STATUS OF MARRIED MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIA A SELECT ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF LIBRARY SCIENCE 1985-86 BY FAREED NAWAZ Roll No. 84-M. Lib. Sc.-»06 Enrolment No. S-223S Under the Supervision of Mr. S. HASAN ZAMARRUD LECTURER DEPARTMENT OF LIBRARY SCIENCE ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH 1986 P^>i^>'v ^%. 1- M UNiVtR-aVlAA. DS982 TO THE SWEET MEMORIES OP IRFANI ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I am extremely grateful to Prof, M.H, Razvi, Libra­ rian Maulana Azad Library, and Chairman Departwent of Lib­ rary Science, who inspired me throughout this work. Words can not express the ^extent of my gratitude for the untiring efforts D;P my supervisor, Mr, S. Hasan Zamarrud, Finally 1 wish to acknowledge my indebtness to the many people who have helped me to make this work a reality. In particular, I should like to express my gratitude to the following people : Messers Asad, Shahzad, Julius, pammy, Aibub Caire, Khali^ue, Badar, Tahir, Taj, ishtiaque, Saleem Rashid, Asim, Sultan and Danis|i for their moral boosting and help, Imust also congratulate Mr, Mashfeaood Alam Raz for per- foirming the courageous task of turning ray handwriting into type script, I must also pay my humble respect to my parents, whithout whose fore sight and self sacrifice this work and my present carear would be but wishful thinking. FAREED NAWA0 CONTENTS PART ONE Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION Chapter 2 AIM, SCOPE AND METHODOEOGY Chapter 3 ARRANGEMENT AND MODE OP REFERENCE Chapter 4 LIST OP PERIODICALS AND NEWSP-P^ERS DOCUMENTED PART TWO Chapter 1 ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY PART THREE Chapter 1 AUTHOR INDEX Chapter 2 TITLE INDEX PART ONE STATUS OF MARRIED MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIA v^ History is a gradual transformation of social event and practically occasionaly accelerated and retarded by the thought situals and traditions of the people world over. But the fact that crystallises itself both intrinsecally and extrinsically, a fact that may see assumed so many but not assumed without strong premises is the base reality that perhaps society has always been maledorainated. A reality hated and disliked by humanists and feminists both. Although distance whishpers are vagually audiable in the noise and confusion of views pertaining to this affair, of various feminist like Germaine Geer who would insist that women has always been the dividing force of humanity. But history it self is witness to the fact women had always been taken and still are being taken as a sort of commodity or i.iore flata- utly a pec liar form of luxury, peculiar due to the dimens­ ions provided by its various uses. In the so called modem and civilised world of today the role and status of women is reduced merely to a rein-nude appearance on a tyre or look past adverticement. The dignity of women and utility of commodity is being sold side by side under the very nose of the protogonists of civility and modernity, yet no one is bothered. Women is no more a person a human being with dignity, consience and status but an object installed to lure captivated by the lure for freedom and identiry, and rights. Achievements and contributions of Islam through the countries that shaped destory of the present world are not acceptable to a larger part of the today's civilised world. A popular prejudice activated by the worst of the nativatic urge is to reject the originality of whatever is deemed as not western. To the worst of western intellectual and scholars everything positive and construction was started in wst and deterioted every where. All the human ideals are the accepted value of humanity and all the good concievable ought to be the previlage of western civilization practica­ lly existed any where. No culture ever existed which passed the ways of pagars and bruites in any way. Every things and ends with the west. Impresence of so stark nativism, it is not surprising that no due expectable has been made for the their contribution of Islam to the past, present and future of mantained. Islam gave to the world a dynamic value system designed to meet the nature of man in all its dimensions. Islam gave no ideals which were theoritical to be applicable to the concrete social phenomena. On the other hand Islam shaped not a society, not a culture but a whole civilisation and also provided elasticity to the system by the categories of permanence and change. The status of pre-Islamic women of Arabia in perticular and of the whole world in general was more than miserable. Gives mere killed for the erine of their being girl at the very time of their birth, when 3 in the so called civilised and cultured society of today a girl is not more than acurse and burden for the helpless parents* the conditions of pre-Islamic women can be imagined. Practically for the first time in entire history of mantend, Islam gave the women a respectable and dignified status. They were granted the right to ingerit the property left by the parents# their agreements was made a condition of marrige also they were granted nearly equal right to divorce in case of an unsuccessful marrige, widows and divorcee's marrige, which is still takes to many was permitted. Marrige was thought to be a sort of contract for which both the patties are responsible, it was made obligatory upon the husband to pay a sizable amount of money as Mehr to the wife as a sort of return. The nvuriber of wives for a husband was reduced to four and directions were laid down for exactly equal treat­ ment t wards them, otherwise a man was not allowed to many more than one wife. Women were elevated by the dectoration that heaven his only in the feed to mother. A man is destined to go to hell and hell only if he displaces his mother, women were encouraged to play a more active and dynamic role in social, intellectual and religious affairs. Contrary to christanity women were never take as symbol of evil by Islam, Islam provides proper dignity, difference and respect which women deserve. The allegations that Islam does not provide women their due role are certainly based upon gross ignorance of Islamic system and values. Islam is is not an inert, stationairy and lifeless system. It is a dynamic process having the property of transforming the society into a harmonics and mutually welfarlstic social system. There is scope of widening the system for any number of requirements and to accomodate any number of possibilities If a woman is given the right to inherit only half of the property as compared to the property that her brother inharit it is because she has also the right upon his husband's property. It is also alleged that husband generally do not divorce their wives for the fear of the Mehar payment and thus women suffer miserably because of Mehar. This observation is again based upon misconception. "Mehar" is obligatory to be paid even the time of marriage, with the permission of wife the payment can be postponed but she is free to atain it any time. Divorcee's no condition for 'Mehar'. Principles are different from practices. The avils prevelent among Muslims are not the result of Islamic principles but are just mis understandings and misinterpretations, and doing worth the time. An other much criticised issue is the segregation of women prescribed by Islam. A proper and respectful segregat­ ion is guarantee of the dignity. Purdah as practiced today is merely a cultural phenomena which of course was enhanced by misunderstood Islamic principles. What Islam prescribed was a proper covering of the various parts of the body. Women were free to raovu freely with proper clothes and wearing a "Chader". The viel is a later development. Decency certainly demands a limit to which a woman's body can be exposed. Equality certainly does not mean equality to show the bodies. Men and women are equal but •*' nobody can argue that they are same protection of woman's dignity can hardly be termed aa denial of equality. MUSLIM WOMEN IN INDIAv When cultures meet together the synthesis retains the elements of the constituents,. Although communities remain distinct yet, informations generally are not diffecult to trace. Today's Indian culture has been shaped by two other wise opposing cultures brought together by the hands of desting. when Muslims came India was a golden country as claimed by many. Every thought was golden in India except the state of women. She had no rights at all as wife, mother sister or daughter. All the time she was on the mercy of her men associates. Our celebrated Kalidasa and Tulsidas. catagorised her with outcasts and brutes. Even her genuine existence was denied to her. Her left was the life of her husband at when death, she too now forced to burn herself with the funeral pyre of her husband. She had no life of her own. To make bad matters worse dowery system was there with all its glory. Child marriages were more the popular. Divorce was unthinkable and death was the only serious for the woman from bed husbands. A widow was the most hated disliked and outcasted animal and her marriage was the greatest crime she sad state of affairs was wacked by holy scriptures and religious traditions. If we turn the pages of voluminous books upon ancient Indian history, we will not be able to find as single woman in entire ancient his­ tory whose name maltered.