Letting go of instant triple talaq: 

Letting go of instant triple talaq: 

Context:

The All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), though its counsel Kapil Sibal, informed the Supreme Court that it was considering reforms and the gradual giving up of triple talaq but wanted time for it.

Reforms mentioned:

• The board asking all qazis to advise the husbands, while finalizing the marriage contract, not to resort to instant divorce unless under compelling circumstances.
• The “compelling circumstances”, however, were not defined.

Past incidences:

• In July 2004, in its executive committee meeting in Kanpur, the board was widely expected to outlaw instant talaq. But nothing came out of it.
• Muslim women were let down once again in May 2005 when the board’s much-hyped ‘model nikahanama’ released in Bhopal turned out to be a damp squib.

Reasons for rigidity:

• The rigidity stems from two concepts namely taqleed (uncritical acceptance of a school) and tamazzhub(idealization of a school) wherein precedence is given to one legal school (mazhab)over the rest.
• In taqleed, the adherents just follow their school uncritically even if they don’t elevate it above others
• A subdued emphasis on tamazzhub, and an overt expression of taqleed, is clearly visible in note on arguments submitted to the Supreme Court wherein the issue of instant talaq is reduced to a  question of whether or not it is part of the Hanafi faith because more than 90% of Indian Muslim are Hanafis.

Key points:

• The founder of Hanafi school, Imam Abu Hanifa, was  himself a model of independent reasoning (ijtihad) and flexibility.
• He introduced the concept of istihsan, which helps jurists depart from the existing precedent by taking decision from those of similar cases, for reasons stronger than those obtained in the past cases.