Muslim Personal Law is a set of Islamic injections given in the Quran explaining the ways and means of sharing property inherited by Muslims and enshrined as a law of the land for governing the same. Since the principles are part of the Muslim holy book, it leaves little space for any kind of alteration to them.
As I’m not any religious scholar, I am not going to talk about matters that are the domain of religious clerics who have deep understanding of Islamic jurisprudence and Quranic knowledge. Here I’m only concerned with highlighting a few issues that have been on my mind for several years.
These issues in original are rooted in religion but are social in their outlook. These might not be global challenges faced by all believers but are definitely common here in the valley. These might also be an outcome of our strong culture and norms that find indisputable place in almost all of our day-to-day affairs.
These include the propensity of male inheritors to deny the share of property to their women counterparts, and the provision of handing down no share to orphan(s) whose fathers have died ahead of their grandfather. Both the issues are highly sensitive, pertaining to people who are less resourceful and highly vulnerable, so they deserve due concern and fruitful action.
The former although being a cultural offspring of our long preserved virtues has some other material overtures. It is intrinsic to our societal hierarchy and roles we have assigned to different genders. We tend to have a notion of putting all the responsibilities upon the shoulders of men, with women performing the role of boastful cheerleaders for them.
No doubt they steer the spending as per their whims on the important occasions of marriages and celebrations in the family, but their worth as custodians of the properties in government records is viewed doubtfully. There are reasons for the same. Women, even if earning prior to their marriage, are not seen as inclined towards asset building for their family. They have this view from inception that they have least concern with the wealth accumulation of their family as they have to leave the maternal house sooner or later.
Such interests keep them aloof from making or having any decisive role in matters of property and business of the maternal house. They generally keep on investing in matters that lead to better prospects in terms of their marriage. Be it career or earnings, much is shaped by these matrimonial concerns.
Amid all this, the men folk of the family are constantly groomed for taking over the larger role of caretaker and guardian of the family. They are made to work and think in terms of maintaining, maximising and mobilising these assets for better returns and their upkeep. They see it as a role they were raised for. They end up working towards making these enterprises more and more gainful by investing their time, energy and resources.
Thus, a clear distinction of purpose arises among both of them from the very beginning. It is this presumption that converges and diverges the boys and girls respectively towards different viewpoints and their subsequent actions. On one hand the stakes and dependency of males on these assets increases manifold and on the other hand the girls satisfy themselves with rudimentary benefits accruing to them without putting any hard work.
So, when the turn of sharing this property comes, it happens to be a jolt for these men. They somehow naturally tend to oppose it tooth and nail. In such a scenario it demands a rational approach to assess the losses and investments which these men had put in for many long years towards increasing and upgrading the valuation of these properties.
Similarly, in case of an orphan whose father died ahead of his/her grandfather, it is not appropriate to totally ignore him/her at the time of property sharing if the father had not raised any separate assets from his earnings. Instead, he might have put the same in making family assets more valuable or resolving family issues collectively.
The original spirit of Islamic injection here is that a married son actually comprises of a separate family unit. Once married, he has to look after his own family, see for its benefits and well-being, create assets and stakes that are monopolised by his family only. He has only been directed in the Quran to have relationship with his parents based on goodwill and compassion, caring for their needs and comfort.
But our culture promotes and deifies the joint family system, under which there is sharing and caring for each other irrespective of individual earnings and the couples in it. This kind of an arrangement never allows a person to amass separate accumulations. So, in case of sudden death, there would be absolutely no support than the joint family wealth. Therefore, applying Islamic injection of excluding his family from securing his part of inheritance seems to be atrocious.
Under such circumstances, the role of religious scholars is pivotal. The need of time is to reinterpret these Islamic teachings in light of our culture and traditions. There undoubtedly has to be consensus among the clergymen from different sects regarding our conduct at such critical junctures in our lives. They unfailingly should put their heads together and come up with an exegesis that is in consonance with our life and times. It should be scientific and rational in its implementation. This actually is the real service expected from them. And it would make their presence relevant and desirable for the masses.

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Anznoo Wasim