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List of
on going projects.
1. Role
of Muslim Women in Indian Politics
2. Attitude
of Muslim
Girl’s towards Education
3. Jihad:
Its doctrines and practice in history from classical to
contemporary period
4. A
Historical Account of Mappila Muslims of Kerala
5. A
Critical Study of Fatwa Issued on Muslim Women
6. Codification of Muslim Personal Law
Synopsis
Attitude of
Muslim Girls towards Education
Education of girls has been a high priority with the
Government of India. The National Commitment to provide
free and compulsory education and is the Fundamental
Right of every citizen. Since Independence, education of
girls has been an area of National concern. The
Constitution of India intended to assure Muslims and
other Minorities equality of status and opportunities
with other citizens to accelerate the process of
educational and socio-economic justice. The Constitution
of India grants the right to Equality and Right to
Freedom of Religion and Protection of Interests of
Minorities in regard to educational rights.
The total Muslim population in India is 13.4 percent which
is the second largest minority population. Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh established a committee in 2005
with its chair person as Justice Rajinder Sachar. The
committee was set up to study on Social, economic and
Educational conditions of the Muslim Community in India.
The data available shows that the Muslim minority
population is lagging behind in all fields and women’s
particularly is in worst situation facing various
obstacles.
The project aims at studying the attitude of Muslims girls
towards education, it based on both secondary and
primary data. The primary data will be collected through
survey and interview of Muslim girls taking higher
education and will also take note of Attitude of Society
and their parents while girls are taking up while taking
up higher education.
Jihad:
Its doctrines and practice in history from classical to
contemporary period
On
this topic a research has helped in dispelling some of
the widely held notions about jihad among scholars,
people and electronic and print media in the western and
eastern countries of the world. The primary classical
sources on ‘Jihad’ clearly point in the direction that
the word jihad in the sense of holy war is a wrong
inference by the classical Muslim historians, political
philosophers, compilers of Hadith, Islamic doctors of
law, legists, jurists etc. It was successfully achieved
after the conversion of Islamic rule under the four
rightly guided caliphs to worldly empire under the
Umayyad dynasty. Through the course of history it is the
Muslim ruling elite which have been responsible for its
misuse to further their political, social and economic
interest. Its misuse which was started under the Umayyad
dynasty is still going on in the contemporary period.
The Quran has not mentioned the word jihad in the
context of holy war rather it has been referred in the
meaning of ‘utmost effort, strive and endeavour’. So in
this study the focus is on the misuse and wrong
interpretation of the word jihad from classical to
contemporary period and about what were the economic,
social and political factors for its misuse. I have
finished two chapters one introductory and another on
‘Sufism and Jihad
A Historic Account of Mappila Muslims of Kerala
Arabs were in trade relation with the west coast of
India even before Prophet Muhammad’s period. They were
attracted for the spices of Kerala, and it is observed
that Arab colonies must have existed in Kerala Ports,
for the purpose of trade. This had resulted in the
arrival of Islam in Kerala soon after its origin in
Arabia.
Today Muslims constitutes 24.7 % of Kerala’s population.
Muslims in Kerala have a unique culture and practices of
their own as compared to the rest of India. The social
and educational prosperity made by the community is
often considered as a model for their counterparts in
other states. The entire Muslim population of Kerala is
composed of Mappilas excluding few immigrants and
Muslims living in boarder areas. They are the
descendants of the Arabs through local women and
converts from local people, mainly from lower castes.
The study aims at exploring the historical factors
responsible for the status of
community in the contemporary society.
The study also aims at exploring the unique culture of
Mappila Muslims of Kerala, and the relevance of which in
the peaceful co-existence with other communities. The
recent trends in the community such as development of
fundamentalist groups and movements, and its impact on
the community as well as the secular framework of the
society will be studied in detail from a sociological
perspective. Theories related with ‘sociology of
religion’ will be examined in detail in the above
mentioned context. The researcher aims a comprehensive
sociological study of Muslim Community of Kerala.
A Critical Study
of Fatwa Issued on Muslim Women in India
Fatwa is basically Islamic legal opinion which has its
roots in the Islamic history. However, in the modern
time, starting from the Khomeini’s fatwa against Salman
Rushdie, this as an institution often creates chaos in
the society. Recently, in India also, very controversial
fatwas relating with Muslim women came to limelight and
brought dilemmas in the Indian society. This is also a
highly myth in the society that fatwa is binding in
nature and every Muslims are obliged to follow this.
However, being a mere a legal opinion fatwa is not
binding at all. It is only Mufti, not even Imam, who
alone can issue fatwa only in repose to the query
referred to them. It is up to the Mustafti i.e. one who
question whether to accept that fatwa or not and if
he/she is not satisfied with that opinion then he can
refer his matter to some other Mufti. A mufti has to
write in the end of fatwa wa allah alam i.e God
only knows the best and with his knowledge, he tries to
determine it. Therefore, it is utmost requisite to
understand the methodology of the fatwa to over come
from the chaos and wide misunderstanding regarding this
in the society.
My
project covers extensively assessment of various Fatwas
issued by Darul Uloom Deoband considering Muslim women,
which I have originally translated from their ten
volumes which is known Fatawa-e-Darul Uloom Deoband,
from Urdu to English and also tries to analyze whether
this Fatwas are complying with the Quranic injunctions.
These fatwas mostly reflects misogynist tendencies as
they are issued by the male clergy. Quran has given
various rights to women in the patriarchal society and
uplifted not only her social status but equipped her
with several important rights, for example, right to
choose her partner in marriage, right to divorce and
maintenance rights during and after marriage etc. But
in spite of this, Muslim Women more often does not get
her rights in practice. Muslim clergy denied her rights
and enforced duties on her in reverse manner of Quran.
They often issues Fatwa on women to take back her rights
which Quran granted her.
List of
research projects completed.
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College
Teachers and Secularism: “A Survey of
Opinions, Attitudes and outlooks of college teachers
in Mumbai city 1999 – 2000”
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Policing system from the minorities perspective
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Communal violence in post-independence India
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Composite culture in Mumbai
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200
caste studies of torture during communal riots in
Gujarat in 2002
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Value Education
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Impact of communal propaganda on youth:
Characterizing the attitude of Hindu youth belonging
to different socio- economic groups in Mumbai towards
Muslim and Christian community.”
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Jamiatul ulama-e-hind, freedom struggle, composite
nationalism and concept of Pakistan
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Uniform Civil Code or Religious reform – A perspective
for gender equality.
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The
Acid Test of Democracy: Equal Opportunity Commission
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Muslim Women in India and Secular Courts
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Women in Electoral Politics – A case study of women’s
political participation in Maharashtra
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Communal biases in Marathi News papers.
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