Abstract
To understand the property rights of Muslim women in India, it is necessary to understand the position and status of women in Islam, as well as in the Muslim Personal Law practiced in India. The Indian Muslim woman is caught between the loyalties toward her religion and community and her own desire for a better future with greater and equal rights and freedoms within the family and society. She is still governed by separate code of religious family law, which is not codified and is outdated. Under this code, Muslim women continue to suffer humiliations and disadvantages. Another feature of this code is that it is regarded to be God-made and divine and, thus, immutable and forever. In this article, an attempt has been made to study the laws of inheritance regarding women as provided under the Sunni Islamic law, and whether the charges levied against it that it tries to undermine equal rights as enshrined under the Indian constitution holds water, or there lies a deficiency in understanding the deeper truth beyond what has been portrayed. Secondly, whether there is scope for modifying or amending Shariat laws in order to achieve the goal of gender equality in the property law regime. The article is divided into four parts, the first part analyses the position of women in the Islamic and pre-Islamic Arabia. In the second part, the inheritance rights with respect to Muslim women is analysed, and the immutability of the traditional inheritance laws is seen from the critical modern lens. The third part deals with the Shariat Application Act and its problems. In the last part, some suggestions have been made to improve the property rights of Indian women.
Recommended Citation
Hussain, Samreen
(2015)
"Islamic Law of Inheritance and Women: The Myth of Misogyny,"
National Law School Journal: Vol. 13:
Iss.
1, Article 6.
Available at:
https://repository.nls.ac.in/nlsj/vol13/iss1/6