Women can’t be men’s Hakim: clerics on first women Qazi

Days after the two women claim to be the first qazis in Rajasthan, clerics on Monday said Islam does not allow a woman to become a qazi.

Rajasthan’s chief qazi Khalid Usmani said: “As per Quran, a woman can never be a man’s hakim (ruler/judge). Hence, a woman can never be a qazi.

“Look at history, there is no evidence that a woman can be a qazi. And if anyone deserved to be a qazi, it was Prophet Muhammad’s daughter Fatima, who is considered a role model, but even she was not a qazi,” he said.

Speaking at the issue, All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) member Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali said that “At the most, a woman can assist a male qazi in solemnising a marriage, but cannot be the sole qazi solemnising a marriage. It is not Islamically possible”.

It is to be noted that recently Afroz Begum and Jahan Ara who hails from Jaipur claim that they have completed their two-year training from Darul uloom Niswa in Mumbai and are now the first women qazis in the state, which enable them to solemnise a nikaah and judge the issues of talaaq (divorce) or meher in Islam.

“We wanted to bring justice to women and hence we pursued a two-year course in Mumbai to become qazis. The rights and equality conferred by Allah on humanity 1,500 years ago have still not been granted to women,” said Jahan Ara, 40.