-manned fatwa
panel. ###