The furor over Imrana Ilahi, the Indian woman at the center of the fatwa concerning rape by a woman’s father-in-law, has not died down yet. Last week, I published an article under the title “Can a Rapist Be Rewarded?” in which I discussed the subject without referring to the fatwa itself, making clear that I had not seen it. I was responding to press reports that spoke of a fatwa saying that the woman must separate from her husband and should treat him as her son. Some reports added that she could marry her father-in-law who allegedly raped her. My article sought to clarify these issues. I made clear that in a case of rape the woman is blameless unless it is proven that she had tempted, encouraged or otherwise facilitated her own rape. I made clear that the reported view that Imrana’s marriage was terminated as a result of the rape is grossly mistaken, and the suggestion that she could marry her father-in-law is absolutely wrong and has no basis in Islamic law. The following day, my article was copied in full in a paper called The Asian Age, but it was given a different title “Imrana: Fatwa is absurd and infuriating”. While I am glad that the information I gave was thus circulated to wider readership, I am unimpressed by the twist given to my article by the change of title. Although I stated that the suggestion that a marriage is nullified as a result of rape is absurd, I did not, and could not, comment on the fatwa itself, because I had not seen it.
Since the publication of my article new information has been published to put the whole question under new light. IslamOnline posted a special report by its own correspondent, Mr. Zafarul-Islam Khan, which shows that there have been several twists in the case. Under the title “Imrana Case... Rape of Truth in India”, the correspondent who made a thorough case of investigative journalism, going to the village where the case took place and speaking to the mufti who issued the fatwa, gives a totally different picture.
Mr. Khan’s efforts show that Imrana and her husband claimed that she was raped by her father-in-law during the night and that he fled when she screamed, but the screams were not heard by anyone in her tiny house or by any immediate neighbors. “This was strange as it is summer time when all people living in the tiny interconnected houses sleep on the terrace or in the open courtyards inside their homes.” The correspondent discovered that the allegation was made in the midst of a family dispute about selling the family home, with the father-in-law wanting to sell and the couple objecting because they had nowhere else to go. The report mentions that on July 2, a team of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board visited the village and met the alleged victim, her relatives and a number of village people, but concluded that no rape had taken place and that the case was simply one of dispute over property.
Unscrupulous
Journalism
Such a local family dispute could never have made headlines except for the fact that it provided those opposed to Islam and its laws with ammunition to bash Islam. When inaccuracies and deliberate slants are added in the reporting of the case, it becomes easy to start a storm in a teacup. In Imrana’s village, a local elders council was called to look into the case, as is customary in rural areas in the Indian Subcontinent. A local junior scholar, or maulavi, told the council that the woman was now forbidden for her husband as she was like his mother now, and that she should marry the rapist. In reporting this, the media described the village council as a “Shariah Panchayat”, or a council of Islamic scholars, which is totally untrue. The village council is composed of the elders in the village, and these people may have had no Islamic education whatsoever, or indeed any education. They attend because of their position in the village.
This is the sort of material that the media loves: A family rape and an outrageous verdict that brings tragic consequences on the whole family. Thus, reports flew everywhere bringing Imrana and her village unwanted fame. A further twist took place when an outfit based in Delhi, calling itself Muslim Women Forum, sent two representatives to meet Imrana. “They bribed her with five thousand rupees and asked her to say to the media and police that she would not accept the ruling of the Shariah law and would only go for the civil court’s judgment to safeguard her rights.”
It was much later that the Dar ul-Uloom fatwa came into the picture. An Urdu newspaper, Rashtriya Sahara, asked the mufti in that Muslim seminary to give his opinion in the case. He opined that “the woman is now forbidden for her husband and should leave him.”
There are two important points pertaining to any fatwa by any scholar. The first is that the fatwa, or ruling, is given on the basis of the question put to the scholar issuing it. We do not know in what form the question was put to the scholar by the paper. Hence, we cannot comment on it, except to say that the reported view is totally mistaken. The other point is that a fatwa is binding only on the scholar giving it. It is a legal opinion.
But the case and the fatwa gave fresh ammunition to those in India who want the Muslim Personal Law to be abolished. Various communist, socialist and rightist parties were in chorus demanding the enforcement of a Common Civil Code to be made applicable to all citizens in India. This means the abolition of the Islamic law in personal and family matters, in favor of such a code that is subject to change by parliamentary acts. This is the crux of the matter. People who have a grudge against Islam will always try to exploit any situation to bash Islam, Muslims and Shariah. In these days when the media is always on the lookout for exciting news, the truth is often lost. The IslamOnline correspondent mentions that “on June 30, Dr. Tasleem Rahmani, president of the Muslim Political Council, called a press conference in which he showed a 3-hour video in which Imrana appeared saying that no rape had taken place, and that she was given five thousand rupees by a ‘feminist organization.’”
Should we wonder why Muslims feel maligned everywhere? In a case like this, the truth is lost and false allegations are made. A bribe is given to an illiterate woman, for whom the petty sum of five thousand rupees appears large indeed, to come up with falsehood so that the campaign to bury the Muslim Personal Law in India could be carried forward.