Muslim women in India break tradition, train to become judges

Women in India's largest religious minority are poised to break tradition by training to take on a role that's only been performed by Muslim men before.

Dissatisfied with their own lack of representation in court settlements and from being discriminated, Muslim women decided to empower themselves as the country allows a separate civil code among Muslims.

So the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) prepares these women to be "qazis" or judges through a year of training that will equip them with knowledge in Koranic law, constitutional law, and gender rights.

"There are many grave injustices against Muslim women, and we deserve a say in matters that concern us," one of the female trainees, Safia Akhtar, told Thomson Reuters Foundation.

Akhtar also thinks it's not impossible to take on such an important role as a "qazi" when the country already had a female prime minister before.

The Islamic seminary Darul-Uloom Deoband attested that the Islamic faith itself does not discriminate against women as the seminary defended the appointment of India's first female qazis Afroz Begum and Jahan Ara.

"Islam empowers women through knowledge. Nobody has any right to prevent women from becoming a Qazi or a Mufti," Maulana Ashraf Usmani, spokesperson of the seminary, told The Hindu.

Usmani added that anyone could be a religious leader and scholar so long as they're equipped with expertise, knowledge, and training.

The seminary spoke out after protests against the female qazis were voiced out by Rajasthan's conservative religious clerics.

Maulana Khalid Rashid Farangi Mahali, secretary of All India Muslim Personal Law Board, a non-governmental institution, spoke out against the female qazis.

"Women don't have the right to be a qazi," said Mahali. "Besides, there is no need — there are enough men who are qazis. So it's completely unnecessary,"

Zakia Soman, co-founder of BMMA, thinks otherwise.

"It's important to have women hear and represent women who are in a vulnerable position. Besides, there is no bar on women qazis as per the Koran," Soman said.